As most of you know, the Hydrodyne 18's have a checkerboard texture molded into the gelcoat on the tops of the gunnales and rear decks. Unfortunately, this can make life difficult because it is difficult to prep and paint, and it is difficult to repair damaged areas. After much consideration, I decided to have a gel coat and fiberglass expert do the repairs. Basically, he takes "molds" of good, undamaged areas of the checkerboard and uses those molds to re-gelcoat the damaged areas. Tricky, time consuming work. This is what has largely resulted in the long delay in getting the boat completed. This is slow work. Attached are some pictures of the process being done on my boat. Enjoy!! Photo 1: mold material being applied Photo 2: fiberglass backing and pressure on mold Photo 3: completed mold patch. Mark
Mark, You are going to extra ordinary lengths to get this boat perfect. My boat is not that good. There is a smooth area where they removed the deck vent. jim
Your boat looks pretty perfect to me. By making the decision to do gel coat repair on the checkerboard areas, I've picked this method of repair at the expense of painting those areas. Thus, the checkboard areas will be taped off and not painted. The paint on the boat will be color matched to the gel coated checkerboard. My fiberglass guy feels that he can do a better job with gel coat repair and color matching on the checkerboard. He is concerned that if we paint the checkerboard areas, the paint will fill in the grooves and remove the textured look. However, by choosing to do the checkerboard areas with gel coat repair rather than paint, I will have to live with the slightly more off-white color and whatever unrepaired imperfections remain in the checkerboard areas. It is all a give-and-take. I actually tried to encourage him to just sand off all of the checkerboard because I don't really care about it one way or the other but he insisted on doing it this way ($$$ - Shocked ). When Tom Miller replaces transoms, he cuts the deck just forward of the splash well. I believe that the area of the splice is then left smooth, and appears as a smooth strip through the checkerboard in the area where the deck was cut. I suspect there's more than a few Hydrodyne's out there with the smooth stripe in those spots, and you know if you see that stripe there is probably a really good transom in the boat! I don't think I've seen a closeup of the rear deck part of your boat but I'm sure it looks great. I can't wait to see all of these boats in person when everyone gets together!
I'll get a picture on here of that soon along with the instrument cluster. Pam gave me a digital camera for Christmas. My rear deck is very different because I designed it that way when I converted it. The splash well is much narrower and shallower than the production outboard. It does not show up well in these pictures. My boat is painted all over and the checkerboard is fine, so I think you could elect to paint yours over the gel if you desire. Given the choice, I think I would use gel all over if that is an option. jim
Jim Gel coating the whole boat is not an option here. This guy would not do such a job and I'm not sure who would. Even if you could find someone to do it, you'd end up paying less to find someone with the mold and having them just build a new boat. There are a number of small cosmetic repais on my boat that have been made with fiberglass and have been pre-shrunk so that they don't show up later. These can just be painted and will look fine. No matter what I do, I intend to use the boat, and I intend to let the kids climb in and out, etc. so it will end up with scratches anyway. I'm building this boat to use and while I'm going to take care of it I'm expecting it to take normal wear and tear anyway, so I'm not too concerned with getting it perfect. I keep trying to impress that on the paint guy! I'd like the boat back so I can start rigging it! Laughing
Mark, The first year after the conversion on my boat, someone shoved it into a cable at the nationals and messed up a rear corner. I need to get that fixed prior to the regatta. If you use your boat in familiar places the damage will be minimized, but it will happen. We took our boat to all kinds of unfamiliar places and it did get some damage. Now, it sits in my garage most of the time and only goes out when Pam is here. I can get it fixed and it will stay pretty nice. You are right, these boats are made for fun, specially for the kids. They will love it, but it will show some wear. Every scratch will represent a fun day. jim
