1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

I may have found a fellow fisherman in the area with a welder that will only charge me a case of beer, so it looks like I will be busy grinding on the trailer tonight and tomorrow. Here are the pictures of the "damage" on the trailer that I need to have repaired:

This is the cross-member over the axle. The first two pictures are the right sight and the next two are the left side.

This set is from the rear cross-member. This one appears to be more rusted out than the middle cross-member.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Ok, I took sanding the hull for granted! Working on the trailer is a lot more tedious!!! So, just how do I need to be prepping this thing? Do I need to grind all of it down to bare metal or am I only removint the rust? And how the heck do I grind the inside of the C channel?! Whew, this is gonna be fun!

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

remove the rust and loose paint, I used wire wheel attachments. Then sand it all, If yours is anything like mine it will drive ya nuts sanding because of all the welding slag...color coats I only sanded the runs because the slag would sand back to primer every time. Any spots you grind smooth need to be primed immediately. And your right the trailer seems to be more work than prepping my hull...its going slower anyways lol

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Thanks Judge. I have yet to find any loose paint and the rust is minimal. I guess I will hit it with the sander first and go from there.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

I have a guy coming out tomorrow to drag a stick across the cracks on the trailer... he said he would even take care of grinding them for me! For a few bucks to cover his gas and a case of beer, I couldn't say no!

Anyway, I've got a quarterly bonus coming either tomorrow or on the next paycheck, so it's time to FINALLY purchase my first wave of materials. This wave will be a US Composites purchase only and should complete my stock of everything I need to START 'glassing (I'm sure I will need more resin/glass, but I will order more when that time comes). Can someone glance over my list and let me know if I need to add/remove anything?

10 gal poly 435 resin
10 yd 50" 1708
15 yd 50" 1.5 CSM
5 qt 3M bubbles
5 - 1" paint brushes
5 - 3" paint brushes
5 - 4" squeeges
5 - 5" squeeges
5 - 6" squeeges
2 - 5 qt buckets
5 - 2.5 qt buckets
5 - 1 qt buckets
10 - pint buckets
1 - 1" fiberglass roller
1 - 3" fiberglass roller
5 - 5" fiberglass roller

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Not sure what the bubbles are for?? 1" brushes??? Squeeges???? 2.5qt buckets should be all you need. I'd get a dozen. What are fiberglass rollers???

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Bubbles to make the PB... or should I get something else for that?

I wasn't use on the 1" brushes. They seemed small to me, but I thought maybe I would need them in tight areas. I'll pull them off the list.

The "squeeges" are the resin spreader things. I thought maybe I would only need one size, but I figured I would spread the wealth and get a mix of the 3 sizes.

I'll change the list on the buckets. I may still grab a couple of the smaller sizes as well (they're something that will get used regardless)

And the fiberglass rollers are the bubble poppers, I guess they're called. The rollers with the discs all over them. Again, not sure on what size or how many I would need, so I got a mixture of them.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Ok, Spreaders are ok, bubble buster rollers, I've only got one 6" one and that's all I've ever had. Just keep it clean and it should be the only one you'll need.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Thanks WOG. The bonus didn't hit today, so it will be here in two weeks. Darn!

I forgot the update for last night. Nothing major, but I finished sanding the bottom of the hull with 150 and it's finally got a nice dull finish on it and looking pretty good to my eye. Apparently my wife used the last of my 220 on her projects, so I'll have to pick up some more tomorrow and hopefully I will be done sanding the bottom tomorrow (I will call it a milestone!).

I will start on sanding the sides this weekend. I don't believe I'll have any filling to do on the sides, but I still have to remove some stickers and the silicone used to attach the cap. Unless the wife has made more plans than I know about, I figure I will have the hull ready for paint by mid-week next week.

Finally, after my trailer gets welded up tomorrow, I will remove the final hardware/wiring and hit it with the sander. My goal is to have everything ready for paint by next weekend but my stupid work schedule and the kids' activity schedule may throw a wrench in that goal.

The questions I have now are this:
- Is the process of sanding the existing metal flake any different than the sanding I have been doing on the straight gelcoat?

- Is there a need to sand in between coats of primer or after the the final coat of primer before paint?

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

sand between every coat to get the smoothest finish, I know i did not do it on trailer but that's because the welding slag is just too much and its...just a trailer....Poorly prepped the boat and neglected some sanding, and you saw where my paint ended up orange peeled bad. took 14 hours of wet sanding to get it all smoothed back out, and learned a valuable lesson...shortcuts are not shorter! Actually learned that lesson years ago when i took a short cut in an 18 wheeler down a road that the curves were too tight to get a truck and 53 foot trailer around....40 miles with nowhere to turn around...took me 9 hours to navigate it!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

A Good paint job Always depends on the prep. Painting over metalflake is a little different but not much. Sand till smooth and use your hand to feel for flakes and spot sand them. Wipe it all down with Xylene. I'd recommend a high build primer to shoot over it. Your sanding of the HB Primer will show you any problem areas and they can be spot sanded. Then shoot your final color coat.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Got the trailer welded this afternoon, but didn't have time to do anything else. Also forgot to go get some more paper for the sander. I did take pictures, though. Nothing special; just some welds.

Not sure I can get the slag off of these ones. Neither of our grinders were small enough to get in there

We didn't grind these ones down all the way, but they're behind the wheels so I'm ok with it.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

could use a 1/4" wide concrete disc and use the edge to grind inside ( concrete disc works pretty well on metal, but wear out quickly, so buy a couple and do not use them past half way as they weaken the closer to center you get) ....Be very careful though if you choose to accept this mission, the disc may self destruct! I have used discs on the sides before and as long as you don't hit a sharp corner you should be OK, but make sure you have protective gear on, and have the direction of spin pointing away from you so if it does shatter its likely to go the other way.

Personally on the trailer I did not mess with the welds or slag, not worth the time. only place I did was where they had to weld a fender back on and whoever did it had some sloppy weld work, so I smoothed it out so it matched the other side.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to worry about them. I'll get it the best I can and then call it good. The next 2 or 3 weeks are going to be more "busy work" for me while I wait for my bonus to hit the bank, but I'm thinking maybe I can at least get some primer and painting started. Your project has me green with envy, Judge! I'm ready to start making major progress instead of these stupid little sanding/grinding updates!!

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Didn't get much done today. My son had a cub scouts meeting in the morning and then we went to a rodeo this evening. I did get the trailer stripped down completly, though. I didn't get any new pics tonight, but I did get a pic of my son on his first ever bull. Yeah, I'm a proud father! My 7 year old son has bigger cajones than most grown men.

*edit* Sorry for the large image. I will fix it from the PC when I get a chance. I can't resize from my phone.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Didn't get much done today. My son had a cub scouts meeting in the morning and then we went to a rodeo this evening. I did get the trailer stripped down completly, though. I didn't get any new pics tonight, but I did get a pic of my son on his first ever bull. Yeah, I'm a proud father! My 7 year old son has bigger cajones than most grown men.

*edit* Sorry for the large image. I will fix it from the PC when I get a chance. I can't resize from my phone.

Enough excuses! get back to work....splash party at my house this spring and I want to see you there! with your boat of course. We could have an Iboats reto splash day, show em off see who gets the most chicks!

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Ok, ok, ok. I'll do some work on the boat!!!

So with the trailer all but stripped down (the rollers, the jack, and the tongue are still on. I'll pull the rollers and jack when I'm ready to spray) I started to sand it down. I started with 60 grit on the 1/4 sheet sander and after 10 minutes to work a couple of feet, I got smart... I put the 36 grit wheel on the grinder, took off the guard, and went to town on the trailer. I sanded the entire top of the trailer in less than an hour! I took pictures, but you can't really tell much difference for some reason, so I won't post them. Tomorrow is cub scouts and Tuesday is gymnastics (and both days have a 50-80% chance of rain anyway) so I won't be able to finish the trailer until later in the week.

I've got some work to do tonight, but if I can get it done quickly enough, I will head to the garage and finish sanding up the hull. There's a good chance (if I don't decide to be lazy) that I could FINALLY be ready to shoot the primer/paint by Friday. That pretty much equals the turning point for me where I'm done taking apart and can begin putting it back together; where I can finally get some interesting pictures posted! I have just under 3 weeks until my "muscles" are back in town to help me flip the hull back onto the trailer, so I HAVE to be ready by then.

Judge - I've never pulled a trailer or a boat further than 150 miles, but I've also never been to Arkansas. If we can both get our boats done by then, I would definitely be game for a road trip splash party. Your boat would win the contest hands down, though! Your boat has a sharp paint job and sleeker lines. My boat is just an old, narrow tri-hull and will only have a basic paint job. It would still be fun, though!!

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

LOL man, my wife would be with me so I wouldn't be getting any chicks! but it would be a lot of fun to get some Iboaters from this region together for some fun with the boats. I did get my trailer finished today, will put new bearings in tomorrow, my mechanic friend stopped by and said races looked pitted so replace them all. Going to hold off on bunk boards until boat is ready to put on so I can set bunks properly, and lighting will be done this week. Any touch ups will be last, in case I have any new scratches when I am all done and ready to splash it. Anyhow, no more excuses, I have to start glassing....

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Well, I didn't get to where I wanted to be. I spent last night peeling silicon from the boat (where they sealed the cap to the hull) and also peeling all of the stickers instead of finishing my sanding. I did manage to sand the transom skin, though. In doing so, I really got an eye-opener. The "line" that runs from the upper mounting holes to the lower mounting holes for each side of the motor has an indention and looks like it would have given way in the near future had I have kept on chugging around on the lake with the boat as it was! I'll be making sure this is rectified!

Since I didn't make the progress I wanted to last night, I decided I would stay home from work today (rather, "work from home"). I've got a couple more hours worth of work and then I'm out to the garage. Pictures of above transom issue and the rest of the project later on this afternoon!

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Today was, by far, the most time I have spent with the boat in a single day. I decided to work from home for the sole purpose of being able to put in some extra hours on it, so I had to follow thru. A long 8 hours of doing nothing but sanding on the hull made for one dusty mess! There's still some scratches and imperfections, but most are under the water line so I'm not going to worry myself with them. I put in some more work on the two repair areas and still couldn't fair them 100%, but they are good enough for me (and 100% better than they were before the restore!). Regardless, she is finally done and ready for primer/paint! I've given her an acetone bath, but I will give it another one right before I start to spray (which unfortunately won't be until I get my bonus). I've been negligent with the pictures lately, so here's a bunch!

These "lines" are the indentions I was talking about on the transom. They weren't cracked, but the skin was pressed in to the transom. It didn't appear that it was compromised structurally, but I'm no expert. I'll take a good look at it from the inside once I pull the wood. I forgot to snap some pics before I added the filler.

Half way through the day. Notice the sag in the second picture. Is this anything to worry about? It's been like that since day one.

The repair at the bow still looks bad, visually. It makes me cringe every time I look at it, but it is faired well and feels nice and smooth. Overall, I'm pleased with how well I was able to fair it. I'm sure you pro's could have done better, but I'm happy (once I get some paint on it so it doesn't look so ugly, that is!)