96 XP revival

[Pwnage1337]

I got impatient today and bought a 60 gallon air compressor so I can get after it with the air sander.

Works way better when you're not waiting on air to fill back up! I was able to sand out a bunch of the scratches in the hull. Some of them are going to need filling for sure with marinetex.

 

[Pwnage1337]

Does anyone have any input regarding having the ski upside down with the engine in it? Will it stress the motor mounts to the point that I should consider taking the engine out?

 

[GGuillot]

I got impatient today and bought a 60 gallon air compressor so I can get after it with the air sander.

Nice, you're not playing around. I always use excuses to get new toys or tools, watch for the Harbor Freight special on the 7" digital buffer you'll need for the polish phase, lol...

 

[etemplet]

I was a little worried about the oil inside the 951 escaping and having to refill the sump. I would worry about the motor mounts just be gentle.

 

[Pwnage1337]

I've been sanding the living shit out of this thing.

There are a fair amount of scratches that appear to go down to the bare fiberglass. Should I sand them down to bare glass, or grind and fill them with marinetex?

There are some areas where I have gotten down to bare fiberglass. I don't perceive this as being a huge issue since part of the boat is already down to the bare glass?

 

[mikidymac]

Don't keep sanding unless you are going to repaint or gelcoat. You will never remove all the scratches, you are just trying to get to fresh gelcoat to remove the oxidation to buff it out.

 

[Pwnage1337]

Since I'm going to re-gelcoat the entire thing, I Guess I don't really see the harm and going down to the fiberglass in some areas?

 

[mikidymac]

It won't hurt just not necessary and you will use more gelcoat to get the surface level. Remember, you aren't trying to remove all the factory gelcoat, just roughing it up so the new gelcoat can stick.

 

[Pwnage1337]

I understand that part, I'm just questioning some of the rather deep scratches. Am I better off sanding the scratches down so the surrounding gel coat is lower or am I better off just locally filling some of those scratches and leaving the gel coat around it alone?

Maybe I'm using the wrong word. It is more of a huge ass gouge than a scratch lol. I'll Post some pictures.

 

[Pwnage1337]

Here's an example. I could easily fill that scratch with Marinetex and blend it back in with the sander, or I could sand the whole area. This one looks like I should probably fill (in my opinion) but there are others that aren't quite this bad that I would rather just sand

 

[Pwnage1337]

 

[mikidymac]

You should fill the gouges otherwise you are making a big low spot by sanding the area.

 

[Pwnage1337]

That's kind of what I was thinking.

There are some spots where its worn away pretty bad and I'm getting down to the gelcoat quickly with hardly any sanding

Thanks for the input!

 

[GGuillot]

View attachment 46797

View attachment 46798

Keep sanding, make the other side look like the side you sanded. If you're using 80 grit pads on the sander you should be done by now, lol.

The new gelcoat will offer some self leveling when applying, so it's acceptable if you leave some unevenness in areas.

 

[Pwnage1337]

80 grit pads are doing work!! I couldn't find any locally so I made some.

Sharpened the end of that 2" exhaust pipe, put it on a block of wood and hammered it. Works great and probably cheaper. I got 8 pads out of one 7" sanding disc

 

[mikidymac]

That's one of those great ideas that I can't believe is so simple. Great job!

P.S. I'm stealing that one.....

 

[GGuillot]

Very creative!! Looking good, may want to order some 2" sanding pads now, (Amazon) because later after gelcoat is down, you'll need a butt load of 400 grit and some of the finer grits like 1000, 1500, or 2000. Consider a 100 pads for $10 on the 400 grit for wet sanding later. It'll be the go to you'll use once you're past the waxy surface and down to minimal pitting left.

BTW- if your hand gets numb, arm tired, keep in mind this dry sanding/prep phase is just a warm up...

 

[Pwnage1337]

Pics of the Carnage

 

[Pwnage1337]

I need to buy some marinetex and fill some gouges.

Did you use the 2" sander when wet sanding? I've only seen wet sanding done by hand

This area has me a little worried

 

[mikidymac]

I would pull the trim tabs off.

 

[Pwnage1337]

I am contemplating not even doing the back of it because there is no visible scratches or anything. I think the back of it will just buff right out?

You are right though I was going to take the trim tabs off when I gel coat it. I will have to try to tape off the ride plate

 

[mikidymac]

If you aren't going to gelcoat the entire yellow bottom it isn't going to match. If you are ok with that it's fine but if you want it to match you need to do everything.

On mine nobody is going to see the spot of bare glass unless they climb under the ski and it doesn't hurt anything so I didn't care. I just wet sanded, filled the scratches with yellow gelcoat repair kit and buffed.

 

[Pwnage1337]

I mean to say that I plan on doing the entire bottom of the ski, just not the vertical faces where the exhaust comes out of the one side, and the other side is blank. I would imagine it would buff out?

 

[GGuillot]

Did you use the 2" sander when wet sanding? I've only seen wet sanding done by hand

I used the crap out of my 2" sander, especially wet sanding, to the point I had to replace the bearing on it when I was finishing the GTX. You'll need to do the waxy surface with 150 by hand, the rest you can do with the sander. Sometimes I would use the sanding block with 400 grit to get the waviness out that can show up after it's polished, more evident when doing black gelcoat.

If you're doing the entire bottom I'd take everything off, and I do mean everything, hin plate, exhaust flange, drains, ride plate, rub rail, vents, sponsons, and front hook. 1. It'll cleanly match. 2. It's easier when wet sanding and polishing later. 3. It's easy peasy to put it all back. I did it on both of my skis, even with the GSX being a partial covering on the bottom.

 

[Pwnage1337]

Don't the rub rails need to drill out like 300 fucking rivets lol