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98 Hewes LT 18 Rehab


Reel Loco

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MWoods,

Thanks for the compliment on the post. I'm enjoying both the rebuild & posting on this site.

fish all day,

I think I heard you comment that you hate school. See why it's important to pay attention?

Okay folks, this is what we've been waiting for. An update on the center console. I have to warn you though. Crawfish doesn't do anything half way.

After beefing up the instrument & helm area and filling in all the gauge holes,etc. Crawfish convinced me to beef up the sides of the console which I did not want to do. But then I remembered that alot of the existing holes on the sides of the console had spider cracked telling me the sides were flexing too much.

InteriorConsoleGroundHighSpots.jpg

Crawfish removed all the old gelcoat on the interior sides of the console.

InteriorPortSidePrepped.jpg

Next, he added a couple layers of gl*** to stiffen it.

InteriorPortSideGlassed1.jpg

Next couple of pics are taken at night by Crawfish. I swear he used my center console for his Halloween party!

GlassNightShot3.jpg

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GlassNightShot1.jpg

Can't wait to post the finished Console!

Caulked the joint between the deck & hull today with 4200.

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Okay, so I spent the afternoon on my back underneath the hull. Little did I know just how much time I was going to spend on my back!

I had made up my mind that any area that looked suspicious was going to meet up with my 4 1/2" angle grinder. OMG!

There was a crack next to the garboard drain that needed to be investigated. I started out with a 1/8" dremel bit chasing the crack thru the gelcoat. The further I chased the worse things got. I opened up a couple of voids that the first section of my little finger fit into. It was at that point that I reverted to the angle grinder. I'll have to build that area back up and drill a new garboard drain hole. It did appear that this area had been previously repaired as I found a different type material inside once I opened it up.

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Next was a small area (couple of inches long) of a strake that had been busted up in some type of collision with something harder than itself. I think this boat has probably hit just about everything that could be hit in St. Pete!

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Remember the crack I repaired in the bow? I had drilled holes in the ends of that crack where it showed on the outer surface. I now chased that crack from the outside to good gl***. I did not have to go very deep.

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This photo shows the original area of the hull that needed repair. I had placed a repair patch from the inside and now need to do the outside. It's about 14" long x 8" wide.

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This would be known as a Reel Loco ooops. While grinding off old gl*** for one of the forward fuel tank supports Reel Loco got a little too agressive with the grinder and went thru the hull. :blush: Repair area 12"x 6".

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Last but not least was an area on the keel that I was highly suspicious might have some hidden damage. this area is about 16" after the curvature of the bow ceases. The very bottom of the keel in this area seemed like it had taken an impact because the gl*** had turned white in that area. Also, when I first parked the boat in my drive way after bringing it home it dripped water from that point. Indeed the gl*** was all shattered in that area so I removed it back to good gl***.The repair area is about 18"-20" long x 6" wide. The actual hole is maybe 8"long x 1 1/4" wide.

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Like I said, OMG!!! It's like the old saying " I opened a can of worms"!

RL

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, Reel Loco has been working on some of the mundane things that needed to be done to the LT. Last week I spent hours removing a black rubbery caulk that the PO had applied around the joint on the trim tab covers. They now look a whole lot better.

Today I spent the better part of the afternoon removing all the old carpet adhesive from under the gunnels. Since I may not re-carpet right away I wanted to remove all the old adhesive down to the original gelcoat finish.

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Yesterday I tried acetone, ammonia, Starbrite's Super Orange, and last but not least, full strength Muriatic pool acid, none of which had any effect on the adhesive. I talked to JPB*** (40 yrs in carpet business) and he said all the good removers had recently been taken off the market because of enviromental concerns.

This morning I went to Lowes and found they had a industrial remover at $26/gallon that looked like it would work. Next to it was a can of Goof Off for $5.98 which stated it would remove all kinds of adhesives and glue + many other things. Decided to try the Goof Off.

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I used about 1 1/2 cans of the Goof oFF. It took about 4 applications on each area I worked on. I had to use a toothbrush to work the Goof Off thru & then wipe off some of the loosened adhesive and apply again. The last application I used a 3M scotchbrite pad to remove the last bit of stubborn residue. This did dull the gelcoat finish but should buff back out.

[P1060202_zpsa0d652e1.jpg

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Nice job Gary. That had to be harder on the knees and back than the hands and arms. A little icey hot after a warm shower and you will be ready for the other side :)

By the time your done with htis little stuff you will have arms like Popeye and you can flip that hull over to get to that grinder hole,, oops, I mean crack in the hull.

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