16'misty river rehab- unknown year

[Hunttuxcat]

Aluminum boat- soda blasting and buffing?

Picked up an old 17’ misty river. While stuck at home for a while I figured I’d put some elbow grease into her and clean her up a bit. Looked at some older threads about soda blasting, but didn’t find anything too current or specific so thought I would start a fresh thread.

a buddy has a soda blaster he will loan me, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. Want to strip off the paint (inside and out) and then buff it to a nice finish. Looking for tips/tricks from those who have done it before. Please.

specifically, the buffing. I’m a bit limited on tools, but do have a couple drills. Are the drill attachment buffers worth picking up? Will I chew through them quickly? What sort of compound should I get for the aluminum?

picked up some pine to redo the seat tops. Was going to spar varnish them. I assume that’s still an acceptable method to finish the plywood?

thanks for any and all replies!

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... Buffing out aluminum is a fools errand, as it begins to corrode as soon as you stop buffing,....

You'd be better off to just lightly sand the paint on it, 'n repaint it whatever color you'd like,.......

 

[Scott Danforth]

actually, the aluminum starts oxiding the second you stop buffing the area if oxygen is present. so technically, you can buff from one end to the other, then start over.

repaint as Bondo indicated.

 

[Hunttuxcat]

hello folks! Am looking forward to hearing anyones thoughts on this little project- thanks!

I ended up with this little 16' side console runabout, and I have some time on my hands. Figured i would start a thread to both learn from the advice of you folks, and motivate me to do a good/thorough job

will hit on the main items of note in their own posts below- with (hopefully) pics.

open to your ideas and advice. thanks

 

[Hunttuxcat]

I had started another thread on soda blasting, but rather than have a bunch of disparate topics all on the same boat, i figured i better put them all in one place

this first pic below is an example of some of the existing paint job. i was thinking of soda blasting it off, and going with the bare aluminum look, but I am waffling between that and sanding/painting based on some good advice here. not sure what was under the red originally, but can still make out misty river decals underneath. would love to clean it up

 

[GA_Boater]

Merged both threads into the newest thread - This one.

 

[Hunttuxcat]

seats and console are on my list. I would LOVE to extend the steering console to the middle. and raising it up 3-4 inches so I could stand at my leisure would be a bonus.

the tops of the existing plywood seats have seen better days, but my the bottoms still look nice

Id like to seal up the new ones like that- need to do some more reading on epoxies and resins

 

[Hunttuxcat]

now the transom i find interesting...

seems to be some decent transom reinforcement going on. doesnt look like what i would expect from the factory, but looks pretty solid to my eyes.

im guessing the previouis owner had a much bigger engine than this 30 on it in the past. seems plenty strong to me, so Im not planning much there.

im guessing the manufacture plate is sandwiched between the plates, cause there is nothing visible.

 

[Bondo]

im guessing the manufacture plate is sandwiched between the plates, cause there is nothing visible.

Ayuh,...... Those big plates are a red flag,.....

Somebody bolted 'em over a rotten transom, to get one more lap, without fixin' it properly,.....

As for the paint, sand it smooth, 'n repaint it,......
That'll save goin' through all the steps it takes to prime aluminum,....

 

[Hunttuxcat]

even if there was nothing left in there- the 3/16ths (i think) plates on each side the length of the transom should provide plenty of support, no? certainly seems stronger than the types of tinnies im used to...
i certainly want the boat to be safe, but its really just to beat around in, so i dont want to go overboard for what it is/will be. Can only wrap so many ribbons around a pig

in some ways, its just a keep me busy project while isolating. boat wont get used too much

i hear ya on the alum treatment. i just prefer not to paint if i can help it- just prefer the naked look of a tin boat.

this is probably a super dumb question, but what is the difference between blasting off the paint to bare aluminum vs a bare aluminum boat- like the stanley next to it in one of the pics? i get that it can oxidize, but are other plain aluminum boats just coated in something?

 

[Scott Danforth]

thats a decal, not paint

someone half-fasted the transom repair because the wood underneath is rotten. so instead of spending 2 days fixing it right, they spend 3x the money on aluminum and one day to half-fast it.

and no, if the wood is rotten, the half-fast band-aid rube-goldbergism isnt going to cut it. you have a weekend of transom repair as well as a few days of hole repair ahead of you.

nothing wrong with plain aluminum boats. that light grey haze is simply oxidation. you said polish. polishing a boat is something different.

 

[Hunttuxcat]

ok- i hear ya on the poilishing aspect. I wasnt thinking of a mirror finsih out on the water- just buffing out after the soda blast- hit it with vinegar or something then a light sand/buff if needed. never done it before.

not trying to argue with folks more knowledgeable than i am, but what is the risk with a transom bolted together in this fashion? I get that it isnt the right way to do it, and i should have something guaranteed solid in there, but i cant imagine the amount of force it would take to cause it to fail with how it is held together. Im sure im missing something obvious, but it is as solid a transom as ive ever seen compared to a lot ive been in over the years (springbok, mirrorcraft, crestliner, etc.)

 

[Scott Danforth]

if you take two aluminum plates and you have something solid between them... nothing wrong.

however if you have two aluminum plates and you have mush behind it, the flexing of the transom will soon have your boat visiting Davey Jones locker and you swimming to shore.

 

[Bondo]

not trying to argue with folks more knowledgeable than i am, but what is the risk with a transom bolted together in this fashion? I get that it isnt the right way to do it, and i should have something guaranteed solid in there, but i cant imagine the amount of force it would take to cause it to fail with how it is held together. Im sure im missing something obvious,

Ayuh,..... With the rotten wood in there, it has almost Zero compressive strength,.....

 

[Hunttuxcat]

Well, I decided to follow the advice here and took off the plate- transom is solid. Original transom on botto 2/3rds is solid and dry. Additional piece epoxied and sandwiched by the sheet is solid and no rot.

Looks like it was just to beef up the transom for a long shaft motor. Suspect it wasn’t done too long ago. Nice liberal amount of goop intact at each of the bolts, so whoever did it sealed it up ok.

better to know, and it didn’t take long to verify
thanks

 

[Hunttuxcat]

Haven’t gotten to much in the past couple days, but did at least cut my plywood benches to size. They will get treated when it warms up/dries up outside.

been looking at the little side console...
it’s just a small 8”wide strip of thin aluminum sheet Wrapped over a piece of plywood. That’s bolted to angle iron bolted on the gunnel. Sticks in about 2’

wanting to stand occasionally, and to keep me balance better when I’m solo, I’m thinking of raising it up a few inches for standing, and center omg it a bit more.

how would you folks go about it? Replace/extend the little hangout console, or make one from aluminum sheet and bracket it between the two seats somehow?

would love to hear some suggestions. Thanks

 

[Hunttuxcat]

Anyone have any thoughts on a console add? Thx