That is gonna be a fun little boat
That is gonna be a fun little boat
Second polish is done. I signed up with Glidecoat and have product arriving tomorrow. They offer a super fine polish so I ordered some for a third polish before applying the Glidecoat Ceramic coating. The plan is to put 2 coats of Glidecoat everywhere but the running surface with the 400 grit scratches. I thought on Scream & Fly somebody would have tried a Ceramic coating on the running surface but the only place I see is prop coatings. The prop coatings are mostly a 2 part product. Well since I have a boat lift in my shop I'm going to coat the running surface with several coats. If it wears quickly but produces a noticeable performance increase I may have to try the 2 part product on the pad area at least.
Quick Shot of the progress.......
Second Cut Polish.jpg
Edit; The Glidecoat Pro is a 2 part system. I unpacked the box this morning. A professional applicator is necessary for purchasing the Glidecoat Pro. I will post the results when application is finished.
Last edited by rojoguio; 06-18-2020 at 06:09 AM. Reason: Glidecoat Pro is 2 Part System, Found hull areas to polish again
Can we all get a slow clap going for Rojo? This guy is a monster. Keep it up, I love keeping up with your restorations.
Man, Thank You! I dropped $700 in stashed tip money today on 3M DA Sandpaper, Rage Gold, mixing pads, 3M's new purple masking tape (you can make tight circles without using fine line), and lastly 6 new foam pads to finish polishing out the hull. Glidecoat's Nano polish feels super slick, like a high end 3M product. My polishing pads have been used for too course a compound to use with the new polish. Hopefully tomorrow will see a completed compounding. A couple of days then on to polishing. The final step will be Ceramic Coating. I will document well for all who would like more information about ceramic gelcoat coating before investing.
Quick trip yesterday morning before the skiers got out of bed. 35 very tasty, tidal waters, Crappie. If you have never ate Crappie from a flowing estuary you don't know what your missing. These are super sweet compared to lake fish.
Pearl River Crappie.jpg
I have one family of customers that rely on my help taking care of their small fleet. With the tropical storm's tide surge forecast to hit us directly I was over with my Bobcat pulling trailers & boats out. They had to be put back. I noticed one lower unit was banged up a bit, a 33ft Pursuit. Anyway turns out I had to pull lower unit on Port engine & VST Tank on the Starboard, both needs attention or repair. The distractions like this are dragging out the VL100 project. I wash a project (Car or Boat) with Dawn between compounding & polishing grit changes. The project's finishes get a coating of the previous cutting particles and oils that needs to be removed before moving on to the next step. The pictures are after 2 washings with Dawn & Hot water. I do not allow any water to dry on the job afterwards settling particulates on the virgin finish. After blowing all the water off with 150psi filtered air a new out of the bag microfiber towel is used to pickup any dirt the air swirled up.
Today I can move on to Glidecoat's NANO Polish. This will be the final prep before applying the Glidecoat PRO 2 part Ceramic coating to the polished surfaces. I don't think I bought enough for the running surface. I was able to have a very good conversation with Glidecoat's main Application Tech. We agreed 4 coats should be used on the Pad Area so I will do that separate. Also had a meeting with a very successful Hydroplane racer (Best Yamaha Mechanic here) about their experiments with different "Speed" coatings. He said the blueprinting was the most meaningful change. The Ceramic hull coatings were not out when they were racing (they used several coating with marginal success) but after showing the Ceramic's properties I could tell he wished they were.
Here are more pictures with the boat washed and dried. I left everything setup for this morning and fixed a drink.
2nd Polish Complete 1.jpg2nd Polish Complete 2.jpg2nd Polish Complete 3.jpg
Nice lines.......
Quick couple of pictures after Glidecoat NANO Polish & first coat of Glidecoat Pro.
Glidecoat 1.jpgGlidecoat 2.jpg
How did you thin the gel? Did you use Duratec?
To get millage I'm spraying gel through a 2.5mm tip. That being said MEK is used to thin gel just enough to get it out of the gun. Once millage build is close each coat gets a 25% increase in Duratec's High Gloss Additive until using a 50/50 mix. The final shot is 35/65 Gel to Duratec mainly to assist cutting to a polishable finish.
I generally like surprises and this was expected. The original floor was Lauan, bare wood, stapled to the stringers with a little chop on top. It had a crown right where the deck drain was. The boat must have had standing water in a rain. I saw it when I removed the original floor. Well as you can see, the pitch I put in the Coosa 26 floor will drain all deck water to deck drain. I set the cap on and immediately knew some trimming was going to be needed. The middle area of the cap was riding about 1/2in high from original screw holes. Planning to tape the cap to the floor I am faced with cutting the old screw down flange off anyway but now it will be a trick since the pitch needs to match the new floor deck. Attached are a few pictures to show the pitch differences. The cap is upside down so use your imagination to see the problem. I think in the center I'm off close to a inch. Assuming trimming the difference of the cap attachment screw holes off the sides should put me in their pretty close. The new floor is thicker than the original so that helps too. This post is being recorded for future project planners to keep this in mind when taking a old beater and tricking it out. You really have to keep 10-12 steps ahead in mind at all times to avoid re-doing something.
New Floor Pitch.jpgCap Mating Surface Pitch.jpg
It looks like I will be forced the trim the cap more, completely removing factory flange. Looking at the flange topside I can see it is cracked 50% of the way around. Must not have fit well to begin with or a lot of flexing. This is a total re-design on the rigging. Hydraulic steering, custom fuel tank, deck & bilge plumbing, all different. The factory holes in the cap are all wrong except the 2 vent holes. All the holes got a piece of 1708 and Vinylester so the rest of the plug work can be done from the top. Coosa 26 plugs will be epoxied in place then exterior glass repaired. I'm also forced to TIG up a custom aluminum fuel tank the 15gal I bought for it is too small. Was planning on the 90Etec but now a 115 Yamaha 2 stroke will need more gas. The gas fill is in a really bad place, the aft deck seat base has to be relocated out of the way of the new fuel tank, I'm installing my new LED side navigation lights right into the side of the hull, the trolling motor will either be installed on the Stbd side or I will TIG up a custom mount moving it a bit forward of where it was mounted. All the existing holes have to go. It's 15ft boat, space is precious. If I can gain 12 inches for jig poles it's worth the extra work relocating the trolling motor.
Plugging Holes 1.jpgPlugging Holes 2.jpgPlugging Holes 3.jpgPlugging Holes 4.jpg
Just a quick post on how I rotate hulls & caps using 3 chain hoists. You need nylon straps if you do not want to scratch anything. I rig the front and back hoists either on center for hulls or through the hatch openings on caps. The example here is for flipping the cap. The center hoist is used to control the rotation, no physical lifting is done, the hoists do all the work. The nylon straps let you rotate the cap while keeping their grip as long as you cinch them up tight to begin with. I lift with all 3 to start, then lower the middle until the cap is hanging from the other 2 hoists. Then slack off the center hoist so you can move the chain to the other side of the cap then reconnect to strap. A towel is sometimes need on the chain until it clears the finish side of the cap. After it is flipped it hangs crooked so I lower the cap to the floor, re-rig the hoists using 2x4's on center with the strap eyes over the ends to give me a lifting point.
Rotating Cap Rigging 1.jpgRotating Cap Rigging 2.jpgRotating Cap Rigging 3.jpgRotating Cap Rigging 4.jpgCenter Rigging Cap.jpg
Thanks gor sharing more of your great work. Can’t wait to see more.
15 gallons tank is not bad for a 115 hp and 15ft boat. My old Procraft 1650 only had an 11 gallon tank with a 115 hp.
Well the 15 gal tank is bought and sitting in my shop. The other VL100 I fish out of now has a 18 gal tank and with a 90hp Evinrude Crossflow it seemed I had to go to the gas pumps very regular. Was you engine a Yamaha?
Last edited by rojoguio; 07-02-2020 at 06:45 AM.
Replied to your PM. With the 15 gallon tank, you will have to go to the gas station often, but as long as you are not making runs too far, the 15 gallon tank should do you well. All of the 115 hp carb 2-strokes will burn about the same amount of fuel.
I would love to spend a month learning from your skills.
Started installing hull hardware today. Been a bit under the weather so just now getting a little work done. Also have a 240LTS in for a bit of PM and Garmin / Fusion / Sirrus FM network problems. Anyway, I found years ago just guessing if my drill bit is straight & square didn't work too well. Always had problems installing hardware like Bow Eyes, Stern Eyes, thru-hull penetrations, etc. So I started using my drill press to drill a cheater fixture to help keep bit perfectly square and locate stuff in the same place. I test fit my hardware into the jig before drilling the boat. Here a piece of 100 year old Mahogany flooring is used to set height, angle, and keep holes perfect. You can see in the pictures how tight the hardware fits to mounting holes. By cutting the mounting angle in the jig I just flip it over to mount the eye on the opposite side.
Drilling Jig1.jpgDrilling Jig2.jpgDrilling Jig3.jpgDrilling Jig4.jpg
Nice.... I think that was the part I was most nervous on and actually sweat a little. I'm sure you did a better job than the factory. I noticed mine were not straight when I started my project and once it caught my eye it drove me crazy...
We always see our own mistakes the most.........................we always figure out a better way to do a job after completion too.
Well talking about being nervous, cutting a hole in the side of your boat to install flush side running lites will make anyone nervous. Especially if no good pattern exists. Here are Donovan's Black over Stainless LED side marker Lites. They are good quality, have a great gasket, recessed lens making it harder for a stick-up to damage it, all around well designed. I really do not like the Lite Base where you stick your light in, the bases give problems and you are always carrying this loose light fixture around. On this particular boat once again space is a premium. With all the electronics & stuff that must be shoe-horned in a organized way, functional, accessible, useful, in such a small area removing the lite base is necessary. First things first, the "Pattern". I take my time when making these, getting it right is huge. So once I have a good fit I transfer the mounting holes first. I use the fixture itself to mark the location of the mounting holes on the outside of the hull, no guessing, know exactly where you are mounting the lite. I always want inside access if at all possible. Drill the mounting holes from the outside. Using screws and fender washers I mount the pattern to the inside of the hull using the holes I just made. Using a jumbo sharpie I color in well the entire area to be removed. A holesaw was then used to remove the bulk of the fiberglass in the shaded area. Afterwards I use a air die grinder affectionately named "Brutus". It has a 3/4in diameter carbide, single cut, bit that eats glass for breakfast. Working from the inside I open up the mounting hole carefully always removing material so the lite mounting holes are moving towards the holes drilled into the hull. Once I can just slide the lite in flush I stop fitting. When mounting the lite I marine silicone both sides of the gasket before screwing in place. Seal the back side of the lite too! Here I'm using 8/32 SS allen head screws with SS Loc-nuts. The pictures support the job.
Running Lite Pattern.jpgFitting Opening to Lite.jpgFitting Opening to Lite 2.jpgWork from Inside.jpgSeal Both Sides.jpgFinished Lite Install.jpg
When adding the two boxes in the floor of the boat the dividers locations were transferred to the gunnels in such a way I could accurately layout their locations with the floor installed. The forward box is smaller and designed to hold 2 - PC925 Odyssey batteries for the trolling motor. The aft box will provide storage for the essentials I always have on board, tools, emergency gear, etc. Also it will store the extra tackle boxes for different species of fish. In the fall I can catch crappie, bass, flounder, spotted sea trout, and redfish all in the same 3-4 miles of river. The last few years all the freshwater has cut the salinity to the point the saltwater fish have been harder to catch limits of but still some days you just can't strike out, fish are everywhere you throw. I carry small tackle boxes for everything, besides crappie and need a place "out of the way" to store them.
Anyway, you can see in the pictures after fitting the cap to the new floor or deck I took the time to outline with a sharpie the position of the cap in relation to the floor. A second dotted line was traced of where the new console is located on the floor. Finally the dividers of the floor boxes was transferred to the floor. From here the exact location of the floor boxes are easily seen. The hatches for forward and aft compartments were laid out, the holes cut, and Brutus used to make a tight final fit of the hatch flanges. The original deck drain just drained into the center stringer if you remember from an earlier post. Very poor boat building. Anyway the new deck breaks to the center, draining the water right to the new cast SS 1-1/8in deck drain. I ordered Sierra's higher end wire reinforced, glycol resistant 1-1/4in hose to connect the floor drain to the bilge in the stern of the boat. This is necessary as I'm taking a page from Champion's boat building playbook. The Void under the livewell & fuel tank is getting Foam Filled for added flotation. Along with the two new side flotation additions planned on both gunnels I will be adding a additional 150-160 pounds of positive flotation to the stern. With the addition of the hydraulic jackplate (not on the USCG tested boat) and the engine weighs an extra 38 pounds (more than any 4 cylinder under 100HP in 1990's) , 8 inches further aft (additional lever factor), and finally assuming the boat the USCG tested had more flotation than the production boats I want to add a safety cushion. After talking to numerous insurance companies I won't be able to get any insurance worth the trouble to purchase for a 1995 boat. I have to try to keep it floating at all costs. It looks like I can add close to an additional 100 pounds of positive flotation in the bow too. Will cross that bridge later. The floor voids / storage will be waterproof too for some time. The new fuel tank is 3 gals less than the old one, gives a little more room the get to bilge pump.
Layout Lines Complete.jpgCentering Trolling Battery Hatch.jpgTightly Fitting Hatch.jpgFitting Deck Drain.jpgDeck Layout Complete 1.jpgDeck Layout Complete 2.jpgAft Layout and Planning.jpgDeck Drain Hose to Bilge.jpg
Any updates? Waiting to see the finished boat?
2008 Ranger 178VX
150 Yamaha V-max
GO Fins!!!
Reply With Quote