Thread: Need a little help

Check out TNT's thread about his boat restoration, his paint looked bad but he got looking like new. If that guber can do it you shouldn't have any problem. Jk tnt...... Don't know anyone for the carpet job, sorry.

Seeing how you are in FL, may want to look into turning your Ranger into an Intercoastal model.......no carpet - maybe some type of roll on vinyl style like they put on metal boats? May not be at all possible for a fiberglass boat, but just a thought if you are going to redo the boat and being in FL. As for the oxidized fiberglass, TNT did find and use some stuff that made his other boat look pretty good after some elbow grease and some TLC......may have used it on his current boat too.....I can't remember. He will probably post something about it.......Good luck which ever way you go. Seen some really nice boats after restoration.

On the last boat I had, I used some stuff called Poli Glow and it made my boat look brand new....For about 2 months...So I stripped it off and prepped the boat "properly" (this time) and coated it with 6 more coats of Poli Glow...Same results....Seems that after a couple of months it would start clouding up and make the finish looks hazy...Didn't like that stuff at all!!...So I stripped it off again and rubbed the boat down with some polishing compound and alot of elbow grease...Then I washed the boat thoroughly, lightly buffed it and used some wax on it called "Liquid Glass". It costs about $25 for a pint of it but that pint will go a long ways. I waxed my 19' Searay and my Chevy Cobalt and still had 25% of the pint left. This stuff works great. I am not a paint and body person by no means, but getting all the oxidation off the finish and cleaning it good before buffing and waxing it is the key to a nice shine. My boat was a 88 model and I knew I could never make it look like a new one again but it looked good for a boat of that age. I don't know just what kind of shape it is in now, but it will take some blood, sweat and tears (and a few dirty words)....I put my carpet in myself and it turned out pretty good and I had never done that before either. Just cut the carpet to fit the area you are working in. when you have it like you want it, pull up 1/2 of it and apply some glue to it, then put that 1/2 in place and repeat for the other 1/2...I would recommend that you use Contact Cement around all the edges. It really ain't that hard if you are physically able to do the work. I moved from Brooksville 15 years ago, so I don't know anyone in that area anymore that does that kind of work...But I'll call my ex-brother in law and see if he knows anyone (He lives in Springhill)...I'll let you know if he tells me anything....Good Luck!!

89Ranger , Please do not put regular pain on that Ranger You will be sorry, had a buddy do it to his boat ,looked like He#$ fish eys everwhere , Best to do like TnT did , lots o work but better results RR

when puttting carpet on- make sure you can get almost all of the old carpet and
cement off the boat. When i did mine - almost stopped competely when boat was
clean of carpet.......beautiful metal flake under carpet - maybe your ranger will be
same as they usually metal flake entire boat prior to carpet being layed. If you elect
to continue and put on new carpet - use a good grade of indoor / outdoor carpet - c
can actually get some good deals on e-bay for marine carpet. Do not buy the top
of line...about midway grouping is best. Too much pile and you will hate it......Go with
a Grey / charcoal grey of that coloring........black is very hot - blue shows every little problem. and number thing about laying the carpet is keep the pattern all running same direction - will will be able to tell when you run hand down carpet.......
if everything running smooth to touch your ok, if it piles up on you going wrong direction. Seats - upholstery - I found a guy down in Ruskin that did my seats for
$125.00 ea........... look around and talk with some upholsters...........
(use lots of Mineral Spirits & several putty knifes to clean the cement off floor before
carpet) Another thing about laying carpet - allow 1 - 1.5 inchs beyond point of
setting - be ready to use lots of razor blades to cut it to your liking.
There are people in fibreglass business that will gellcoat it for you, again look around
and make phone calls, some will do prep and shoot it - than you get to rub it out and
buff...(lots of sweat involved but price might be right) if you wish have many
picture of my procraft when we did carpet.

Here is a good post on another forum by someone who painted their hull.......the following is an excerpt....

"We washed the boat 3 or 4 times with different strippers (acetone and on off mainly) to strip everything from the boat. From there, we went around and sanded the gelcoat to rough up the surface. Then the fun began... I think we repaired 50 some spots. Little nicks, scratches, and 1 main spot where the cover I believe, had worn through the gelcoat and the fiberglass had began to show.

It was about 4 days of filling holes, sanding, refilling... making everything perfect. From there, we covered the entire boat, trailer, driveway, etc... and picked a good day and sprayed it. We didnt prime it, because the gelcoat was in good shape, and can be used as a primer... unless there is a lot of damage, impurities, etc, and you need a primer coat to help hide those.

We used Awlcraft 2000 because it is much more forgiving to impurities then regular awlgrip. Since we were going to spray it outside, we knew that would be an issue. It ended up being a lot better then we thought."

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-outdoor-photos/204729-boat-painting.html