1997 Mirrocraft 18' aluminum fish n ski

Do you mean Single Side Band?

I didn't get back to work yesterday, but I went out there this morning and started sanding the console. It was hot outside, but not horrible. That came later.

After I got to a point where I couldn't do any more sanding because of lack of tools to get into the indented places, I headed back inside the house.

When I went to HD a couple hours later, the heat was absolutely OPPRESSIVE! The temp was 96 and the humidity is off the scale high.
It's starting to feel like August already!

My palm sander with the Krylon Fusion paint.



After cleaning but prior to sanding.



Pic taken after sanding the high spots. I sanded down all of the peeling areas and pretty much all of the top layer of the damaged plastic. I got it all pretty much blended and feathered.
And this afternoon I bought the Dremel tool accessories to let me get down into those deeper areas. Maybe I can do more this evening when it "cools down."

Our hell is up to 128 per my acurite...

I did it!

Got out there this evening and got the console cleaned and first coat of paint applied.

Using the right tool for the job really helps. The Dremel "sanding balls" got into every nook and cranny on the gauge wells.



Then I closed up shop and applied the first coat of paint. Dunno if it'll have spider prints on it in the morning though.

Went back to the garage this morning. Got the 2nd coat of blue onto the console and the first coat of white onto the console panel inserts.

Did a little cleanup, then sprayed the 2nd coat.



Panel inserts cleaned and prepped for paint.



First coat of white sprayed onto the panel inserts. Before I do the 2nd coat, I'll line them up farther apart and more side by side so that I can paint the edges better without over spraying the other pieces.

Went back out about 1/2 hour ago and sprayed the 3rd blue coat on the console and the 2nd white coat on the panel inserts.

About 10 minutes ago, while I was sipping coffee and watching the news, it started to rain with bright, blue skies and full sunshine! Typical Florida. A single cloud apparently popped up right over our house and rained on my fresh wet paint!

use the leaf blower and blow the droplets off. you should be fine

Well, the raindrops just evaporated and left no trace, so all good there! I need to spray another coat of each color tomorrow morning, but so far, so good.

Looking like 1982 colors of my Nike shoes....

redneck joe said:

Looking like 1982 colors of my Nike shoes....

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The console was originally beige and the inserts were black. I mocked the black inserts into the blue console and it was just too dark. I wanted to brighten things up a bit.

I just went out to the garage and mocked it up. I think the white is a bit too stark, so I'll look around for an off-white or cream color.

Go silver or charcoal

Scott Danforth said:

Go silver or charcoal

Click to expand...

Hmmm...

Ya got me looking. Aluminum, hammered silver and others. Been doing some photo editing too.

Got the console paint job finished. Sprayed the last coat of blue on the console this morning. Worked nicely. And I bought some aluminum metallic for the inserts and they look great after being painted. The picture doesn't do them justice. The color really matches well with the gauges. I'm a happy man.

I've been working sporadically on the boat lately. Heat and life stuff getting in the way.

I did get the console inserts installed using DAP Weldwood Contact Cement. Worked great!

Ran into some wiring issues and pretty much had to relearn soldering.

Bought some new equipment and did some practice sessions before working on the boat connector wires. At least I was able to do it in the house with the AC keeping me cool. Hard to believe that I used to be NASA certified in soldering. But my old bones are not as steady as they used to be. Time flies.

My shop/garage was an absolute mess, so yesterday morning while I was weed whacking the jungle growth around the place, my wife decided to get in the garage and clean things up. Came out great and I was very pleased. Clean and no clutter.

This morning, I decided to get out there and start wiring up the new gauges. I had all 5 gauges, but only 4 boxes with instructions and other parts. Asked my wife if she'd seen the missing box. Nope.

I tore the place apart and dug through 2 big bags of trash from the cleanup yesterday. No joy.

After an hour of searching, I was about to give up when I spotted the missing clear plastic box... tucked inside a small blue plastic box with a handle sitting up on a shelf. My wife had stuck it in there with other miscellaneous stuff. I was happy to find it, because the box had the gauge bracket in there.

At that point, I called it a day and headed into the AC. Tomorrow might be another chance to start wiring. I ordered more stuff, which will arrive tomorrow sometime. I still need to do more soldering on that connector, but it has to be in the garage in the heat. Even in the mornings, it's 80+ out there.
Ugh!

You need to move norther.

redneck joe said:

You need to move norther.

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Decades ago, my original plan was to retire on Lake Norman, NC. Never happened. I've lived in FL three times, this time for 27 years so far. Owned my piece of dirt for 19 years and have roots that go down to the center of the earth. Can't see me moving.

My Filipina wife wants to travel the country. I think if we go to visit my daughter in Denver, that she'll probably get that "Rocky Mountain High" and not want to come back down here!