2002 SANTE resto project

[t.franscioni]

Getting back at it.... put up my make shift spray booth I got for $100. Should keep overspray off all the endless piles of restored parts that are scattered throughout the shop. Soon as the 99 longhorn gets sprayed and I get some feedback on how it’s done I’ll be ordering a new batch of color matched gel coat because I’ve waited too long since I opened the cans to test them and all my gel coat is surely expired by now.... that was a good chunk of change I wasted but it keeps with the theme of this build.

[Rockymtnsurfer]

Love looking at this project! Seems like your putting everything you can back to original parts. What have been the hard items to still find? Keep it up...love the thread....solid restoration T

[t.franscioni]

Everything is pretty much repairable or in decent shape on this boat and it wasn’t missing anything when I bought it. In general I’d say with these era boats the hard parts to find will be things like original gauges, any plastic parts, some decals and warning stickers can be impossible to find and require the time and effort to recreate. Windshields I know are very expensive brand new and hard to find. That’s about it in my opinion. Everything else on the boat is replaceable or repairable.

[Treybizttu]

I can't get your photos to load for some reason. Looking forward to this.

[SilentSeven]

Board was recently updated to new s/w. Might be a glitch. Calling Nautique_Jeff!

[NautiqueJeff]

There was a small issue with attachments last night and this morning. I thought I had saved them all, but the timing of this one may have been bad. It may need to be reposted.

The only one I can't see is in the post on this page of this thread. All the rest of the pictures this thread seem fine.

[Timr71]

I registered for this forum so I could respond to this topic. I realize this work has taken you years, but keep going! You're going to love the boat. And, thanks for giving us something to look at during the current crisis.

[t.franscioni]

Hey appreciate it man thanks. I don’t get much time to work on this project which is why it has taken so long but it is super fun and have learned the basics of a lot of new skills from it with a lot of educational help from many people on this forum and others. Stay tuned.

[brit_hunsicker]

Tim, I took about a 8 month hiatus from PN and it looks like you have too. You can’t tell me with COVID you haven’t had some extra time to work on the boat!? Any progress?


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[t.franscioni]

I’ve been working on it a little bit at a time yes. But just more fairing and sanding which I’ve already posted about. I did get equipped to spray the gel coat. Purchased a 80 gallon 2 Stage 7.5 Hp compressor this bad boy will push 25 CFM at 100 psi continuously!!



Uuuhhhh uuuhhh uuuhhh!




Should make spraying an entire hull seamless. Took some tips from the long horn build I’ve been watching. Gunna need a lot more gel coat than I originally thought and gunna try to color match the gel coat myself using a small sample of the expensive pre matched stuff and having my local paint shop scan it with the gun and give me the breakdown and percentages of colors. Then I’ll have a good starting point and know what pigments to buy to try and mix it myself. It so much cheaper it’s worth a try at least. I need 5 gallons of gel and the color matched stuff is $300 a gallon or more.

[t.franscioni]

I took one of the seat bases from my boat and took it to my local paint store and had them scan it. This is the breakdown of colors in the 93-02 nautique silver cloud gel coat color. I found a an old pint of white gel coat and pigment kit I had purchased years ago from US Composites, apparently this isn’t the first time I’ve thought to color match the gel coat myself... I think after buying this kit I found out spectrum made the nautique 93-02 silver cloud gel coat pre mixed. I bought a few gallons, never got to the point to spray it and it all expired. So today with the scan breakdown I gave it a quick try mixing it myself and got very close. Close enough to believe I can mix this stuff myself. So now next step is to order plain white gel coat and the pigments, black, oxide red, blue and red (to make the magenta). I did this small batch and compared it to the expired expensive stuff I had on hand and could hardly tell the difference. This will add to the fun and save me a lot of money not forking out $300+ a gallon for the pre mixed stuff. Once I get a fresh batch of supplies I’ll fine tune it and record the formula so I can easily make all 5 gallons needed. The two samples on the cardboard is the expensive stuff compared to what I was able to mix up today.

[t.franscioni]

Was about to shoot primer and then gel coat on the inside of the hull and remembered to fit up the engine frame and make sure everything fits up good before I start spraying everything. Without the carpet there’s quite a gap to fill and needs to be built up with fiberglass so the engine frame is mounted properly. Not looking forward to anymore fiberglass work I’ve had my fair share of that to this point but it needs to be done...

[wayoutthere]

Relatively new member here, glad this thread popped up today. Your attention to detail is off the charts, alot to be proud of, better than new definitely a family heirloom

[t.franscioni]

6 layers of CSM mat filled the gap from the carpet. I think now I can move onto primer and gel coat spraying…. I think….

[brit_hunsicker]

It's been nearly a year since I got on here and this project popping into my head is what made me log on. I thought for sure I'd be looking at a picture of the boat on the water...