New member first ski nautique

[wayoutthere]

Mixed up 2 batches of gel with cabosil to thicken it up and use as filler for all the imperfections, fish eyes and pin holes that covered the dog box.
1 batch was just barely mayo consistency and it swiped on nice and filled everything good.
the batch pictured is thicker, between mayo and peanut butter, its in a zip lock bag saved for later if needed.
sand it in a day or so then shoot on the last coat.

[wayoutthere]

It had at least 100,000 pin holes but kept losing count.

[SilentSeven]

How do you get pinholes?

[wayoutthere]

from the factory, when the part was in the mold, those pinholes were air bubbles. They cut corners on it big time, using mat, not using gel in the mold and covering it with upholstery. The inside of the dog box from the factory had enough gel for both the inside and outside of it.

matter of fact the whole inside of the boat had alot, i mean ALOT of gel 3/16 ths of an inch at most and no less than 1/16 anywhere, i ground it all out and am not exagerating.
I'm convinced they gelled the livin heck out of it to cover (float flow & blend) over the less than second rate stringer floor foam installation job they did slambanging these boats together and out the door.

The guys who laid up the hull did a beautiful job. The guys who put in the stringers floor and foam did not.

that being said;
"I only use the best materials to make up for the obvious lack of skill"

[SilentSeven]

Interesting. So the factory dog box had no gel coat and you're doing it now? I guess the posts are reversed... The first post with the box is where you added the gel and then next post shows with raw box and what you are covering up.....

I would guess that pinholes are bad as they reduce strength in structural parts?

Going back to the how you covered the dog box with gel coat....looks like you get the gel to a certain consistency and then you can 'peanut butter' spread the gel out over the surface? This would be an alternative to spraying? From there you sand and polish?

I feel like I'm in "introduction to fiberglass techniques" class here.

[wayoutthere]

Right, the factory box had no gel, it was upholstered.
i sprayed it with gel to expose all the flaws and pinholes then scuffed it real good with 80 grit.
then swiped on thickened gel the same way you would swipe on bondo or some kind of filler.

it gets sprayed with gel 1 more time, if any spot of the last coaf gets sanded thin or thru you would never know it because the filler that got sanded down to is gelcoat.

even by putting a plywood top and bottom on the dog box the sides are still flexible, it flexes while sanding making it harder to straighten up, and body work, wet sanding to a hi standard of finish is out of my ability so any trick that works is a good trick

"I only use the best materials to make up for the obvious lack of skill"

[SilentSeven]

Thanks for the explanation. My 82 Mastercraft (RIP - love that boat) had a full gel-coated motor box and I used to think that it was the "budget" version as most of them where upholstered. Now I'm not so sure..... I always thought the gelcoat version looked way better too.

[wayoutthere]

Put in 2 more drains then glassed them in with 2 layers 1708, also got all material and core cut for 2 more seats, resin and gel here and ready.

core samples from the new drain holes look good. As mentioned all stringers are 2 layers of 1/2" marine ply with staggered seams glassed together.

[SilentSeven]

Failure to seal the perforations on my Mastercrafts stringers are what helped kill that boat....

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[wayoutthere]

Shot the dog box, the texture from spraying gel is even all around so it will not be sanded, same plan for the interior hull sides.
swiped real thin to fill the fabric and grind marks then will be shot with gel and left textured.

[wayoutthere]

Seats installed, turns out the beer cooler is perfect centerconsole height w/o adjustment

[SilentSeven]

What are you thinking for upholstery?

and...off topic / what brand level - straight edges are those? 6 footers? I need one for a project I'm working on.

[wayoutthere]

The 4 and 6 foot levels are 20 dollar harbor freight type. The 6 footer has been dropped, banged, hit with a hammer and kissed with the grinder once a week for 5 years and still reads level against a 4 foot johnson box beam level i wont take out of it's case unless company comes over for Christmas dinner.

upholstery will be utility, i want closed cell throw cushion /life jacket foam and whatever material the throw cushion/ life jacket is covered with, nylon i guess.

i'm so tired of upholstery that's foam backed and foam that soaks up water, cant get wet, grows mold and never cleans up, to about the same level of tiredness of people who say it's a boat why can't it get wet ?

The closed cell foam comes in sheets or rolls 1/4 inch thick give or take, the cushions will be approx 1 to 1 1/2 inch bottom thickness, 1 inch thick on the backrest,
as waterproof as a life jacket, snap in/out of place hose down and throw over a line to dry.

Work on the trailer started today, the boat is almost ready to get on it

[wayoutthere]

I would really like to find some plastic name plates that go on the sides of the boat, they read CorrectCraft if any has a pair a source or an idea thank you

[SilentSeven]

No luck? Are these a factory part? Might try posting a wanted ad on correct craft fan.com as they seem to do quite a bit with these older boats.