General Upkeep, Maintenance

[Down Time 226]

I own a 94 226 Seafarer w a hardtop. I am the 4th among a group of obviously very particular owners. The boat has been well cared for and the last owner set her up to fish both offshore and inshore. I love this boat and work hard on its upkeep and appearance. I'm wondering what I can do about minor chips in the gel coat on the hard top and on the fish box/livewell doors. Also, I think my cabin windows may be leaking and I want to stop that before it ruins the cabin apolostry.

Does anybody have any advice for that? I would also like to get replacement cushions for the transom and livewell/fishbox seats.

 

[megabytes]

My first boat was 1988 228G. Love that hull. One of the best 22' boats made IMHO.

o gelcoat may be repaired by someone who specializes in that type of work. We have a person at WB who does repairs on all types of boats. Ask around.

o Have your windows caulked to alleviate the cabin leakage.

o Check for cushions on EBAY or on this site. They will cost more from the dealer but can be ordered.

 

[catch22]

If you want to try the gelcoat repair yourself, here's 2 ways;

First method - gelcoat repair videos.

http://www.tapplastics.com/info/video.php

Scroll down to bottom of page, (3rd and 4th from bottom), click on Windows media or Quicktime.

Second method - Marinetex.

http://www.marinetex.com/PRODUCT%20PAGE ... 20info.htm

I think using gelcoat, (if the chips aren't too deep) will give you the best results, but will require more time and color matching. If your not too concerned about an exact color match, Marinetex would do the trick and be the easiest. It's a simple 2 part epoxy paste. It only comes in white or grey.

In either case, you'll get better results on a smooth surface, (because of sanding) then on a "non skid" pattern area.
I think GW204, (member) did some pattern transfer work, hopefully he will chime in.

 

[Down Time 226]

Thanks for the tips. My hard top has minor chips on the edges, no big deal. The boat has normal chips and marks you would expect to find on a boat 13 years old, but the fis box hatches seem to be a weak spot. The one on the port side is in need of repair, and the starboard side is in good shape except for a few chips. I want to try to do it myself, because if you can't be out on the boat, you may as well be working on it. Right? But I may look for some help on the gel coat issue.

Any tips to really shine up the eisenglass? I generally use Ivory soap and use Pledge from time to time to polish them. Plastic wax at parts stores dont work as well as pledge, IMHO.

I want to repower as soon as the 94 200 Yami gives up. I want to go with a 250 for the extra power, but also the economy. I think the extra power will increase economy because of the power in reserve theroy...I can explain later.... but the question is, HDPI two stroke or four stroke?

 

[BirdRock]

HPDI is a 2 stroke engine. The 250 was problematic (at best). Lots of info on this engine if you research the net.

Our hull is a 94 (gulfstream) and is also in great shape. We've got the same damage to our fishbox covers however i've yet to do anything about it.

check out thehulltruth.com if you haven't yet. Great info on repairs, maintenance, etc and there is a current thread on how to maintain eisenglass.

 

[gw204]

If you ask me, the root cause of the gelcoat chipping is poor lamination. Whatever process they use to make these things results in a weak part. If you look around at as many Gradys as you can, you see that these hatches, fishbox lids, bow pulpits, hardtops, etc are the first to go in terms of gelcoat wearing little more time, but the end result would be much stronger.

I think if my boat doesn't sell, I may pull my hatches off and use them to make molds. Then I'll lay up new hatches using gelcoat, epoxy and real glass. For the hardtop, I'm thinking about a piece of Aluminim trim to install around the edge to essentially cover up the chipping because I don't think I'll ever be able to fix it permanently. Kind of like the trim that was on the edge of the T-Top on my old 204.

If you want to repair the existing parts, my recommendation would be to start grinding the damaged areas and not stop until you reach solid laminate. Then layup new glass, fair and gelcoat. That's what I did to rebuild my front hatch...

Holes bored out and filled with epoxy. I also layed a few alternating layers of 3/4 oz. mat and 6 oz. cloth across the front edge to add strength.

Fairing compound applied over the entire part and then sanded.

Gelcoat sprayed w/ a Preval sprayer and then coated w/ PVA to ensure proper curing. I used generic white liquid gelcoat from Boater's World and tint it with brown coloring agent to get a near perfect color match. Even thought the gelcoat is already in liquid form, I still had to thin it w/ acetone to get it to spray properly.

PVA washed off.

Edges wet sanded with 400, 600 and finally 1500. Then masked off of non-skid application.

Non-skid applied and coated w/ PVA. This was also done with a Preval. Non-skid is done with gelcoat, it just didn't get thinned as much so it was slightly lumpy when I sprayed it. This creates a random splatter pattern that matches the existing non-skid. Then I sprayed a thin layer using thinned gelcoat to top it off.

Gelcoat cured, masking removed and hatch installed.

Duplicating the diamond non-skid is an entirely different process.

http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1281


Hope this helps.

 

[catch22]

Nice post....and nice work Brian.

 

[Down Time 226]

Damn dude, you are quite the craftsman. Awsome post. What did you use to grind the hatch to solid laminate? I may give this a try after striper season ends. The weak areas you named are identical to what is happening to my boat.

Thanks for the help