Skagit 17 Express

[mark_61]

Picked it up thursday. Rough but has potential ! I want to try to restore the old gelcoat if possible so will have to remove the old paint. Used paint stripper on the white and red to test and it worked good. What's the best way to take off many layers of old bottom paint?

This is gonna be a lot of work and a lotta fun! ----- Mark

[Straycat]

Mark, every one of them is lots of work, nice score and good luck with it!
If that is a real glass bridge windshield could you look to see if their are any ID #ber's on or in the glass? Would be in lower left or right corner, maybe hidden by rubber seal, dunno. If you find you don't like that bridge windshield I would pay handsomely! Thanks, Lon

[mark_61]

Thanks Lon The only number I could find on it is 57 ASI ( last letter could be a J, it's a little fogged). I to like the old style windshield and I think it is the original glass. To bad its got a basketball size hole in it. Hopfully I can figure out how to make a plexi. one because the replacement glass the p.o. gave me didn't fit. ( He wasn't sure it was the right one).

Mark

[skagit 25]

Hi Mark 61,

Nice looking Skagit. You will have fun bringing her back.

My other time/money consuming hobby is Subaru cars. Looks like you have a late 70's GT hiding behind the bush, cool.

[Straycat]

Thanks Mark I will run those #bers, let you know what I find....................

[mark_61]

Hi Robert----- It's a 78, needs some auto. transmission work . Will not shift into third gear. Was my son's daily driver in high school. His younger brother wants it so I'll need to get it repaired soon . He starts driving this winter.:eek:

Where does the time go------Mark

[mark_61]

Bottom paint

What"s the best way to remove bottom paint. ( I know,I know---"Have someone else do it".) I don't think their is an easy way but would be the most effective and least painful for the boat and me.

Any ideas? Thanks-----Mark

[ricphoto]

Seriously...one or two $12.50 an hour guys off Craigs list take a lot of the pain out of the job...

5 gallons of citristrip from Home Depot works as good as the high price spreads I tried followed by vigorous application of large plastic scrapers and a good sanding with 80 grit on an orbital was the best I came up with...

have fun...Ric

[mark_61]

Hey Ric --------Tried the Citris and it worked good on the red and white but the blue anti- fouling paint is much thicker and tougher and is slightly soft so just gums up a sander unless you get it all off before you sand. It took three applications to get down to the gelcoat in each smallarea that I tried. If that's the way the whole job goes those Craigs list guys might be the ticket.
Thanks for the tips Ric!

[ricphoto]

maybe it's just me but I need to keep it fun or at least challenging...that stuff is just drudgery so having someone else do the bulk of it, especially at the price you can get it done for, allows me to keep a good attitude and gives me plenty of time to stand around, scratch my head and figure out what I'm doing...

;-p

and yes...you do have to scrape well before sanding...plastic tarp/sheet on the ground below helps make clean-up/disposal easy...I found that tossing the gummed up disks into a can of mineral spirits helps rejuvenate them...

have fun...luckily I haven't run into real bottom paint on any of mine yet...

...Ric

[mark_61]

Looks like Jasco stripper works best on the anti fouling paint. I left it on just long enough to soften the thick blue top layers and scraped it off. Comes off in sticky puttylike wads so you have to scrape your scraper on almost every pass. Leaves one layer of white that comes off using the orange stuff. I'm gonna do the antifouling on the sides of the hull ,stern and under the bow to the waterline and then turn it over to somone else . The bottom will be just to much fun for me to have. Kind of enjoy doing the topsides ,much easier and it's fun to see the improvement (and the needed repairs) as you progress.

Ric.............The head scratching must be part of the process, find myself doing it a lot as well. Thanks for the help!...............Mark

[ricphoto]

Mark...

don't get me wrong...I too like the chance to "get to know" the boat on intimate terms...

after writing that this morning I went out and ground off 4 layers of paint from the inside of the cockpit area on the Club Mariner...twas nice day for a moon suit (sauna suit? ;-) and it gave me a chance to really get a look at what was going to be needed this winter when I pop her top...(I'd never trust a grinder to a CL laborer...if there's going to be a hole in my hull I'll be the one to put it there... ;-)

this was my version of actively scratching my head as I paused and reviewed before closing up the bilge and getting ready to pour foam...thinking over everything I'd done and trying to see if there was anything I missed...

and sure enough I noticed that I had forgotten to install a drain tube even though I had both ends ready and set-up...that would have been a not so nice discovery after I had the floor glassed and the foam poured...

guess what I'm saying is stop and walk away and double check yourself before you do anything permanent...review what you did and what you're going to need to do in that area down the road...doing it once is an adventure...tearing what you did out and re-doing it again is a PITA...

;-p

...Ric

[mark_61]

Good advice Ric. Have a good one!