1997 super sport nautique resto-mod

[orzech]

Thanks... cant wait to be able to start buffing and see the black really shine. After thats done, its onto making a composite swim platform and an electric NSS. So i still have my work cut out for me this winter.

[s_kelley2000]

Wow I can't wait to see the finished product. You will end up with a really cool and unique boat I think. Good luck getting it finished up and thanks for sharing.

[orzech]

Got the 3rd coat sanded and removed all the orange peel, sprayed the final coat thinned out which turned out pretty good, still some orange peel but far less than the first few coat. So once this sets, its back to sanding. I cant wait to be done with this... Sooo labor intensive.

[orzech]

2nd gallon of gel comes in tomorrow so in the mean time i cleaned/painted my windshield frame. Looks 100 times better.

[Brichter14]

Wow great work! Thats looking awesome!

[orzech]

Couple coats sprayed... only another 50+ hrs of work ahead of me. FWIW gelcoat is a pain in the *** to work with/spray. You mix the gel and the hardener and its like spraying glue. You need to do that for the first couple coats. Then you spray with additives which finishes the curing process and allows you to sand the orange peel out. After that its the final coat and then more sanding and some polishing. The fun part is that you only have 15-30 minutes to work with the gelcoat before it starts to gel and gum up your gun. So it goes mix up some gel, spray your *** of as fast as possible, clean the gun and containers etc, and then repeat. Overall I am happy with how everything is turning out. I seem to have kept the orange peel to a minimum because this stuff is like spraying syrup so its tough to get a smooth finish. If anyone wants to read a good write up on gel coat, this is a pretty good article of the process involved:

http://www.bertram31.com/proj/tips/re-gelcoating.htm

[orzech]

Yeah i can't wait to start spraying some color. I am thinking of going with some stainless cupholders to give it a little bit of contrast and give it a newer, classier look. But everything else is staying black.

[Brichter14]

Ooo color me jealous! Thats gonna look sick with the black tower/accessories.

[orzech]

Yup, going with a black top deck to finish off the theme of the boat

[Brichter14]

What are your plans with the new gel? Different color?

[orzech]

A little more taping off and shes good to go.

[Brichter14]

Looks like you are making great progress! Keep us updated!

[orzech]

Just got done filled some old holes in the boat... rear cover snaps, bimini hook mounts, and where the previous owner had a quick connect for a fat sac pump in the hull... so she is almost ready for some fresh gel now

[orzech]

Wow keep us posted! How long it take you to take out all that stuff??

only takes an hr or 2 to disassemble everything. Makes cleaning/working on the boat so much easier.

Ill try to get some progress/write up pics as i do the carpet. One of my concerns is the ski locker edging. Anyone have any tips as to keeping the friction down to allow ease of opening/closing the ski locker.

[jbach]

Round 2 of resto-mod... (I have a problem leaving my stuff in one piece for the winter)

Plans to do some new carpet, different ballast, and a few other upgrades. More pics to come as progress is made.

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would love for you to take a few pictures and add some description of the carpet job along the way. i will need to do this next fall. just a basis steps and how long it took you would be great. thanks.