Recent content by ratdude747

  1. ratdude747

    Gel coat repair gone wrong

    It was ordered in the late winter/early spring, was stored in a box in the boat with a caulk gun and a tube of UV4000 (all ordered at the same time, the other items used to reseal my rubrail). Later on in covered outside storage... but before I got it, goodness knows.
  2. ratdude747

    Gel coat repair gone wrong

    That would do it... who knows how long it sat in the warehouse before it was shipped. And it was ordered a couple months ago, as my original plan was to use it as part of a currently-postponed job removing some defunct pitot tube hardware from the transom (and filling/covering the associated...
  3. ratdude747

    Gel coat repair gone wrong

    Not much per the instructions with the kit. I did make sure everything was clean. All areas were either gel coat or (in a few locations) down to the fiberglass resin. I wasn't expecting perfect results... but not this mess. I'll be doing good to be able wet sand the areas worked on so they...
  4. ratdude747

    Gel coat repair gone wrong

    It didn't even adhere well. A good 30 hours of cure and the older stuff was still rubberery and peeled off when worked. A bit better adhered than chewing gum but not by much. Maybe with a good plastic scraper it'll e easy to remove. Something very clearly went wrong...
  5. ratdude747

    Gel coat repair gone wrong

    Just got home from lunch... and the bit I cut open in the last pic above has since turned yellow as well.... So yep, this product is cosmetically a failure...
  6. ratdude747

    Gel coat repair gone wrong

    Well, I'm having a fail of a time with gel coat repairs. I had a pretty nasty chip in my Gel coat (along with a decent amount of dock rash) and made the mistake of using a generic "mix your own color" type gel coat kit. The issues so far have been that I can't get an orange as vibrant as the...
  7. ratdude747

    Gas/water separator filter

    I do mine every year, although that means I've done it twice since I haven't had it (or any boat) all that long. Original (as I received the boat) was a badly rusted noname (boat sat for 12 years, but had a water intrusion incident 2 years prior to sitting; the filter was changed by the sketchy...
  8. ratdude747

    going into reverse engine died,

    Make sure the engine cutoff is working correctly. If it's like my 1976 MC-1, there is an ignition kill switch in the shift mechanism that momentarily kills the ignition when shifting forwards and backwards to allow the drive to lock/unlock without engine power fighting it. It sounds like the...
  9. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Winch came in and installed. Fit like a glove... and the action is way smoother with no slop or other baloney. Apparently, you do indeed get what you pay for.
  10. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Scored the Dutton-Lainson's DLx1500FC... Play it safe.
  11. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    The plate was there. It just was totally wound backwards and tangled on the drum something fierce. Like they had the power wired backwards. Yes it had been painted... aesthetics are not it's strong suit! --- Back to the boat trailer: I found a deal on a new out-of-box Dutton-Lainson...
  12. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    For the boat trailer, any future manual winch purchase would likely be new unless it was a very specific case I stumbled upon. I'm pretty certain that the electric winch will not be going on it after all now that I've slept on it. For the car hauler (where the electric winch would make more...
  13. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Doing more research... lots of reports of bad luck using 7-way power directly for a winch (as opposed to using such to charge an auxillary battery). Even for a "small" 30A winch like this. Also, the cable used is a bit of an oddball 7/32" size. Swage tooling for such (needed to replace the...
  14. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Pictures: Winch was delivered to my boat... It does fit on the winch mount (and still allow the safety chain to work)... but no holes line up: If I drilled new holes, one option would be to use the mouse ears in the winch so I could remove it and use it on my car hauler: (My...
  15. ratdude747

    Modifying a 1975 Trail-R-Craft

    Got the winch. I'll write more later, but for now, it seems mechanically sound (cable has a bad spot right by the hook though) but the mount holes don't line up with my existing winch mount. That said, it does fit my car hauler, so if nothing else, I can use it there and consider this a future...
See more
Top