For that fuel tank cover/step, consider adding some sort of nonskid texture to the final gelcoat. I have used a product called "soft sand". Its made out of little rubber particles and mixes well with paint or gelcoat. It doesn't tend to settle out right away like actual sand does so you can paint more and re-mix less. Regular gelcoat is pretty thick, and needs a lot of sanding to get it flat after rolling or brushing on. There is a high gloss additive for gelcoat that lets it go on much thinner and lt lays down flatter before it kicks. It makes the gelcoat much less viscous when you roll it on so your nonskid particles don't get buried in a super-thick layer of gelcoat. The additive makes gelcoat behave more like paint when you are applying it. Ideally you want to get a smooth finish on a base layer of gelcoat before doing your nonskid with the gel thinned with the high gloss additive. Gelcoat can be tricky because it goes on so thick there is a lot of highs and lows in the finish, then you tend to sand through while you are trying to smooth it out. The most valuable and most difficult thing I learned about gelcoat is how to build up thickness before attempting to sand it flat. You need a lot more thickness than you'd expect before you begin sanding or you will sand through someplace for sure. To build up, lay on three coats letting it get to a hard but tacky state between coats. (you do not want the high gloss additive in these thick coats) Then put wax additive to the final layer and let it harden completely. (the wax is different from the high gloss additive in that it does not reduce the viscosity much but does let it cure completely if you are using polyester resins) Then lightly sand to remove the tops of the peaks while leaving the valleys still visible. Its tempting to sand too much at this point. You want the valleys to still be visible because they are your guide that prevents you from sanding through. Then lay on another three full layers of gelcoat and again sand the peaks off while leaving the valley bottoms visible. I usually do three rounds of building up or nine layers total before attempting to sand anything flat. Even so, I sand through at times. I wasted so much time when I was first starting out by laying on a few layers, then sanding through, doing a few more layers and sanding through in the same places. Building up so much seems like a lot of work, but you save a lot of time in the long run if you are not constantly sanding through. It takes a long time to sand gelcoat anywhere near flat. For decks where a nonskid will be applied in the final coats, it helps to get it pretty flat. For countertops and things you want to be easy to clean, a glossy smooth finish is good. For everything else, I don't build up as much, sand approximately flat, then roll on a final layer which will have a fine, random texture left by the roller. I call this texture "good enough" and move on. Trying to get a glossy finish everywhere takes an amazing amount of sanding. The glossy parts of the original boat were formed by the mold, not by endless sanding. How many hours you want to put into making gelcoat shine is up to you, but my experience is that work gets done twenty times faster if you think rolling on a couple layers of gelcoat with a texture left by the roller is good enough. Fiberglass does not like to go around a sharp 90 degree corner. It almost always makes a bubble near the corner because the glass fibers will bend in a curve, but not around a sharp angular corner. Where you use plywood, try using a router with a rounding over bit to round the corners as much as possible so the glass cloth can lay flat on the wood as it goes around the corner. For inside corners, use some fairing compound and a plastic spoon to make a curve on the inside of every corner. This lets the glass cloth curve around the corner instead of making a sharp bend. I'm no expert, but I did spend a while restoring some old boats, so hopefully you'll read this and avoid some of the mistakes I made when I was first starting to work with fiberglass. Its a lot less work to learn from someone else's mistakes than to learn from your own.
Cool, are you guys gonna do the ICW on the east coast or maybe "The Great Loop"? If you do decide to continue the adventure and do the loop, take your ladies, they would enjoy the gulf coast, the east coast and the canals up north. Lots of good things to see and places to shop.
You could try the alternate route to the Gulf. Make a left at the Ohio, then a right onto the Tennessee, then a right onto the Tennessee-Tom Bigby Waterway. It comes out in mobile. My buddy Charlie and I are prepping a 1989 Sun Runner 292 Ultra to make the run from the Knoxville, TN area, down to Destin next year.
I love this series, and the Mississippi trip was great too.
Glad to see Herbert back on youtube
YES ! GREAT JOB KURT! Can't wait for the new adventures!
Awesome restoration keep it up
For that fuel tank cover/step, consider adding some sort of nonskid texture to the final gelcoat. I have used a product called "soft sand". Its made out of little rubber particles and mixes well with paint or gelcoat. It doesn't tend to settle out right away like actual sand does so you can paint more and re-mix less. Regular gelcoat is pretty thick, and needs a lot of sanding to get it flat after rolling or brushing on. There is a high gloss additive for gelcoat that lets it go on much thinner and lt lays down flatter before it kicks. It makes the gelcoat much less viscous when you roll it on so your nonskid particles don't get buried in a super-thick layer of gelcoat. The additive makes gelcoat behave more like paint when you are applying it.
Ideally you want to get a smooth finish on a base layer of gelcoat before doing your nonskid with the gel thinned with the high gloss additive. Gelcoat can be tricky because it goes on so thick there is a lot of highs and lows in the finish, then you tend to sand through while you are trying to smooth it out. The most valuable and most difficult thing I learned about gelcoat is how to build up thickness before attempting to sand it flat. You need a lot more thickness than you'd expect before you begin sanding or you will sand through someplace for sure. To build up, lay on three coats letting it get to a hard but tacky state between coats. (you do not want the high gloss additive in these thick coats) Then put wax additive to the final layer and let it harden completely. (the wax is different from the high gloss additive in that it does not reduce the viscosity much but does let it cure completely if you are using polyester resins) Then lightly sand to remove the tops of the peaks while leaving the valleys still visible. Its tempting to sand too much at this point. You want the valleys to still be visible because they are your guide that prevents you from sanding through. Then lay on another three full layers of gelcoat and again sand the peaks off while leaving the valley bottoms visible. I usually do three rounds of building up or nine layers total before attempting to sand anything flat. Even so, I sand through at times. I wasted so much time when I was first starting out by laying on a few layers, then sanding through, doing a few more layers and sanding through in the same places. Building up so much seems like a lot of work, but you save a lot of time in the long run if you are not constantly sanding through.
It takes a long time to sand gelcoat anywhere near flat. For decks where a nonskid will be applied in the final coats, it helps to get it pretty flat. For countertops and things you want to be easy to clean, a glossy smooth finish is good. For everything else, I don't build up as much, sand approximately flat, then roll on a final layer which will have a fine, random texture left by the roller. I call this texture "good enough" and move on. Trying to get a glossy finish everywhere takes an amazing amount of sanding. The glossy parts of the original boat were formed by the mold, not by endless sanding. How many hours you want to put into making gelcoat shine is up to you, but my experience is that work gets done twenty times faster if you think rolling on a couple layers of gelcoat with a texture left by the roller is good enough.
Fiberglass does not like to go around a sharp 90 degree corner. It almost always makes a bubble near the corner because the glass fibers will bend in a curve, but not around a sharp angular corner. Where you use plywood, try using a router with a rounding over bit to round the corners as much as possible so the glass cloth can lay flat on the wood as it goes around the corner. For inside corners, use some fairing compound and a plastic spoon to make a curve on the inside of every corner. This lets the glass cloth curve around the corner instead of making a sharp bend.
I'm no expert, but I did spend a while restoring some old boats, so hopefully you'll read this and avoid some of the mistakes I made when I was first starting to work with fiberglass. Its a lot less work to learn from someone else's mistakes than to learn from your own.
Cool, are you guys gonna do the ICW on the east coast or maybe "The Great Loop"? If you do decide to continue the adventure and do the loop, take your ladies, they would enjoy the gulf coast, the east coast and the canals up north. Lots of good things to see and places to shop.
Keep posting more herbert videos and do another trip with him!
More vids please bro love them
weekly upload lets go herbert.
You should try building a boat out of plywood
Herbert is project enough for now.. but when he's done...
Oscar Jones if they built a plywood dingy it’d be a lot lighter. As long as they don’t fiberglass it or use epoxy it’ll last forever with proper care.
Hebert have another cruise in the plans?
Where did the trip videos go?
Gatukontoret they're on my channel.. or if you mean new ones, I'll film then when herber's done.
Good to see you back. Check out some of my DIY on wood trim and matching compound curves to wood. Great videos Keep up the good work.
sanding is the worst part.
Freaking Dave...
Hebert have another cruise in the plans?
jaysterb1 if we can get him finished by spring '19 we have some plans. Gotta get him done first, though!
You could try the alternate route to the Gulf. Make a left at the Ohio, then a right onto the Tennessee, then a right onto the Tennessee-Tom Bigby Waterway. It comes out in mobile. My buddy Charlie and I are prepping a 1989 Sun Runner 292 Ultra to make the run from the Knoxville, TN area, down to Destin next year.