1977 Ventura build

So it’s been awhile since I’ve worked on the boat. I’m 95% done with the inside which I will finish but thinking about having a professional do the exterior (sanding, fairing, filling gouges, truing the bottom, whatever else needs to be done exterior and painting it). I just don’t have time for the exterior work, so my ? Is does anybody know of a reputable shop or person that you recommend that will do the work? I’m located in southern Wisconsin, I’d like to keep it fairly close to home but would go further to the right guy. Thanks.

Attachment 505029Attachment 505030Attachment 505031Attachment 505032 Finally got back to doing a little work on the boat today. Somebody thought it was a good idea to fill in the pad flat with what looked to me was auto bondo. Hammer, chisel and grinder and back to the pad that’s been hidden for who knows how many years. As you can see I got some work to do on the bottom to get it back to where it deserves to be. The boat lived a very hard life that is for sure!

Doesn't look much worse than mine:leaving:

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Originally Posted by transomstand

Doesn't look much worse than mine:leaving:

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Makes me feel a little better. Nobody can appreciate the amount of work that goes into these restores unless they’ve actually been there.

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Originally Posted by Jmr1974

Makes me feel a little better. Nobody can appreciate the amount of work that goes into these restores unless they’ve actually been there.

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ive built a lot if things and nothing has handed me my ass harder than restoring this boat im working on. Its a ton of effort, but it is also so very satisfying at the same time. When eating an elephant you do it one bite at a time. Keep going you got this

[QUOTE=LakeFever;3343853]ive built a lot if things and nothing has handed me my ass harder than restoring this boat im working on. Its a ton of effort, but it is also so very satisfying at the same time. When eating an elephant you do it one bite at a time. Keep going you got this[/QUOTE getting that bondo of the pad put a smile on my face and motivates me to press on!

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Originally Posted by Jmr1974

Makes me feel a little better. Nobody can appreciate the amount of work that goes into these restores unless they’ve actually been there.

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Truer words never spoken. They're a labor of love for sure.

Well I didn’t get as much done as I planned this extended holiday weekend but I am advancing forward.Attachment 505490Attachment 505491Attachment 505492Attachment 505493Attachment 505494in reality I only worked on the boat for about 3hrs this weekend removing the running surface white gel coat, trying to be very careful not to get carried away and go to deep. I’m going to use a small die grinder to get the sides of the strakes. Another hour or two and I’ll be ready to start fine tuning the running surface. Also picked up 2 cheap spray guns and received my duratec primer. I need to open up the tips on the spray guns…. What drill bit do I need to get them open enough? They only came with 1.4 tips or something like that. Happy Memorial Day!

Back working on the boat after 2 years. Probably setting a record here to finish a boat. Started last weekend on the fairing of the bottom and should be done this afternoon, every time I sand it another spot pops up. Plan is to have here under the spray gun next weekend to spray duratec primer. Attachment 532267

Dont feel bad JMR I'm still poking away on mine too. I dont have the time nor the zip i used to so these things take a little longer. Im enjoying this bit though, hope your still having fun with the work too

Attachment 532415Attachment 532416 Here’s where I’m at so far today.I’ve got som pinhole’s to fix now that they really reveal themselves thru the duratec, I was hoping the duratec would do a better job filling them but they must be just a little to big. Directions say you can squeegee it into them on the first pass but I wasn’t brave enough to do that and leave the primer sitting in the gun. Looking back I probably had enough time before it set up to do that but I’m a rookie. Other than the damn pinholes here and there it turned out well. Only place I had pinholes was where I sanded thru the gel coat. Word to the wise don’t go thru your gel coat if you don’t have to. I know what I need to do to get rid of them but if anybody has any other tricks let me know.

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You can mix cabosil in with the duratec and make a fine spot putty. Using a thin metal detail spreader ( made for spot putty available at any auto body supplier ) you can fill the pinholes very neatly without adding much to your sanding. There’s pics in my build thread of how this looks. I sanded all the gel off my hull so I has thousands of pinholes and this little trick worked great. Way better than trying to use faring putty

Attachment 532438Attachment 532439Attachment 532440So here’s where I’m at now, did my running surface with gator glide. This is a 2 part deal, what you see is 4 coats of the base coat. This has to set for 72hrs then light sand and then lay down the graphite color in the picture. I’m pretty happy with what I got done today seeing as I’m sick as a dog! Long day of mixing and acetone cleaning. Probably won’t get much more done this weekend except fixing the pinholes in the primer. Other than the running surface the rest of the boat is going to be gray like mopar Gray. I’m probably going to order the paint Monday, at least enough for the bottom of the boat that’s primed. It would be nice to get something thats already shiny when it’s cured, not sure if this type of paint is out there. If anybody has suggestions let me know.

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Originally Posted by LakeFever

You can mix cabosil in with the duratec and make a fine spot putty. Using a thin metal detail spreader ( made for spot putty available at any auto body supplier ) you can fill the pinholes very neatly without adding much to your sanding. There’s pics in my build thread of how this looks. I sanded all the gel off my hull so I has thousands of pinholes and this little trick worked great. Way better than trying to use faring putty

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Attachment 532448 Thanks for the tip. Will this stuff work the same? I have a bunch of it. Do I just mix it in with the primer until it turns to putty or do I need to add a catalyst with it also? Do I need to sand around the pinholes first or just fill them in? There’s no way to sand inside the holes.