Magic spiff up

[Alan Gage]

For some reason I thought I'd be able to build three boats over the winter and do a little spiffying up of a couple hulls as well. Building the three ran into spring (arguably summer) and I'm just now getting out one of the other hulls for a little clean up. I've owned this Magic for many years and she's be a fantastic boat. Don't know if I'm going to keep her or sell her but either way she's overdue for a little spiffying.

I already hosed off the mud and grime and gave it a wipe down with soapy water and then alcohol. You can see she suffers from the typical Bell Blush (the white areas on the inside of the hull), which I hope to remove.

20150611_001 by Alan, on Flickr

20150611_002 by Alan, on Flickr

The original owner had glued in a kneeling pad which has long since peeled away and left a mixture of foam and adhesive attached to the hull. A little scraping and washing it down with acetone removed pretty much all traces.

I was also surprised to see the acetone seemed to slightly soften the factory resin and removed the blush. So I wiped down the whole interior with acetone and now it looks like this:

20150611_004 by Alan, on Flickr

Well that was pretty easy. I'd love to just call it good and slap on a sealer to keep it from reoccurring but there are also some spots where the fabric is starting to wear from foot action so a light coat of epoxy will be called for:

20150611_003 by Alan, on Flickr

Laid down the epoxy just before coming inside for the night and I'll see what I've got tomorrow. Don't think I'll be doing anything too crazy with this boat. I'll coat it inside and out to get her looking pretty and finish re-oiling the wood. The thwarts and grab handles are already done. Just need to do the seat and hangers.

Alan

 

[Mihun09]

No decks, Alan?

 

[Jim Dodd]

I should have given you some of RAKAs UV inhibited resin, If I'd known you were coating the Magic.
It would make a good test !

Jim

 

[yellowcanoe]

Hopefully the epoxy bonds. Its usually used for repairs but Bell used vinylester on their skin boats.

I do have a deck source.. but prefer that you PM me if interested.

 

[Alan Gage]

I've got decks/caps, just removed them temporarily.

From everything I've read and from my limited experience epoxy will bond on top of any other resin. But if you've already got epoxy you might run into trouble trying to put vinylester on top of it.

Alan

 

[southcove]

So envious of your shop...and whacking great amounts of clear and open floor space!

 

[Guest]

Two questions.

Any idea what causes "Bell Blush"? Moisture and vinylester resin?

And what is the aluminum fore thwart in some of the photos?

 

[madmike]

If a little water is left in mine over night, that blush will be there. Mike, I think it is a foot brace.

 

[Alan Gage]

I don't really understand what causes it exactly but as madmike said it seems to be some sort of reaction between Bell's vinylester resin and water. I first started noticing it under the dog's foam pad, which trapped water. And madmike also correctly identified the footbrace.

Alan

 

[sailsman63]

You, sir, have quite the project repertoire. Is that another stripper in the background? Build or repair?

Query: is the footrest intended to be used at that height, or are there more pieces to it?

 

[Guest]

Query: is the footrest intended to be used at that height, or are there more pieces to it?

The photo perspective makes it appear that the telescoping foot brace bar is mounted just under the inwales. I thought it might be some temporary brace Alan had installed to help maintain the gunwale spread while removing the seat or thwarts.

 

[Alan Gage]

Yes, the perspective is deceptive. It's at standard height.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

The inside is looking good after a couple coats of spar varnish and that will hopefully keep the blush from returning. It sat in the sun all afternoon to help it dry and de-stinkify.

20150616_001 by Alan, on Flickr

20150616_002 by Alan, on Flickr

Flipped it over tonight to start on the outside of the hull. Just some minor scratches, most of which should disappear after coating. After taking these shots I sanded the whole hull with 180 grit to ensure it had some teeth. Also a couple small chips in the gel coat in the stern that I filled with thickened epoxy before coming in for the night but I forgot to take pics.

20150616_003 by Alan, on Flickr

20150616_004 by Alan, on Flickr

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

You, sir, have quite the project repertoire. Is that another stripper in the background? Build or repair?

That would be this boat: http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/forum/general-paddling-discussions/diy/19929-x-canoe-build

It's patiently waiting to be completed with finished thwarts and probably light carbon over foam gunwales. I've taken out a couple times this year and have been pleased with it so it's worth spending the time and $$$ to finish it off.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

Been wanting to try this for a while and I finally got around to ordering some:

Thinned it a bit with water (it's thick) and crosslinked the final two coats. Seems to go on very nice and dries quickly, but slow enough that it has time to self level and get rid of the brush strokes. I bought a quart and should have enough left to do my Bell Northstar as well.

Before:

20150616_003 by Alan, on Flickr

After:

20150618_003 by Alan, on Flickr

Before:

20150616_004 by Alan, on Flickr

After:

20150618_001 by Alan, on Flickr

All that's left is to watco the seat and hangers and re-install. Pretty painless project and a huge aesthetic improvement. Been meaning to do this the last few years but just never got around to it.

Alan

 

[Jim Dodd]

Looks Great Alan !

Now that you've done the "Ginny Pig" thing, I'll keep it mind, if I ever get that nice of a canoe !
Glad you didn't put the Yellow Kevlar Felt on the ends ! It just doesn't look right on a Magic.

Thanks !

Jim

 

[Alan Gage]

Not a happy guinea pig tonight:

20150619_001 by Alan, on Flickr

It appears to be only the final layer that's pealing off. Directions say you have up to 24 hours to recoat cross linked coats without scuff sanding. This one was done in about 6 hours. It's 24 hours old now. Says reaches max strength in 4-7 days and maximum strength in 2 weeks. I'll give it a couple more days before I try to peal any more off and see if it makes a difference.

After doing the first cross linked coat (3rd coat overall) I had extra varnish left in the cup so I sealed the cup tight and reused that for the final coat 6 hours later after adding another ounce or so and a little more cross linker. Could the cross linked varnish have a pot life once mixed?

Heaven forbid I just stick with what's proven to work.....

Alan

 

[sailsman63]

Eek! I've been considering WR-LPU, and was looking forward to your results. (I need to place my Noah's order soon...) Scary...

Have you considered contacting System Three? I also have a couple of questions about general application conditions...

What were your approx. temp. (& humidity if you have it)?
Did you have to "Tip out" as a lot of the tutorials I have run across claim?

I suspect that the cross-linker does have a bit of a pot life, (otherwise, they would ship it mixed) and my reading of the data sheets says that it also reduces the open-coat time for applying more on top.

[QUOTE:Alan Gage]Thinned it a bit with water (it's thick) and crosslinked the final two coats[/QUOTE]

This surprises me a bit. My impression was that this was a rather thin finish to start with, though many recommend thinning it the max 20% the label allows for.

 

[madmike]

That sucks. Some thoughts. Use better masking tape, I like 3M. Pull it earlier, while the finish is wet. I lacked the confidence to recondition a recent carbon boat, and had a shop do it. They used West System epoxy. They said that was the resin in the original lay up. So far, so good.

 

[Guest]

Not a happy guinea pig tonight:

Heaven forbid I just stick with what's proven to work.....

Yikes! I would have freaked out.

About sticking with what’s proven to work - there are no lessons to be learned in that, and without some experimentation it is hard to discover firsthand what works better. And what doesn’t.