Boat Buzz

With 125 replies and over 13,000 views on the 327Q engine project thread I started last year, I finally started on hull and figured I should post some pictures of what that engine will someday send ripping down the lake.

This is a 1969 Chris Craft 17' Cavalier Ski Boat.
#49/100. These boats were only made in red and at some point, it was painted (very poorly) white with a red boot stripe. I spent a couple evenings this week stripping the paint and have another day's worth of work to finish stripping, then I will fix a couple small blemishes and start spraying primer. This leads me to my next question. I have researched so much paint that it is all starting to run together. What are your thoughts on the topcoat? I am on a budget here, so I can't regelcoat or use any House of Kolor paints.

What experience do you guys have with the following:

Epifanes Monourethane, Interlux Brightsides, or DuPont Imron-those are the single stage paints I'm considering.

Awlgrip, Epifanes Polyurethane, or Interlux Perfection-Double or triple the price and then some.

Automotive basecoat and SPI Polyurethane Universal Clear coat-Same price as the 2 parts, but dry much faster and can apply multiple coats in a day.

This boat will be trailered and will never sit in the water more than a couple of days at a time.

Any thoughts, especially those speaking from experience, are greatly appreciated.

And before any one asks, NO, the fridge in the background is not for sale!!!!

That is a 50's Fridgedaire that is whisper quiet and works better than any fridge on the market today. Maybe someday it will get a fresh paint job.

I have used Petit Easypoxy on wood, metal and glass. Fairly economical and gives a good shine.

Thanks Doug. Petit is also on the list, however, the Epifanes was the most durable of the one parts in the Jamestown Distributors side by side comparisons. Petit makes good products.

I had great results with the Epifanes 2 part poly. Easy to apply great leveling and fast dry time. 4 years later and no scratches or chips. Boat is in fresh and salt water on avg 6 months a year.

I would use automotive in this application. build the primers with something like 404 Interlux epoxy, and sand it out as smooth as possible. I'm not sure how fair your hull and topsides are, but attention to detail in the prep stage will be everything. I would take the boat to someone with a booth too...

Those Cavalier ski's are really cool.

Thanks Peter. As far as a booth goes, we have painted 2 1967 Chevelles, a 1966 Mustang, a 1968 Skylark Convertible, a 1962 Cub Lo Boy Tractor, a 1971 Corvette, and many other small projects in this garage with very little dirt. We have air filters in removable panels in the door and a filtered fan in the rear window. After a good cleaning and wet down, you would be suprised how clean the air is in this garage.

The hull and topsides are in great shape and will be sprayed, blocked and filled until smooth as glass. I have stripped almost the entire hull now and have only two small repairs to make besides the cracked gelcoat around the rear lifting ring. I am going to grind that out and fill it with a small amount of strand or mat in order to strengthen that area. This boat does not have the factory ski pole, so the rear lifting ring has been used as the tow pole and has cracked the area around it.

Only motor better than the one in that frig....is the one going in the boat!

Carry on!

John in Va./

Finally finished the chemical stripping today. I have been using the fiberglass safe Aircraft Stripper and it has been a real pain in the aft. Whatever kind of paint was used the first time has been very tough to cut with the stripper. I have one hull side and the interior parts to sand then I'll be ready to fix the couple small spots and start with the primer. One more good day and the paint will be completely gone. This thing might see water this year after all.

Keep at it!!!

John in Va.

quitchabitchin wrote:This thing might see water this year after all.

Murphy does not like it when you say things like this!

mfine wrote:

quitchabitchin wrote:This thing might see water this year after all.

Murphy does not like it when you say things like this!

Then there is Goldfarb's law...
"Murphy was an optimist"

A little progress is better than no progress at all. I'm still putting my Q back together. Who knows when I'll start on the hull?

Let me know if you find a source for the ski pole. I need one as well.

I do seldom see the poles themselves on eBay (I'm an eBay junkie) and they go for around $150-$200, but I would need the whole setup. Hunley in Texas said he could fabricate it for $350. I am not sure how it is setup on the Commander SS, but I doubt it is the same setup as the ski boat because of the engine placement.

I have a picture of the bracket for the SS somewhere. It's essentially a bracket bolted directly to the intake manifold. A steel tube (sleeve) welded to the bracket for the ski tow pole to drop into. The angle of the tube would have to be pretty precise for the pole to line up with the hole under the SS badge.

Here are a couple of updated photos. I'm not far off from patching and primer...

That looks like a LOT of work. I like to cuss at the previous owners as I "undo" their handy work.

How does the original gelcoat look?

The original gel coat looks good under the dash and other hardware, but I am not even thinking about saving it. There is a good size patch on the front port side, about the size of my hand, that will need filled and faired and there are two or three small (dime size) air bubbles in the gel coat that need fixed. The rest of it is in surprisingly good shape. One heavy coat of high build primer should be enough to block it down and get a nice smooth finish. I am still a little undecided on the choice of paint, a decision I'll need to make pretty soon.

Have you considered Awlcraft?

http://www.network54.com/Forum/424840/t ... +Sport+%29

Found my pics of the various ski tow brackets. One that looks appropriate for your ski and others for the v-drive.

Hard to tell which are custom-fabricated or factory.

The last picture is a '69-'70 Ski...same as mine.

Two good 6-7 hour days with no kids and we have some good progress. The first coat of primer is on, I ran out of activator so it's only one coat, but all the worst filling and patching are done. After finally deciding on a color (GM Victory Red), I had pretty much settled on using a single stage paint such as Nason FulThane, or something similar, I found a full quart and partial quart of the exact color basecoat in the leftover paints in my stepdad's garage. He passed away a couple of years ago and did alot of body work in this garage, so now I have free primer and some basecoat. This will offset the difference in cost between basecoat/clearcoat, so I will be using BC/CC instead of the single stage. The BC/CC is easier to blend, should I need to repair it at any time, and will have better gloss and fade resistance than the single stage. Here are a few pics:

Notice the bulletin board in the background of the second pic. It is an archive of some of the many cars my stepdad owned and restored over the years. Some of the notables include:
'59 Impala-White
'53 Chevrolet-Mint Green
'67 Chevelle-Black
'66 GTO-Red
Lincoln Continental-White
'80? Malibu Wagon-Purple
'55 Chevrolet-Black/White
'57 Pontiac Cheiftan-Baby Blue

And my favorite, and the boat's name sake-The Black '57 Olds-Devil Dawg...It's also the center photo in the grouping of 3 to the left of the bulletin board. I know this forum is all about boats, but I figured there are plenty of folks who would appreciate this list, it's pretty impressive. I spent alot of time in the garage with Ray growing up and helped on many of these builds, working in the garage without him is a little lonely at times, but I know he's watching me from above.

Many hours later, the entire boat has been sprayed with two coats of primer, blocked with 320, 400, 600, and a final wash down with 800. I have recruited an excellent painter to spray the base/clear this weekend. He does really nice work. We are using a PPG Omni Plus base coat and Nason clear, a DuPont product. Pictures coming this weekend...

great work, let's see some pix asap.

John in Va.

Here are a couple of shots after the 400 sanding. They were blocked two more times, with 600 and 800. Also a shot of the recovered dash and recently polished gauges. I had an 80's era Airguide speedo, but bought an earlier model to match the gauges a little better but have not cleaned or installed it yet.

Looking good. Wish I was moving along on the SS hull. Keep chippin' away!

Really nice work.....following with interest!!

Early to be, early to rise, makes a man, well get things done! I was in the garage at 6:00 this morning prepping for my painter friend to arrive so he could just show up and paint, which is exactly how it worked out. We got the bottom half sprayed today and the top half will be done tomorrow. Here are anew photos...

Wow, you and your painter friend can come visit me anytime...