New member first ski nautique

[wayoutthere]

Got the hatch cut to fit and dogbox glassed down, screwed wood to hatch to hold dogbox sides straight, it was all wampus !
wood inside dogbox gets trimmed flush and glassed inside to bottom.

cant see the tape measure but making those shims from 1708 and setting up the blocks to install the stringers really paid off, center of engine mount to hatch and boat all fell inside of an 1/8 inch

[wayoutthere]

Ski brackets i whipped up are no good @ 45, some 90's will work with trimming but they need to bonded about 1/2 way up the hullsides to walk thru, not sure if they'll
even go in. initial sanding on the seat plug some mock up then another coat of gel.

[SilentSeven]

That's really nice....

You might consider making the ski mount fold-away if you can. (or maybe you already are). My 97 Masters Edition Ski had fold away gunnel ski mounts and a) they were nice and b) we never once used them as they were finicky to use and took up too much space. Might be one of those 'looks better than it actually is' features.

[wayoutthere]

Keep forgetting there is a tower and i could just buy a ski rack if it came down to it instead of trying to fashion something up
really think it needs a bimini top for what it'll be used for way more than the tower.

sanded down and shot gel, **** lovebugs are attracted to the smell for some reason so it'll need touch up

[wayoutthere]

Seat plug ready for wax

[SilentSeven]

pretty!

[wayoutthere]

A few years ago just playing around i wrapped some 1700 around 3 inch pvc, its been bouncing around and some of it is gonna get put to use for the air intakes,
they'll get glassed in place after that portion of the deck gets de-cored. See how bad the wood is in that section from just getting a hole saw and those little plastic inserts the hose that was collapsed from the foam were on. Pvc will slip in tight and make up the new intakes.

everything is glassed and in a few days the final grind/sand will start for finishing. I'll put all the parts in and get a few pics how it looks.

on finishing, the bilge, floor, interior hullsides, dogbox top and rear step will be tuffcoat.
the seats and dogbox sides will be gel
the swim platform i'm mixed gel or tuffcoat ?

any opinion on colors for the gel and tuffcoat or any other means to finish i'd like some input from you guys.

https://tuffcoatmarine.com/color-chart/
https://www.fgci.com/products/34/Gelcoat/&Color=white
https://www.fgci.com/products/34/Gelcoat/&Color=blue

[SilentSeven]

Are these are colors for the interior only or are you planning to pick a new color set and redo the whole boat?

[wayoutthere]

Interior finish,

hullsides below ski nautique are painted, the deck is painted, but not the hull bottom.
everywhere paint was removed the gel is nice and thick and in decent shape, it looks like it was painted where the sun hits it.

[wayoutthere]

50/50 the deck could get gel, its not much area, the price is right but making mixing a color, never done it and wouldnt want dark.

Deck seats dogbox swim platform all the same color might be the way to go
Non skid texture on swim platform wouldnt match the texture of tuff coat but that might not be noticeable if it matched the deck.
sanding the deck wouldnt be so bad, on foot unlike hands and knees tryin to sand floors and inside corners.


http://www.uscomposites.com/pigments.html

[SilentSeven]

I'm generally the wrong guy to consult on colors. I will say that for bilges, I'm partial to light greys...bright enough to show it's clean with out being so white that every spec of dirt shows. For other colors, I really like Nautique's 'vapor blue' - a nice bright blue with a some depth richness.

[wayoutthere]

Touch up glass done inside boat, another day of grinding and interior will be ready for tuffcoat and gel

[SilentSeven]

Wow...really starting to come together now. Feels like you are entering the home stretch. This has been a great project to watch!

[Timr71]

I can't wait to see how the back seat will look when it's upholstered.

[wayoutthere]

Silent seven ; I'll call homestretch when its back on the trailer, we'll know that when the paint stripping is full time.

Timr71 ; upholstery is going to sparse, foam is closed cell skins are nylon or something like that. Snap in/out hose off, hang on line.
fancy material and foam that soaks up water have no place here.
the center of the rear seat will be tuffcoat since its a step to get on/off the swim platform.
the rear seat is also on hinges and flips up for maintenance, storage.