Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

[Bull54]

I have a 1975 Cruise Craft Cuddy Cabin, it has a top deck and bottom front deck on the bow. The original owner put some kind of nonskid stuff on both of the front decks. It is now faded and ugly(see pics below). I am trying to make this thing at least look half way decent and need to either remove the stuff or cover it with something. I have tried to chip it away on one corner and it does lift off(although hard to do ) but once I started prying it off with a paint scraper it left pits in the fiberglass. Also the hatch cover has been coated with this also. The orgianl owner is long dead now and no way to find out what he even used on it. I am afraid to use a chemical for removable as I do not want to ruin the fiberglass. I have lots of questions in general on how to deal with this issue.

I did take a palm sander with 60 grit and smoothed the roughness off of it so you can at least stand on it barefoot without it hurting However it is still ugly.

#1. What would be the best way to remove this stuff?

#2. What would be the best way to cover this if it is possible to so this.

#3. If removing it and have the decks all pitted, I am assuming I can use Marine tex to fill the holes, then what?

In addition anyone know where I can get a replacement for the front hatch for this old of a boat?

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

That is some ugly stuff!! WELCOME to Iboats and Nice Boat!! I dont know how to fix your problem but someone will here. I just like your boat and wanted to say Welcome.

 

[Bull54]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

Thanks for the compliment on the boat, we thought it had character It does have some issues but think it will suit us fine if we can ever get all the "ugliness" out of it I sure hope someone can help me, I am a novice with fiberglass, but not entirely stupid either But I know that if I want it fixed up, I have to do most of the work myself cant afford to have professionals do it. We only paid $1600 for the whole rig, but it has not been ran in 18 months so we do have some motor work to be done also but thats another post. Other than the ugliness of this stuff on here, it is leaking from both decks so I need to get down to fixing those once I get this removed.

 

[Bull54]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

When using the palm sander it does come off but SLOWLY, thinking maybe I should get a cupped wire brush to knock it off faster.

 

[Bull54]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

Ok, I got the wire cupped brush and it is coming up pretty good, will take some time but still easier than with palm sander. Anyone able to tell me what my next step is after I get this all removed?

Thanks

 

[oops!]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

that looks like a really big water sturdy craft......on the west coast that hull would be sweet!

ok.....that stuff on the deck.....ive seen it before but dont know the name....

a cupped wire brush would work....but have you tryed a larger diameter wheel brush......(larger diameter ...more spin speed)

a grinder would make quick work of that job...

as for the pitts.......search "peanut butter" and add milled fibers

then id re glass the deck.....use a really thin woven cloth.....its a finishing cloth....then paint with awl grip or emmeron.....

as far as the hatch.....unless you can find a hatch in a wrecking yard...........yer makin one ! .....no big deal.....either glass over wood....or just straight glass.....when you get to that stage....post and we'll help with construction ideas

cheers
oops

 

[Bull54]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

I was afraid of having to make a hatch Hell I am just learning fiberglassing nothing like being thrown to the wolves But then again why not jump in with both feet right? When I get to that part you can count on me asking lots of questions

You mention a thin woven cloth, is there a weight to it that I ask for? 3oz, 20oz etc?

awl grip or emmeron.....

Are these Name Brands of paint?

ALso last question when I paint this I still need to gelcoat it right? I am going to try and roll it instead of spraying.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Bull54]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

This is where I am currently at in this project. I am still on the lower deck but making head way slowly.

 

[Bull54]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

Ok I am ready to begin to repair this section and have the marine-tex although I screwed up and purchased the grey, I hope that is still usable, right?

Ok now the square in the middle is raised from a previous repair, the lip is 3/4" of an inch higher than the deck, on the corner where the red circle is , this tapers down so that it is smooth with the siderails.

Now, the question is this AFTER I repair the huge hole up front and it dries and etc. Would it be best to jsut buy a gallon of Poly resin with hardner and just fill in the front deck to say within 1/4" of top of lip, adn taper it down to the side? This would cover the old repair and I should be able to sand it smooth. This is only a guess on my part as I am asking what do I do now to get it smooth and ready for painting. My thinking is if I do not cover the old repair completely it will show through when I paint it so not sure how I should cover that and still look nice.


Also I NEED for you to clear this up for me ok? what is the diff between Gel coat and paint? I am seeing and reading about getting gel coat to match color of boat etc. Can you just use gelcoat with out the paint and can you just use paint without using the gel coat? Please try to get this thru my head so I am straight on it


You guys are great! Thanks for the help!

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

Gel coat is the original color coat on the boat and is basically the same as polyester resin, only pigmented. Polyester doesn't bond well to epoxy, so if you use epoxy then it needs to be painted. The deck can be faired with gel coat and for the hole use glass with the gel coat. Do not pour resin or gel coat on the surface to raise it up, neither has much strength without glass and all of the brown "stuff" needs to be removed before you do anything. In the other thread I said you could flood the surface with gel coat, this was before you sanded it down this far and only needed to fill the pits made by removing the non skid. The pits could have been filled without raising the surrounding area much and would it have been a good surface to sand on to get everthing even. But this was before you talked about filling the area to be the same height as the repaired area.

 

[Bull54]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

Thanks Ondarvr. The only thing I did was to remove the nonskid stuff, that is how thick it was. It covered the old repair totally and when I got it all removed it was under there. But I did not sand anything past the nonskid stuff as I was afraid of messing up.

When you say all the brown stuff needs to be removed you mean I need to remove the old repair area and redo that repair with glass as well? IS this what you are saying? As you can see with the old repair I left a very minimal amount of the non skid stuff on it as I was afraid to remove it totally before I asked for some help on what to do next. Underneath the old repair there was 2 pieces of wood that were 1/4" thick on the inside they were placed on top of each otehr to form a 1/2 thickness and of course the same size as the brown spot you see. And they were rotting so I have removed them with intentions of replacing them before moving on. All that is left is the old glass that you see in the pic.

So to sum up IF I have this correct:

I should remove the old repair, replace it with new glass, make it as smooth as possible, this would eliminate having to "fill" the area, providing I can get it smooth as the rest of the deck. Use glass and poly resin for the old repair spot, then after sanding very smooth top off with gel coat. Is this correct procedure? OR did I miss something?

What size/weight glass should I use to replace the old brown spot by the hatch? And how much poly do you think it might take? The size of the area is 10.5 X 22.4.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[1z31]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

Welcome to Iboats. I just purchased an identical 1975 Cruise Craft Cuddy in late August. Will route you some photos when I figure how to download photos on this site. I also have questions on replacing some plywood underneath the fiberglass in the bunk area of cuddy.

 

[winston596]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

Not meaning to get off course but could you show some pics of the deck? I have a cuddy cabin as well (not this one) but it has no seating or anything. Your boat looks nice it will be great once you get that non-slip stuff off. Did you consider just covering it with teak? there is something called nu-teak I was thinking about using.

 

[oops!]

Re: Fiberglass Repair on bow of cuddy cabin

guys....this thread is from 08.

the op hasent been here for a bit......glad you used the search