'86 Sunsport Facelift

[wiatowski]

O.K. so I decided to start a new thread on the facelift... why not the Internet needs more pages doesn't it?
Started to remove the decals yesterday with the eraser wheel... about 30 sec in the drill broke. So I decided to go the razor method... not bad took me about an hour. Started sanding and the wax was so bad I needed to do something different.
Picked up some acetone this morning and stripped the wax off. Will get back to sanding after I take care of the kids for a bit.

My to do list;

1) I have to take everything off the transom still Platform, speedo pick-ups, and was thinking of taking off the Cavitation plate and putting a hinge on it... any thoughts?

2)Wet sand and polish whole boat.

3)Put on tower

4)New Decals? will post what Titan did up for me... was thinking Chrome on Black or Black on Grey.... ooor... Red on Grey. All input will be considered.


Yesterday
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Today
IMG_1094.JPGIMG_1095.JPG

New Decals
sunsport_new_graphics.JPG

[86 century]

I am in the same spot.

I used a heat gun to get the stickers off works like a charm once you get the hang of it.

I found a new turtle wax product that works wonders on the goo left over.

[wiatowski]

Big work day today, after consulting with a friend who works at a marina about my sanding issues, he suggested a "total refresh" of the gel coat. Said that my boat needed it due to the years of abuse/ over waxing. What dose this mean you may ask? I have to take off 1/2 mm of gelcoat. Sounds bad but hasn't gone to badly. Got one side rough sanded today. The pics are of the boat wet... but it's what it will be when finished. Enjoy..
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[DAFF]

What were the colours of the lettering ??? Perhaps you could incorperate that into the new stripe package. Blending the classic look with modern stripes..... Looks great too, once you are done I have another which could use a little polish!!

[86 century]

What did you use to get the 1/2mm

I am all the way down to 600grit it still looks like I havnt touched it.

[wiatowski]

Some people are going to cringe... worked my way down to 150, My friend said to work my way down till I found something that would cut it. But after I got the hard stuff cleared off it sands pretty easy. I also am dry sanding and washing off the dust between sand paper grades, and am using and 6" orbital air sander. I'm going to wet sand from 600 up. Am hoping to have the whole bottom end roughed by the end of next week,the top for some odd reason doesn't seem to be as hard and 600 and up will probably do. I figure by the time I'm finished I'll have sanded buffed and polished the Hull around 9 times. Lots of work but I'm looking at the payoff in the end.

And for all those who are shaking their heads, I'll say this; you know the shell is hard when 220 won't make a mark.

[86 century]

I am finding the same thing 320 wont make a mark.

I started with 1000 wet nothing
600 wet nothing
320 wet same
320 dry started to bring it up.

This is a bigger pain in the ars than I thought.

[wiatowski]

Are you doing it by hand? If you have the tools I would suggest an electric or air orbital sander. Light to no pressure just gliding it across... although I tilted the electric on a bit of an edge and, for lack of a better word, lightly scored the hull and the sanded the scores out... does that make any sense? I can take some pictures this morning.... I'm by no means a a pro but I know there like 5-6mm of gel coat on it. Just have to remember No pressure when scoring, kind of just touching the surface. It's seems to be the only way to get the hull one color and get rid of the stripes.

I agree after reading all the posts on wet sanding I thought this was going to be a cake walk..... Wrong. Oh well just thinking of the results.

[DAFF]

I wonder if a final pass of automotive clearcoat would make things pop wit much less effort...

[wiatowski]

I was wondering the same.
Here are some pics for you Century.
This is the scoring I was talking about I will say that the right side of the boat seems to be coming off easier I'm using 220 on the electric orbital.
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This section took about a minute to rough although it's not completely done
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Then I sand with my Air sander with 150 to get the swirls out and get this
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I want to rough the rest of the hull like this before I more up to the next grit. After I rough it I wipe it down with a rag and water sand it with the 150 then wipe it down again. This way if I miss any swirls I can see the and after it dries go over that spot again.
Hope this helps.