1993 Chaparral Gemini 190: Chronicles of a New Boat Owner (Deck Rebuild) [SPLASHED June 2018]

[bpounds1991]

 

[chevymaher]

Pretty much grind it flat to the hull. The tabbing on the hull that is flat to the hull. Make a judgment call when you get to that point. I took some out because it was dry/white resin starved. Other places it was a good as the hull and left it. It was clear and no bubbles.

 

[bpounds1991]

Oh ok thank you, yeah I knew it was thick I’ve just been trying to decide the best way to go about it. I may end up just getting a pack of the flap wheels and changing them out every few hours, since that’s about the most I can get out of them lol.

 

[chevymaher]

It took me all summer just about.

 

[bpounds1991]

Baylinerchuck how long did the ski locker/gas tank areas take you?
chevymaher i may need to kick it into overdrive then lol.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

That flat area along the keel in the ski locker and fuel cell floors is plywood. In my boat only the top was encapsulated in glass. The under side was rotten plywood. I suggest removing it.

You only need to grind until you get pink fiberglass. Grind out any pooled resin, dirt, glue, and starved fibers. It doesn’t need to be perfect. You should freshen up by grinding any areas you are going to add fiberglass, or gelcoat. I was done grinding in a couple of weekends using 36 grit flap disks on a 4-1/2” grinder.

 

[bpounds1991]

Thanks BC, that visual was extremely helpful. Today there’s no chance of rain and last night I borrowed a coworkers 7” grinder and belt sander. Time to get a few hours in this morning.

 

[bpounds1991]

2 more hours of grinding done this morning and went as smooth as could be. I will say however, the belt sander is not my weapon of choice if I had to pick. It does an excellent job at smoothing out the thickened fiberglass in the ski locker running up into the hull, but it takes longer and I think the grinder does just as good of a job. I see what you guys are talking about now (had my AHA! moment) once I pulled the wooden runner, so not all of that has to be removed just enough down to the pink "good stuff" fiberglass and far enough over to tab.My wife says I'm too impatient and always try to get things done in a hurry, so rather than blowing through 4 hours of grinding I'm doing it a couple hours at a time every day then reevaluating where I'm at. In the second picture I was trying to work on what you mentioned last night Baylinerchuck, grinding the lip down until it becomes almost one piece. Another couple of days of removing the transom gel coat and last couple pieces of wood then I should get to rolling on the real grinding.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Looking great.

 

[bpounds1991]

Interesting night at work tonight. A guy I was talking to used to work at a fiberglass company nearby, and said he could get me rolls at an extremely discounted price. He said he can get 4,6,8,10,18, and 24 oz woven in 50' wide. My knowledge on fiberglass is pretty slim, so once he mentioned anything past chopped strand or 1708 mat I drew a blank.Either way, it's definitely a huge chance at saving some cash on this project.

 

[chevymaher]

OMG talk to him about resin. Shipping and hazardous mat cost is more than the resin just about. If he can get that there is a huge savings on the project.

 

[bpounds1991]

I don’t think they supply resin there, it’s CollinsCraft fiberglass but they just do the manufacturing from what he’s told me. It just changes things because if I can get the entire rebuild’s fiberglass for free, I’m not exactly sure which weights to go yet.

 

[bpounds1991]

After doing some more reading on here today I think I’m a little better “informed” as to the layup fabrics, but it still leaves me with just one question. I should be able to get the 6oz woven for free, which will leave me all set for the decking with 1.5oz CSM, 6oz, then one more layer of 1.5oz CSM. As far as the tabbing and goes for both the stringers and deck, since they don’t have a 1708 DBM what would be the next closest equivalent without compromising too much on strength/longevity?

I had planned on getting out and grinding for a couple of hours this morning, but with the forecast showing sunny with a high in the 50s I don’t mind waiting until this weekend to put some real work in. I need to go back in with the circular saw and remove some of the bow decking to reach the rest of that fiberglass, then I’ll be working backwards one section at a time. If I can put 15 hours in this weekend I’m fairly confident I can get all the way back to the transom.

 

[bpounds1991]

Spoke with the owner of CC Composites earlier today, he invited me to come tomorrow and speak with him to find out exactly what I’ll be needing for the project. After that I should be able to get together with the guy who used to work there and pick up some fabric either Free or heavily discounted. Finally catching a break in this project

 

[oldrem]

Sounds like you might have a good thing going for you

 

[bpounds1991]

I hope so! This could easily be 250$ in savings, which could potentially keep the rebuild under 1,000$ (only necessities, tools excluded).

 

[bpounds1991]

Absolute HUGE meeting I had with the CollinsCraft owner today! We met for about 2 hours as he took me through the warehouse and how the rolls are made. He has 20 unique machines that only he owns, and out of each batch there is plenty of extra that he told me I was more than welcome to come by and take at any time. The only issue with this is it’s not woven, but he does have an 1808 that I’ll be using for the stringers/tabbing. He also showed me a 12 oz stitched that I might end up just using for the deck instead of a 6oz woven. It’s free, and it’s stronger so might as well. I took some pictures of the shop that I’ll try and upload once I get home.

 

[bpounds1991]

This place blew me away, and to think it was 5 minutes from my work this whole time..

 

[oldrem]

Sounds like you may have hit a home run

 

[bpounds1991]

It's a huge break oldrem that's for sure. I'll use whatever I can take from there but it seems like I can get plenty of 1808 for tabbing and anything else I need for the decking. That's a good bit away from where I am now, we'll see how 8 hours of grinding goes tomorrow.