Restoring my 17' Century boat

[Tahorover]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

I bet you are!

Just got done staining the bar area in the back of the Coronado. The Engine dog house had a little bar area/cabinet in back, in-front of the rear bench seat. It has several cup holders on top of the cover, and then behind a flip down door, inside it has room for bottles etc.... It was all deteriorated when I bought it last summer...so I kept the dog house in the garage when I took the boat to the barn. I've fabricated all new pieces from Birch laminated plywood. It's coming together quite nicely. Should be done this weekend...needs several coats of spar varnish. Stuff doesn't dry so well when the garage is 40 degrees

What I did on our 73 Coronado's bar , homemade teak:

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Sounds like you were thinking of an airless system to apply your topcoat..

Please before you Buy your topcoat .. come back and ask some more..

You can Spray both Perfection and/or Brightside..

You can also spray other paints...

Get your prep ready..and ask away on the pros and cons on as many products for topcoat as you can before you blow it on trust me..

YD.

 

[Steve302]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

What would you do?
I'm fairly new to boat painting so I am open to suggestion. I originally was going to roll and tip the paint on because I don't have a big compressor but then I was told about the airless guns. Are they any good?

Is it not better to go with the perfection over brightside? what other paint would you recommend?

Steve

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Well..you suggested that you felt more confortable with painting.. ( I was thinking that you knew about application of spray guns ) ..

I think you might consider Other alternatives other than ILux ..

How do you plan on applying your primer ? That would give you a base on how your going to Topcoat..

Airless.. probablly not a good Idea for topcoat...and what I would recommend would probably not fit your pocketbook..

Your prep will/should be able to accept high end paint..or Rusto.... its all in the prep..

When you pull the trigger..or start your roll and tip..its all the same .. Prep..all in the Prep..

Spray 3 coats of high end..or coat/sand/coat/sand/ prep..reprep..scuff/tack.. etc.... its up to you..

YD.

 

[Steve302]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

I've done more reading on spraying and although it seems I would get a better finish by going that route it requires a better respirator and compressor to do it right and safely so I am going to stick with my original plan of roll and tip application.

The only change to my original plan is switching from using brightside to perfection which I have read gives a much longer service life and is more abrasion resistant.

Is there something with perfection I am missing that would make me want to reconsider it as my paint choice? I am not stuck on interlux products if that is the case. It just keeps coming up as the paint used by many people with good overall results.

For primer application I plan to roll on 2 coats of prime-kote and sand in between.

"Well..you suggested that you felt more confortable with painting.. ( I was thinking that you knew about application of spray guns ) .." When I say I feel more confident with painting I'm referring to my experience helping friends prep and paint their cars. This has given me an overall feel for the process but I am not an expert and this is not how I make my living. This is the first boat resto for me so I may ask dumb questions but it is in an effort to get the best possible outcome.

Steve

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Hey......how's the project going!

 

[Steve302]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Hey

Its slowly coming along. So far I have it completely sanded to 80 grit and working on fairing up all the fiberglass.

I worked on it for a few hours today and was able to sand down all the filler on the port side. I am using Interlux watertite filler. Its pretty easy to work with but cures extremely hard which makes sanding a bit tough but it is coming out really well.

I also got the plywood patch cut out for the dash and brushed resin onto it. I should be able to get it glassed into the dash tomorrow morning.

Progress is a bit slow because I am working in a unheated shelter so I am at the mercy of the outside conditions and nothing cures very well in low temperatures.

Anyways that is where I am at. I am hoping to get primer onto it by next week but we well see how it goes.

I'll get some pics posted that show what I've been to.

Steve

 

[jsahc]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

i wish i would have known about this site about 2 years ago. i have a Century also believe its a '72 Raven with a 165hp I/O that ive been restoring myself. dont have all the pictures on my computer right now but if youd like to see the progress i can post later. im interested in how you decided to paint that and how nice the finish comes out.
Good luck

 

[Steve302]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Hey Everyone sorry its been awhile. I took a new job running a shovel for a land clearing company and had to put the boat on hold for a bit but I've settled into it now and have started back working on the boat.

So far I have patched all the small holes in the hull and dash from the old snaps and other assorted things that are no longer needed.

I decided to remove the vents off the front deck as the cowlings were in very rough shape and I was not happy with many of the available replacements so I glassed in the holes last weekend and have it pretty well faired up using west system resin and their fairing additive which I really like. I originally started off using the interlux watertite to fill all the small holes which works great but as a fairing compound it cures so hard it makes sanding a real PITA. As far as no longer venting the bow which is where my fuel tank is there is a 3" vent pipe running from the bow under the floor to the bilge and seeing as I always leave my blower on I am hoping it will pull any fumes from the bow.

As far as the dash goes I have glassed in all of the holes for the old switches, ignition and gauge cluster and have them pretty much faired up I think one more coat and I will have it licked. The reason I did this was I was not happy with the layout of the dash so I figured in for a penny in for a pound. Now I need to cut out some templates and lay it all out and start cutting all the holes before I can prime the boat.

One question I do have for fairing is I have filled in all of the scratches and gouges but when i was sanding down the boat I sanded through the old paint down to the gelcoat in some areas and now if you run your hand over that area you can feel a bit of a ridge. Should I bother fairing that up or do you think two coats of high build primer sanded after each coat will take care of these very light imperfections? I figure worst case scenario I will do 3 coats of primer. I plan on sanding between coats and using a cheap black spray paint as a guide coat. Is this a good idea or will the spray paint react badly with the interlux primer?

Anyways that is all for now. This has taken longer then I would of liked but thats life I guess. I do have pictures of my progress I will get on here but I need a new cable for the camera as I cannot figure out where it went :facepalm: lol. Hopefully i'll get one tomorrow so I can get pics up for you guys cause I know how much you guys like to see the progress and not just read about it

Cheers

Steve

 

[liquid]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

...well???

I'm invested in the outcome of this story/boat...

please post.

 

[Steve302]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

...well???

I'm invested in the outcome of this story/boat...

please post.

Lol sorry again when I last posted I was in the process of starting a new job and buying my first house so life has been a bit crazy this spring and summer and has slowed my progress on the boat to a crawl. I finally have my garage all organized and all of my boat stuff and tools are here so I was able to finally get back to working on my boat today. So much nicer working in my garage then in the 24'X12' tarp shed I bought when I started the project as I had nothing to work in and now houses my F350 cause it and the boat won't fit and the boat is definatley living in the garage.

Still doing some filling and sanding as I am being really picky with it. Probably to picky as I am going to do 2 coats of highbuild primer and three coats of paint with sanding between each coat but I want it to come out nice.

I can't wait to start painting and putting it back together and maybe get it out by the end of august cause i'm going nuts without my boat this summer. I have kayaks but it is just not the same lol.

anyways going to work on it all day tomorrow so I will try to get some pics up.

Steve

 

[Steve302]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Alright so I got out the camera today finally and took some pictures of my progress.

Its hard to tell from the pictures but I am finally done filling in all of the gouges and scratches not to mention the 1000 snap and screw holes that previous owners drilled into her over the years.

Also I decided to get rid of the vents on the bow as the were in rough shape so I filled in the 4" holes where the vents were. Instead of just building up layer after layer of glass to fill it I went to the dollar store and bought one of those really thin cutting boards. i cut pieces to fit and used them as a filler and put layers of CSM above and below until it was about the thickness of the original fiberglass. Then I added two more layers that were cut in squares under the hull and a layer of fiberglass cloth over top. This worked really well and I have no voids in the fiberglass as each layer got a little bigger and I bevelled the original holes to allow for increasingly bigger pieces of CSM. Was not sure if this was a good idea at first to use the cutting board but it saved me a lot of CSM and resin and it is a soft plastic so it will never rot.

Next I tackled the part I was most nervous about getting done. Oringinally the boat had a gauge cluster that fit into a hole in the dash that was about 16"X6". The cluster was in rough shape and did not allow for a speedo so I decided I would completely fill in all of the holes for old switches and gauges except for the trim switches and the 12 volt jack. All of the holes for old switches were about 1/2" so I went and bought some dowels, wet them out with resin and slid them into the holes. Then it was as easy as filling in the slight low spot I was left with and sanding it smooth.

The Gauge cluster on the other hand took a bit more work. I cut some 1/2" plywood so fit snugly into the large hole in the dash and wet it out with resin and gave it a light sanding to get the shine off of it. I then figured the easiest was was to clamp some plywood wrapped in a cloth then wax paper to the backside of the dash and built up about a 1/2" of glass before i slid in my piece of plywood I had cut earlier. My first and very last layers were cloth and I used CSM for everything else. This worked out really well for me. the backside requires zero work when I was done as the clamped fiberglass made it flush with the rest of the backside and all I had to do was some light fairing on the front of the dash to fair it all up.

My next step is to sand the boat one more time and put on my first coat of primer hopefully mid week this week. After that I am sure the primer will reveal all sorts of things I am not happy with so I will probably be doing some more fairing but it finally feels like I am getting somewhere again after almost two months of not getting to work on my boat which was eating me alive lol.View attachment 105728View attachment 105729View attachment 105730

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Have you made a final decision on Paint yet? If not, I'd make my suggestion of Rustoleum. You can check out my "My Flamingo" thread below and my paint job on my boat. I used the Hardener in the Rustoleum and I can testify that it is Tough as Nails, Shines like the sun and you can either Spray or Roll n'Roll it. Page #10 in my Thread has ALL the info on Formula and how to apply. You DON'T have to use the High Dollar paint to get EXCELLENT looking and durable results. Several other iBoaters have used the Rustoleum with the hardener with GREAT results as well.

 

[Steve302]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

As of yet I have not made a decision but i better make up my mind soon lol. The more I read about the rustoleum paint the more appealing it is but I have already bought my Interlux Prime kote as I had thought I had made up my mind on paint but it can be returned as I still have my bill of sale. I'm going to go read you thread right now.

 

[liquid]

Re: Restoring my 17' Century boat

Nice progress... I recently bought a 1985 Century Riviera 5 meter that is in pretty good condition (so i hope, we'll see when i get the floors up). Redid the steering this past week. Had her in the water dragging people around the lake and had 0 issues. Keep us updated and can't wait to see her when she's ready for liquid.
-e