posted 08-09-2009 02:31 AM ET (US)     

First, the exterior and interior is covered with crazing. I have sanded it down, but should I just sand till it is pretty smooth? Or down to the fiberglass on the whole thing? I have been told by one person to sand it [until] smooth, put a heavy primer on it, and that should fill in the cracks. But [I have] also been told to sand it to the fiberglass, and then either paint it or gelcoat it.

Also, the floor has that nice non-skid pattern to it, but it is also covered in those tiny cracks. I have been told to sand the floor completely down, but I really really do not want to loose that classic Boston Whaler boat floor. Is there a way to keep the pattern? Or, will the cracks get worse and mess up the whole boat?

Also the small holes in the transom were not sealed (and like I said it has been outside for years), and I have been told that the inside of the transom is almost completely rotted. They guy said to cut the top off, scrap all the stuff out and fill it with some kind of putty, or something. So I really dont know what to do with that.

I know this is a lot, but any advice or help you can offer is really greatly appreciated. Thank you!

heres some pictures to get an understanding--

posted 08-09-2009 08:11 AM ET (US)            

It is common on older Boston Whaler boats which have been exposed to the sun and weather without much care that the gel coat finish develops many cracks. Before applying a new top coat to any surface with cracks, you must be certain that the existing surface has been faired and smoothed, and there is no instability or flexing. Gel coat resin can only be applied effectively to a thickness of about 0.020-inch. If built up to a thicker layer it will be too brittle and become prone to cracking. Many older boats with severe cracking are just repainted after the surface has been sanded and faired.

Here is a link to about 20 prior articles on sanding and refinishing gel coat surfaces with cracks:

http://continuouswave.com/cgi-bin/sw.pl?Search=sand+cracks+gel+coat+ refinish

The molded non-skid pattern of the deck will be difficult to maintain if the surface is heavily cracked. There is a concurrent discussion on precisely this topic. Let me give you a hyperlink to it so you can see how this problem was remedied by another restorer:

Non repairable non-skid
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/016824.html

Here is a link to over 200 prior articles which mention repair of non-skid:

http://continuouswave.com/cgi-bin/sw.pl?Search=repair+non-skid

Before tearing out the embedded wood reinforcement in the transom, be certain that it is really rotted. Replacing the wood is a lot of work. The product to which you refer to as "some kind of putty or something" is probably SEACAST. Here is a link to a prior discussion about using SEACAST to repair a transom whose embedded wood was rotted:

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/013580.html

Here is a link to 40 more articles which mention SEACAST:

posted 08-10-2009 10:19 AM ET (US)            

Sand the outside of the hull with 60 grit. Get all paint and such off and remove as much crazing as possible. No doubt you will sand through the gel coat in a few places and this will let you know if all the crazing can be sanded out. I couldn't in my case. Fix any places that have holes and look for any "raised spots" where the hull has delaminated. Fix as needed. In my case there were a few places where the glass had brown streaks in it and were rotten. I ground those out and laid in new cloth with epoxy resin. Once all that is done fair out the hull with 3M putty. Don't use bondo!

Once I have all that done I am going to roll a skim coat of epoxy resin over the entire hull. The goal is to prevent the crazed gel coat from alligatoring the new paint. An epoxy company told me that was a sound plan. After that I plan to use Interlux 2000E primer and their VC performance epoxy and polish that out to a gloss white finish. This should end up looking somewhat like gel coat.

I would get a second opinion on the transom. You can tell a lot by tapping on the hull with a plastic tipped hammer. You can hear spots that aren't sound. If you are really in doubt consider drilling a few small holes in various spots in the transom to verify that the plywood inside is truly rotten. Replacing the wood in the transom is no small job and I wouldn't be looking to do it unless necessary.

Keep in mind that the hull was considered unsinkable and suitable as a life boat in an open ocean. If you are just going to use it in fresh water it doesn't need to be 100% by any means.

posted 08-10-2009 07:14 PM ET (US)            

If you do decide to paint, the Interlux epoxy primer will fill and seal the cracks if the first coat is thinned out enough. I would use this instead of the epoxy, as it is thick and will probably not penetrate the cracks as well as the thinned-out epoxy paint. My deck looked like yours in some spots, and there is no evidence left of the cracks. And the paint is easy to touch up if you have a scratch or whatever.

posted 08-11-2009 06:29 PM ET (US)            

I would do some searches on this site to see what others' experiences and horror stories are, including the gelcoat failing to harden, etc. Even the site's moderator, Jimh, has not had great results with it. And what to do about the non-skid floor pattern?

posted 08-18-2009 11:24 PM ET (US)         

But I was thinking of putting a 545 primer on it to fill in all those tiny cracks, and then either gelcoating or just painting over that.

posted 08-19-2009 02:21 PM ET (US)            

What you can do is sand the gel coat down and coat it with an epoxy product to waterproof it and then paint it. This is something you can do yourself. Just pick your products wisely and make sure they are compatable and rated for the intended use. For example awlgrip isn't rated for "below the water line".

Pick your poision, paint or gel coat, but not both. Paint will be easier for you do yourself. Gel coat has the advantage that it can be polished out as it ages and dulls. But as you have seen even gel coat may have to be replaced eventually. It goes without saying that you will have to repaint eventually. You will be surprised just how long a good paint will last though.

posted 08-21-2009 01:38 PM ET (US)            

http://www.awlgrip.com/support/literature/Documents/Awlgrip%20NA%20Guide%208pp.pdf