Newbie with gel coat ?

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Oops. Not sure why pic is sideways, or how to fix it. Sorry

 

[sphelps]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Maybe get a box or two of these . You will need em ..
X-Large Nitrile Gloves - 100 Pack, 5 Mil, Powder-Free

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Maybe get a box or two of these . You will need em ..
X-Large Nitrile Gloves - 100 Pack, 5 Mil, Powder-Free

Good call, luckily I had some already.

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Well, it's been a somewhat productive day. Some good news, some bad.
I removed bow seat cushion. Kinda ugly on shelf, wet but not soft. Glad I did this.


I finished removing carpet from sides. I plan on gelcoating sides for smooth seamless look. I was thinking of leaving carpet in/ on shelf to help with keeping things from rattling. Any thoughts on this idea?

Then I worked on finishing up removing seat base. Oscillating tool worked great. Once I cut along the edges, base would still not come up. So had to use a hand saw to cut through foam.

Then came the good news/ bad news part. There is no decking under the seat bases. Just foam, open to hull( bad, to me anyway).The foam is dry( good news).

So........ What do I do know to fill in the hole? I was thinking trim back foam, and cut a piece of wood to fit hole. Then cut another piece about 3" bigger on the sides to go over top. Glass in. Ideas please.

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

I hate to be pushy, but can anyone help me here? I'm starting to think I got in over my head.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

This pic shows you how to patch the hole. Cut the foam out about 1" below the deck. Cut Cleats 6" wide and use thickened resin to glue and screw them under the deck on each edge. Leave 2" exposed into the hole. Cut the patch piece about 1/2" smaller than the opening. Make sure to apply a coat of resin to the entire patch top, bottom an sides. ON the bottom of the patch apply a layer of 1.5 oz CSM. Use the same thickened Resin (PeanutButter) to glue and screw the patch piece in place. Fill the 1/2" gap with PB. Finish up by cutting CSM 2" larger than the patch and apply it with resin. Soon as it tacks up cut another piece 2" larger than the first piece and put it on. DONE!!

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

WOG, thank you very much. I have to be honest, panic was starting to set in. I knew there had to be a solution, just didn't know what or how.
With this plan, would that top piece of patch be the appropriate time to place T-nuts for pedestal base?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Nope. Once it's installed make your raised bases, put the t-nuts on the bottom then use PB to glue them to the deck and glass em in.

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Again, thanks. My title seems to no longer be appropriate. This project has turned into more than just a gel coat question.

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Here is an update. Not a lot of free time to work on boat, but have had a chance to get a few hours here and there.
I have got both seat bases cut out, and foam skimmed down to where I can work some plywood under deck. I also have the patch pieces and cleats cut. We have had some chilly temps here for us, hi's in the low 30's. Even with garage stove I have a hard time getting temp inside over 50-55. I'm thinking working with resin would be easier in warmer temps as container says, so I am waiting for it to get a little warmer before I coat with resin. I have also ordered the materials to make PB.
Once carpet and bases came out I realized this deck was never meant to be exposed. Man, uneven, ridges, dips. So I figure I will be doing some filling, leveling, and a lot of sanding.
I am going to go with WoG's idea^.The deck is 1/2" thick. But with all the uneven places, I think I am going to use some 3/4" ply that I have. Temporarily setting it in looks like I should be able to glass it in and fill in some low spots and make it smooth.
Today I went to Cabelas to look at seats. As I said before this is a family boat, used for skiing and fishing. Plus I'm doing this on a limited budget. So I was planning on using more of a comfortable fishing type seat. Turns out the one I ended up liking was in the bargain cave, actually 2 of them. So I ended buying these for less than half normal price,$58 each. Plus the pedestals were being discontinued, so they were discount priced as well. Hopefully these should work well for me.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

You can try to change the title to something you think more accurate, or ask a moderator to do it for you. I'm not sure they can, and at 31 posts +/-, it may be too late for you to change it either...


Nice looking seats!

Which pedastals did you buy? If for the helm, make sure they are a driver rated pedastal (AD, I think...). The pedastal should be clearly marked if it's rated as a driver's seat...

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Which pedastals did you buy? If for the helm, make sure they are a driver rated pedastal (AD, I think...). The pedastal should be clearly marked if it's rated as a driver's seat...

I was not aware there were driver rated pedestals. I am at work now so not able to check. What should I look for? What indicators should I look for?
The ones I bought were swivel-eaz(sp). One is fixed 8" height, one is fixed 12" height. Both came as set of base, riser, and locking swivel seat mount. Locks in one position, then handle on side releases lock and you can swivel around until the pin comes back to locking hole.
Cabelas employee said they were discounted/ discontinued, and only ones the store and warehouse had. Price was right, and I figured I could live with fixed height. If 12" is too tall I was going to trim down.( similar to what friscoboater did with his SeaRay).

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

I recently ordered 2 of these pedestals w/ both swivel & slide:

Not from here, but that is the exact pedestal... Springfield lists the specs on that page:

AD H-31 Driver helm rated............

Now for the bad/good news. The site I did buy them from has them listed as AD (passenger) so I had to dig to find the link above. Because I thought the last time I considered buying the same pedestals, it was a driver rated seat, I continued to dig until I found the AD driver rating on another 3rd site. Many do not list the rating......



Of course tonight, trying to find a USCG spec, this is as close as I could get:
Classifications.....

There must be a mechanical 'lock' of the swivel & slide to be driver rated.... Sounds like your pedestals meet the requirement as I understand it..

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

I looked on the box, and it did not say anything about a rating. I looked at the swivel -eaz website, and according to that they are rated for operator ok for helm. It does have the manual swivel lock, so hopefully it is the correct one. What are the consequences if they are note rated for driver/ helm?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

I don't think you need to worry if their listed as operator rated.....

Something along the lines of: Safe for occupant to operate a motor driven boat, ie: won't fail and cause occupant to no longer remain in control of their boat. I think that spec link I posted includes AD ratings require a positive mechanical lock for swivels & slides to ensure seat won't rotate or slide as speed increases or in rough handling conditions (weather, wakes etc....)

Or there abouts I suspect.

Of course, it also depends on using sufficient fasteners during installation too.

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Of course, it also depends on using sufficient fasteners during installation too.

I was planning on using stainless screws to secure pedestal. Once I get height figured I was going to use a small base similar to pictured earlier in this thread. Stainless screws and T- nuts to hold pedestal to base.
What is best type of screw to use to glue and screw cleats and patch to hole I'm covering? Stainless or galvanized?
Also, big question, what am I doing wrong?
I have covered my cleats and patchwork with resin. It seemed like it took a day or so to dry. Tacky yes, but still seemed wet.

Then I tried my hand at glassing backside of patchwork. With heater going for hours I have been able to get the temp up to mid to high 60's. Spread resin on cleaned wood. Then laid down a piece of csm that was cut to size. didn't set up or harden like I expected. First time doing glass work. Next day finally seemed to dry, tacky but dry. Was able to pull glass right off wood. Glass was stiff, but did not stick.
What did I do wrong?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Poly resin w/out wax does take a while to dry.......

Use the metric system to measure resin & MEKP. 1.5% is an average, you can use +/- .5% the average of 1.5% ~ 1.0%-2.0%. So in 100ml of resin you'd use 1ml (1cc) of MEKP.

Everything needs to be above 60* when you glass. The resin, the glass, the surface you're applying the glass & resin to, the air temps, and they need to stay above 60 until cure....

If it was still tacky it was uncured, and could be peeled off........

Resin also has a shelf life. Old resin may also be the cause.....

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

An update to any who may be following.
Not a lot of time lately so not a lot of progress. Since I can't seem to get it warm enough in garage do to resin and glass, I have been focusing on glue removal and sanding.
I tried a variety of cleaners, and thinners and whatnot. Nothing seemed to work well. I ended up getting glue off by using a sanding pad of sorts. It looks like a hard black sponge I guess. Put it on my 4 1/2" grinder. Light pressure and it worked well. I did a little bit and realized the mess I was making so ended up putting up one of those popup camping canopies, taped all the upper part of boat off with plastic sheeting and sanded. Got floor done, with a little touch up to follow.
Having some trouble with the glue on the sides. It's seems to want to smear instead of come off. I will work on it more today to find what works best for that.
It's getting warmer here now( in the hi 40's). Hoping to borrow a bigger heater from a friend and get garage nice and warm to do more glass work.
Sorry no pics, nothing to interesting.

 

[Slayer315]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

Small update. I have removed all the glue( I think) from the floor and side. Big pain in the a*#. Borrowed a kerosine tube style heater from a friend. Able to get it up to 77 after couple hours. Started with cleats today. Screwed and peanut butter to floor. Hoping will dry soon so I can do patch piece today also.
After patch piece is in I need to figure out the seat height, and how big the wood base plates will need to be( 1/2", 3/4"?). Originally I was going to put in patch piece, glass over all to floor, then put on small wood base and glass that on.
Can I skip the first session and glass patch and base to floor at same time or do I need to do it separately?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Newbie with gel coat ?

You can assemble the repair/patch & seat base all at once, and then glass them as a unit, if you want to......

If you do the patch & glass it, then attach the base & glass it, you will add a second barrier layer of glass & resin to your newly fab'd patch & seat bases. When the seat base gets water damage, you can remove just it, and the patched area's layer of glass will have helped to prevent the water (causing wood rot) from penetrating the deck plywood & getting into all that dry foam and below deck stringers & wood structure.......