99 Larson 186 SEI Ski-n-Fish Re-Deck Project

[Grub54891]

Off white or gray should be ok, much darker and it gets hot quickly. To dark gray and it will have the same effect as any dark color. How about painting some test panels, setting them in the sun and hit them with an infrared thermometer and check the differences?

 

[eggs712]

The medium gray in one of my boats burns feet on a sunny day. I would go pretty light grey to be safe.

 

[JASinIL2006]

My deck is dark blue and it can get really, really warm.

 

[QuickPuppy]

I’ve been convinced to not go with the darker grey. When I gelled the bilge and locker, it ended up a a good bit lighter than I was originally wanting it to be. (It doesn’t match the rest of the boat very well.)

Anyone tried a spatter or other technique that could get the darker grey highlights in there without it being enough to burn feet?

 

[Woodonglass]

You might consider doing a white deck with a grey zolatone effect. This is how I did my boat using blue. Easy to do. Use a Wall Paper Paste brush, Dip just 1/4" of the bristles in the paint hold the brush about 10" above the deck and gently tap it on top with a piece of wood. Gradually increase the tapping force until the brush is out of paint. Repeat. Takes a little bit of time but yields a nice effect.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Cool... I take it that is the final coat? Base coat, grip sand, one or two top coats of gel, then the spriz of color?

 

[Woodonglass]

Yup you got it!!

 

[QuickPuppy]

Any ideas on what to look for in boat carpet... probably going to carpet the sides.

 

[Woodonglass]

Any good marine carpet should suffice.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Here is the panel with the support board.


I’ll try to get better pics with the parts in place tonight.

 

[JASinIL2006]

The T-nuts I used for my seats have held well. I don’t remove them, so I don’t have experience with that, but they are holding strong.

If you go this route, just be sure to seal the holes well before installing the T-nuts.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Here are newer pics of the bilge cover..

 

[QuickPuppy]

Jim, do the t-nuts you used look like wing nuts?

 

[Woodonglass]

This is a T Nut

 

[JASinIL2006]

Mine looked just like the pic from WOG.

 

[QuickPuppy]

I almost bought some of those on Tuesday. Did you sandwich the nuts between the two pieces of ply in your bases, or put them between the deck and the base? If they were on the bottom of the base, how did you keep the bolts from bottoming out into the deck as you tightened them. I had some concerns that the bolts would only be threaded into the 1/4” or so at the bottom of the ply and push down against the deck and up against the base as they were tightened. I wanted an inch or more of shank length but 1/4” was the longest shank t-nut I could find. If they’ve worked for you all these years though, I’ll probably give them a try.

I thought about using those for the bilge panel too, but they would be installed backwards and probably pull out of the fiberglass. Will they even work in straight fiberglass without any wood?

 

[Woodonglass]

Yes, T-nuts work in fiberglass. As for the bases, how tall will they be? I made mine about 10: but they were a different design and worked differently than most.

https://forums.iboats.com/forum/boa...lamingo-splashed-w-pics?p=5591865#post5591865

I'd recommend making the bottoms from two layers of 3/4" ply and place the Nuts in the upper layer. Then you can drill 1/2" deep holes in the lower layer to accommodate the bolts extending thru the nuts. I'd also use LockTite on them when you do the final install.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Those were exactly my thoughts. (Bases like the ones Jim made.)

For the bilge cover, I need to figure out how to fasten the nuts to the fiberglass so that the opening behind them is sealed up so water won’t get behind them into the foam. I may be overthinking the whole thing as the bolts should pretty much seal the hole.

 

[AShipShow]

Why don't you use hanger bolts and install them in the deck with 5200 and use wing nuts on the machine thread side to hold the cover in place? That way everything is sealed.

 

[JASinIL2006]

I put the T-nuts on my seat bases under the two layers of plywood. I then glassed that base to the floor. I wanted two layers of plywood holding those down. I think I used 1/4” screws allso. Getting the length of the screws righr was the tricky part; it took some trial and error.