New gelcoat or let it be?
- Thread starter ak_weston
- Start date
Wayne McCown
New member
What are "strakes"? 
Captains Cat
New member
Here are some "strakes" on an aluminum hull.
They are the triangular things on the flat hull bottom. On a CD, they are typically on the outboard edge of the hull from about 1/3 of the waterline length to the stern. Provide lateral stability. Not dumb at all....
Charlie
They are the triangular things on the flat hull bottom. On a CD, they are typically on the outboard edge of the hull from about 1/3 of the waterline length to the stern. Provide lateral stability. Not dumb at all....
Charlie
Wayne McCown
New member
Thanks, Charlie! "Strakes" are well illustrated by your picture!
I didn't/don't see "strakes" in the C-Gull photos. I suppose that is because they are located towards the rear, as you suggest.
Cordially, Wayne
I didn't/don't see "strakes" in the C-Gull photos. I suppose that is because they are located towards the rear, as you suggest.
Cordially, Wayne
AK Weston... I had a 1982 houseboat for the last 12 years which had been thru a tornado, etc.. I just got a repair kit and little by little, ground out, filled and sanded all the nicks and dings over several years with a bout a dozen slightly different white colors, but the repairs were really not very noticeable when the boat was waxed and much more resistant to scratching than a thin coat of paint.
John
John
Wayne -
The starboard strake is visible in the left of the photo just to the right of the outside bunk board on the trailer. The strake is wood and runs the length of the boat. The center strake is gone, with the yellow discolored streak down the middle giving away where it used to be. The port strake is not visible in the photo.
Weston
The starboard strake is visible in the left of the photo just to the right of the outside bunk board on the trailer. The strake is wood and runs the length of the boat. The center strake is gone, with the yellow discolored streak down the middle giving away where it used to be. The port strake is not visible in the photo.
Weston
Weston-
Pay particular attention to drjohn77's comments about the strake replacement.
It's much better to completely seal the bottom in fiberglass, then attach the strakes with epoxy and glass cloth without putting screws through the fiberglass bottom into the plywood.
You can put enough glass cloth over the strakes to make them fairly resistant to wear, but this way, even if they do wear through, the water won't go into the boat bottom itself.
Joe.
Pay particular attention to drjohn77's comments about the strake replacement.
It's much better to completely seal the bottom in fiberglass, then attach the strakes with epoxy and glass cloth without putting screws through the fiberglass bottom into the plywood.
You can put enough glass cloth over the strakes to make them fairly resistant to wear, but this way, even if they do wear through, the water won't go into the boat bottom itself.
Joe.
seasport_ak
New member
ak_weston":2cmhkt9p said:
I use CAC they are located on the parks hyw. at mile 38.4 just take the hyer road exit and double back on the frontage road about a 1/4 mile. You can see the shop there with all the boats parked out front. You can also see there shop from the parks hyw on your right. They do top notch work my boat is there now getting touched up. It is a good Idea to get on the list to get repairs done soon. Most boaters wait tell spring to get repairs done and the wait can be long to get in. There # is 376-7111 good luck :]
Thanks Seasport_ak! That is really a coincidence that CAC was where I was planning on taking the c-gull for a quote this weekend. Hearing someone here recommend them makes me feel better. Hopefully they can help me out without totally breaking the bank. They sure look busy with the amount of boats out front.
Weston
Weston
Wayne McCown
New member
Thanks: I was looking in the wrong photo!
For anyone interested in the finished result, I got my boat back from the shop yesterday. Believe it or not it was there since November. They said they were very busy & since I wasn't going boating in the winter I didn't mind if they stored it in their yard all winter.
They put the paint pretty high to cover the multitude of dings and scratches it had especially in the bow. I am pretty happy with the result and am ready to go boating now.
Weston
They put the paint pretty high to cover the multitude of dings and scratches it had especially in the bow. I am pretty happy with the result and am ready to go boating now.
Weston
Here is what I may do.
Have the hull checked out to make sure that there isn't any major problems with the underlining core. If OK, use AWLGRIP. You could use any color you want, red, green, pink, what ever suits you. Shop around if you do not want to do it your self. In the east there are a lot of people who do it.
If you go to do it, do not do it in the spring. The painting company will promise you an early date, and then do it when they care. Happened to me last summer with a fiberglass job. Promised in June. Done in August.
Good luck.
Fred
Have the hull checked out to make sure that there isn't any major problems with the underlining core. If OK, use AWLGRIP. You could use any color you want, red, green, pink, what ever suits you. Shop around if you do not want to do it your self. In the east there are a lot of people who do it.
If you go to do it, do not do it in the spring. The painting company will promise you an early date, and then do it when they care. Happened to me last summer with a fiberglass job. Promised in June. Done in August.
Good luck.
Fred
ActiveCaptain
New member
I'm going to jump into the fray here. I've been lurking on the site because of my CD, TC, and C-Ranger interest. I have a fair amount of gelcoat experience and thought I'd chime in with what I know. I was taught by an expert boat paint and finish guy who showed me how simple it all is.
Gelcoat is simple to work with and has big DIY advantages over AWLGRIP and the other exotic paints. Here are a couple of points:
- You can apply gelcoat yourself using inexpensive tools and materials.
- Gelcoat can be applied in various thicknesses. It maintains its color throughout the material so it can be sanded and polished. In the beginning I would put much thicker gelcoat patches in so I could sand it out - it would generally take a few gelcoat coats to get it perfect. Later I learned to patch areas with epoxy and filler and spray thin coats of gelcoat because the epoxy and filler sanded cleaner the first time.
- Gelcoat can easily be applied with inexpensive "Preval" sprayers. You don't need an expensive spray system. These Preval components produce outstanding results (http://www.shipstore.com/search?search=preval). A spray cartridge at Napa costs about $3 and will fix many small scratches. I'd guess that it would take 3-5 cartridges to spray an entire CD22 hull with a single coat.
- If you mess up a gelcoat application, you can sand it off and do it over.
- It takes about 10-20 applications before you feel comfortable with applying the material. This is a very important point. I've seen many people give up after the first time because they didn't like the results. If you stick with it, it gets easy fast.
- It is easy to fix scratches and nicks yourself. If you do it right, you honestly can't tell that there was ever anything done.
AWLGRIP is beautiful, no question. But it really needs to be applied by a professional. It is a thin paint and needs a large overspray area to fix small scratches. Any boat has little nicks that develop over time. It's very nice to be able to take 20 minutes out to fix them whenever you want. Color matching can be an issue although that can be solved too especially since there is a C-Dory factory still manufacturing the boats. With feathering and sanding a fix, small differences in color won't be noticed even with sun fading (as long as the boat isn't 20 years old).
My main point is that gelcoat is easy and inexpensive. It's one of those things that can be done yourself producing excellent results. It's well worth the $20 in materials + $20 in gelcoat to experiment with in hidden areas. You'll be surprised how easy it is.
Gelcoat is simple to work with and has big DIY advantages over AWLGRIP and the other exotic paints. Here are a couple of points:
- You can apply gelcoat yourself using inexpensive tools and materials.
- Gelcoat can be applied in various thicknesses. It maintains its color throughout the material so it can be sanded and polished. In the beginning I would put much thicker gelcoat patches in so I could sand it out - it would generally take a few gelcoat coats to get it perfect. Later I learned to patch areas with epoxy and filler and spray thin coats of gelcoat because the epoxy and filler sanded cleaner the first time.
- Gelcoat can easily be applied with inexpensive "Preval" sprayers. You don't need an expensive spray system. These Preval components produce outstanding results (http://www.shipstore.com/search?search=preval). A spray cartridge at Napa costs about $3 and will fix many small scratches. I'd guess that it would take 3-5 cartridges to spray an entire CD22 hull with a single coat.
- If you mess up a gelcoat application, you can sand it off and do it over.
- It takes about 10-20 applications before you feel comfortable with applying the material. This is a very important point. I've seen many people give up after the first time because they didn't like the results. If you stick with it, it gets easy fast.
- It is easy to fix scratches and nicks yourself. If you do it right, you honestly can't tell that there was ever anything done.
AWLGRIP is beautiful, no question. But it really needs to be applied by a professional. It is a thin paint and needs a large overspray area to fix small scratches. Any boat has little nicks that develop over time. It's very nice to be able to take 20 minutes out to fix them whenever you want. Color matching can be an issue although that can be solved too especially since there is a C-Dory factory still manufacturing the boats. With feathering and sanding a fix, small differences in color won't be noticed even with sun fading (as long as the boat isn't 20 years old).
My main point is that gelcoat is easy and inexpensive. It's one of those things that can be done yourself producing excellent results. It's well worth the $20 in materials + $20 in gelcoat to experiment with in hidden areas. You'll be surprised how easy it is.