extending casting deck on "76 Charger

[nebguy]

Hey all! New to posting on this site so please be gentle! I have an old "76 Charger bass boat. After about 4yrs of owning it, I have decided to put some money into it. The problem with that is that I keep wanting to spend more money on it! My question is this: I am looking to extend the casting deck. Can I use marine grade lumber to do this? I saw that someone had a very similar boat on this site, and it turned out great!!!!!!!!! Also, I think the gel coat is gone on it. Can I use Crylon automotive clear coat for this? That seems to be the quickest, easiest, and cheapest option. In a test spot it looked pretty good (not great, but better). Will this be durable enough for a boat? I keep it covered outside. Any help would be really great!!

Eric

[kf4pfw]

Hi Eric! Welcome to the BBC and the family of nuthouses. Your life has changed permanently and you will find yourself drawn more and more to spend time here. Your job will suffer as will your family and time on the water. You will have this overwhelming need to spend as much time here as you can. Look out for winter.....you may want to get a notebook so you are not interrupted by little things like go to the bathroom!

As to your question, you can use marine grade wood or aluminum. Personally, I would look closely at using aluminum angle. Light, water PROOF, easily cut with a chop saw/skil saw. You can use marine grade ply or some of the newer synthetics for the decking material Do some searches through the archive and you will turn up some interesting reading/photos/ideas on how to best prioceed. Most important thing to do before starting is to PLAN it out before buying anything. Make yourself some sketches and take really good measurements.

As to using Automotive Clear on GelCoat...DONT DO IT. Gelcoat is porus and has to breath. When you spray clear, it closes those pores off it will flake off making the top cap even worse than before you cleared it! Have you tried wet-sanding it to see if you can "save" it? Folks have had some amazing saves with wetsanding!

Good luck and again, Welcome

[nebguy]

thanks for the good advise! got up early to go work on the boat. gonna be 100 degrees today! hot up here. since I posted this, I have began the wet sanding process. I was scared at first, but it's not as bad as it sounds.

[cart7]

Post up some pictures. My first new boat was a '77 Charger 747XLT. Love to see what you've got!

[nebguy]

Sure! As soon as I figure out how to do it I will. Since you know the basic floor plan, maybe you might have some ideas on how to make it better. This is my first boat and it is older than me! Since I posted this, I have wet sanded it and am almost done with the rubbing compound. As it turns out there is a pretty nice boat under all that oxidation! I won't let the g-friend see it till it's done. Took a week's vacation to work on it this week and hope to get it done by then. Broke down and got a high speed buffer and it's not as scary as it sounds. Anyway, any ideas you might have would sure be appreciated.

Eric

[nebguy]

hey cart7, i have a crazy question. on the hull, beneath the trim, was you're boat just flat paint? I used acetone to remove some scuffs and they came off the same color as the boat. is this just old wax? i can't seem to find any pics on the internet to tell me what it's supposed to look like.