1983 Ranger 372V

[firefighter615]

I have a Ranger that I have recently purchased. The hull is in good shape but the top of the boat is weathered badly. This boat has set in a field uncovered for 5 to 7 years and the finish is flaking off (just the clear coat). I have thought about wet sanding it with 400 and then spraying automotive epoxy on it but I don?t know if this is the right thing to do or not. I would like to bring it back to the shine and luster that it once had. Any suggestions?

I have tryed to insert a picture but I am not sure how to do that.

Thanks

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1983 Ranger 372V

Is it clear coat flaking off or is it gelcoat flaking off? Clear coat was not really a product used so.....

Either it had been clear coated sometime which yes you can re-do.

Mark42 here did a fantastic job on an olf fiberglass boat with compound and a polisher. My suggestion is to figure out exactly what it is first.

 

[firefighter615]

Re: 1983 Ranger 372V







I have attached 3 pictures of the clear that I am asking about. How can I determin if the finnish that is lifting is gel coat or clear?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1983 Ranger 372V

Well that looks pretty thin and very well might be clearcoat. When I had a ranger my finish was pristine..... I had run into another fisherman who had used clearcoat on his top deck and it looked good...... not perfect but very good. He had used about 3 or 4 coats. I would lightly sand until evened out and give it a shot.

 

[firefighter615]

Re: 1983 Ranger 372V

Thanks for the information. I am a little more comfortable with automotive clear coat than gel coat. I have never worked with gel coat so I know nothing about it. I have worked with automotive clear a little and I have sprayed Polyurethane on many woodworking projects but this is the first that I have tackled something this large. I do have a neighbor that does some automotive body work out of his garage so he might e able to help as well. Thanks again for the information.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: 1983 Ranger 372V

To me (like Bob), it looks like a poorly prepped automotive clearcoat job.

See if you can get all of it off without sanding into the flake, this is very important, if you sand into the flake it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to make it look good again. After getting the clearcoat off, see how bad the gel coat is, if there's still enough clear left to very lightly sand and buff then your in good shape.