84 SC17 resurrection - need advice

[asmo]

Hi folks, I've begun the process of resurrecting my father's '84 BW SC17. The boat is in reasonably good shape overall, but the hulls have me concerned. There are a number of places where it appears that the bottom part of the hull has worn through the gelcoat and the fiberglass matting mesh pattern can be seen. This isn't fully exposed glass, but rather a very thin layer of gelcoat remaining. I was researching this and there seem to be mixed opinions about spraying over the existing gelcoat with new. I figure my options are:
repair locally where this is thin and blend in with the rest of the boat
repair locally and paint the whole boat
spray entire boat with new layer of gelcoat and sand/finish

In addition, I was wondering what can be done with the sail. I'm concerned about the cotton parts of the sail, given the age and possible deterioration and loss of strength. Is it more expensive to have the sail refurb'd or simply to order a new sail?

One last thing - there is a catch at the top of the mast for the ring on the main sail. In the past we had used this as a quick-release where you could "pop" the sail ring up off the hook while twisting the mast, and drop the main. This thing has never really worked properly, and actually resulted in some major issues in areas where we didn't want to be under full sail but couldn't do anything about it. Has this been improved/changed in the past 20 years? It may simply need to be moved or adjusted, but I thought I'd ask.

I will post pictures soon to give a little better idea of what I'm dealing with.

Thanks in advance

[jjd78]

glad to here your breathing new life into the old girl.... i too just finished resurectiong an 84 sc 17... i went thru and filled the few holes that i found and completely sanded down teh hulls with 250 grit sand paper to get it ready for gel...... then i sprayed teh get with booster instead or thinner.... you also don't need wax added with booster... then i just sprayed over the old gel coat.... and man did it come out great... went thru w 320 grit then 400 then 600 and finally finished it off with rubbing compound and a high speed polisher.... trust me you'll love how it comes out...... i would however spray EXTRA gel on the bottom if your planning to beach it.... keeps it from wearing thur as fast....

[pworthington]

How soon do you want to go boating? I picked up a Super Cat this summer with some hull problems. I decided to spot repair and blend for now since I do not have the equipment, place or know how to spray. I also have no interest in painting. Plus, I wanted to sail this rig.
I used a foam brush and then wet sanded. I taped off the section and did my initial sanding (200 to 400) with the tape on. Then I removed the tape and continued sanding. I will bring it to 1200 grit before I retape the stripes. The repair is decent, yeah, you can see color difference when you are close but the fairing went well. Its hardly noticable.
Your idea of bulking up on the bottom gelcoat is a good idea. Start by taping out a larger area then progressively making it smaller. This will allow a good fairing. I also did some extensive transom repairing since the aluminum threaded plate came loose inside the transom and there were some deep stress cracks there also. My bottom is fine since in the Northeast we don't have much areas to beach. Have fun and enjoy. This boat is a blast.

[randy33allen]

The new gel coat looks great! Any suggestions on places to get information on how to? I am looking at refurbing my new boat. I am not in a hurry and want to do it right. I have the fiberglass mesh showing through at the seams on the hulls in a few places. Also, how did you strengthen the transom? I have spidering that is pretty bad.

[pworthington]

The photo's may be going in reverse order, I forget if it switches before submit.

Let me start out by saying that I am not a professional fiberglass repair technician. I do research and use good quality products and common sense. I have rebuilt many powerboat transoms in the past with excellent results.

My SC17 had many spider cracks and some deep nicks. What drove me to repair it was a detached internal aluminum support bracket for the rudder bracket. First I made as small an access as possible in the transom as possible. I then re-epoxied the bracket in place and gouged out all the cracks on the transom and filled them with adhesive filler.

I use West Systems epoxy since it is stronger, more flexible, packaged well, and has excellent tech service and instructions. Also, contrary to some opinions it does take gelcoat, it's an issue but it can be overcome. I do not trust one persons opinion so do some research on this first. Epoxy is far better than polyester resins. I might not build an entire boat out of it (due to costs) but it is the only logical choice in my opinion.

Back to the project at hand. I then laid down some matting and epoxied that, then followed with some cloth and more epoxy. I have used the combo cloth which combines the two and have great results with that also. I used one layer of each since this is a repair, not a new transom. I then used fairing compound, few coats, and sanded it well before gelcoat application. Basically, the resins come with different fillers: adhesive and fairing are what I use.

I taped forward 1inch from the transom and did my gelcoating up to that point. It faired in well. I applied three layers of gelcoat on the transom and finished with a 600 wet sand. I can always go back later and bring it to 1200 wet sand if I choose. I did cover and redrill for a new transom drain plug.

Gelcoat is great stuff. It is nasty but easy to work with if you proportion the hardener properly. You can add and fair-in as many coats as you chose and even put in non-skid. I will never paint a boat, never! It may look better at first but it is not durable or "spot repairable". It is also expensive and beyond my simple means. Just my preference. My priorities are on structure and a decent finish. Love this boat ! Can't wait till April !

Pete W

[randy33allen]

Thank you for the photos. This helps.