1968 Cobia 14'

[TheOtherOne]

Arg...I forgot to type in a subject and when I came back...*poof*. So this might seem a bit short.<br /><br />I recently got my grandfather's old 1968 14' Cobia runabout. It's pretty basic; got a 80HP Merc on it <br /><br />Anyway, I'd like to restor this thing eventually. There are many cracks in the red, I guess it's just paint...? Is there a way to fill these in and repaint? There's also a nice crack in the windsheld, apparently from our recent windstorm Of course, the seats are getting a bit dry and there's some corrosion on the metal, but I think I know how to fix/replace these <br /><br />And pics...<br /><br />The boat<br />Zoom Zoom <br />The dash and the cracked windsheild<br />Some of the cracks...

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: 1968 Cobia 14'

that is not paint , it is gell coat...it is the permanant sealer between your fiberglass and the outer air. try wetsanding it first, it wont make them disapeer, but they will look a thousand times better. then after wet sand you could try some gel coat repair kits, with color matching... or just wet sand it and wax the living day lights outa it.. check out my other posts just under this one...about wet sand and look at the pics of my 1960 glasspar. youll be amazed!!!!<br /><br />mikey

 

[TheOtherOne]

Re: 1968 Cobia 14'

Your pics didn't work I'll try again later.<br /><br />I figured it wasn't paint, but I'm new to all this stuff Hehe, I just knew it was some crap on top of the fiberglass, so it was like paint ;P Well, I looked up a bit about wetsanding and it sounds a bit complicated. I want to use the boat and make sure it's worth spending all this time on Plus with college, I don't have the time to look into all this and try it out...<br /><br />Thanks for the quick responce

 

[merc200]

Re: 1968 Cobia 14'

Ten years ago I restored a 1961 14' Starcraft "Rocket" boat. It also had cracks in the gelcoat. I went to the local fiberglass shop and bought a couple gallons of blue fiberglass resin. I wet sanded the old gelcoat first. Then I applied one coat of resin with a paint brush. After that, I wet sanded it again and added another coat with a brush. It looked just like new! The paint brushes don't leave any brush marks in the resin, so it's easy. I just took two old milk jugs into the fiberglass place and they filled them with resin, added blue coloring, and gave me two viles of hardener; one vile per gallon. However, I would recommend only mixing a quarter or half gallon at a time because you only have fifteen minutes or so to work with the resin before it starts to harden. The resin cost me about $10 a gallon. Mine also had a crack in the windshield; right down the middle! I just had to live with it unless you want to spend lots of money having one made. Good luck.

 

[bidlimit]

Re: 1968 Cobia 14'

You can make a windshield out of plexiglass or even better lexan. Its pretty simple, the frame will hold the shape.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Re: 1968 Cobia 14'

I could get that curve? Wouldn't I have to have it molded somewhere?