B35 glassing

[adamG]

I've started the process of gutting the B35. Its slow going. ripped everything out of the salon except the floor for now. skipped to the forward berth. OMG its disgusting. 47 yo boat carpet. I'm amazed at how solid all the bulkheads/walls are. Anyway, I was starting to think about next step after removing everything and was originally thinking pressure wash and paint the inside of the hull. Next level crazy would be grind, faring and gelcoat. I like the idea of the hull and stringers just being one huge solid fiberglass sandwich. Anyone out there done that? Or am I just creating a problem when the gelcoat eventually starts cracking?

[Yannis]

Watch it while removing that carpet, it may be impregnated with spores of present or past mildew, wear a professional mask, not the covid one, if you inhale any of it you may be in serious medical trouble.

The inside walls I just painted and for the time being it’s OK, I wish I could find a material other than leatherette which I don't like and it’s also hot in the summer to cover the salon wall. In the fwd berth I made thin custom glass panels covered in gelcoat and glued them to the sides. They are perfect, only they attract dust because of static and I have to wipe them off once a week.

For the engine room and below decks what you’re mentioning is overkill. Wash well, dry, paint with the appropriate bilge paint and...forget about it. Unless of course there is reason to beef up the stringers or other components, but if not, a nice paint will do.

[Tony Meola]

Adam

I painted the bilge on my 31. To gel coat takes a lot of fairing and grinding. I know some the members who did gel coat the bilge, used peel and stick to get a smooth surface.

When I painted the bilge, I cleaned it real good. Power wash, scrub and power wash, then use Acetone or Alcohol to make sure it is clean. I then coated with Interprotect, then painted over that. Good Luck.

[Tommy]

Adam, Do not underestimate what Yannis said about using a professional respirator when ripping out old carpet (including wall carpet) on a boat. One of the regulars on this Board spent several weeks in the hospital with lung damage due to this very issue many years ago.

[ktm_2000]

Since the topic of carpet came up, what about removing the glue used to hold it down? When I got my boat the carpet was NASTY and I promptly pulled it out and bleached it down but haven't done much since then.

At some point in my project I will want to finish that area and I would like advice of getting rid of that glue. I did get a strip off so I could glass my bulkheads in and the stuff was terrible to remove with a grinder, probably took me an hour to get a 1' wide strip removed. I had a fan in the cockpit door and one in the hatch pulling the air out as well as face shield and respirator.

[Yannis]

Matt,

Soften with acetone, grind the bulk of the glue off with a scraper. Then use sand paper and sand it off little by little with your hands. The grinder gets saturated very quickly. You may have to re-soften with acetone as you proceed.
Attention: Do not let acetone sit on any given area for long.
Generally speaking a job I wouldn't want to do again...

[adamG]

thanks for the feedback. guess its time to invest in a pro respirator. I guess gelcoat also tends to stain with oil - so there's that. Paint it is.
regarding that carpet glue - why not just grind with an angle grinder? Won't softening it with acetone gum up the grinding wheel more?

[ktm_2000]

Adam, I don't know, Whomever put the carpet in my boat didn't spare the glue..... my experience with the grinder on it was that it started melting it first and it would build up on the grinder and come off in blobs, the sticky mass holds a lot of heat so you don't want to get that on you. After the bulk came off, it was regular grinder sanding to get the rest.

[Yannis]

Guys it's a hand job...