1978 Viking rebuild

**LakeFever** · 07-02-2020, 01:31 PM

Awesome! How long do you think the wet sanding and polishing will take?

**tnelsmn** · 07-02-2020, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by LakeFever

Awesome! How long do you think the wet sanding and polishing will take?

I think it can be wrapped up in the next week or two. Thats what I hope at least.

**tnelsmn** · 07-12-2020, 01:45 PM

The finish sanding is pretty much finished other than a few touch ups here and there that I'm finding as the buffing is happening. After some guidance from an experienced body man, I started dry sanding the gel. That worked really well and went much faster using a DA. I started with 220 then 400, and had to switch to wet sanding with 800.

Started buffing it out and I still can't believe how cool this stuff is. Metal flake is so sweet! Still a ways to go with buffing. But so far it's looking good.

**Jmr1974** · 07-12-2020, 09:26 PM

Looks pretty damn sweet to me!

**Jmr1974** · 07-14-2020, 05:11 AM

Did you glass the underside of your plywood floor before setting in on your stringers? I assume you did and was wondering what to use for cloth thickness...1708?

**tnelsmn** · 07-14-2020, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by Jmr1974

Did you glass the underside of your plywood floor before setting in on your stringers? I assume you did and was wondering what to use for cloth thickness...1708?

I did a layer of 1.5oz CSM on the bottom of the of the floor.

**Jmr1974** · 07-14-2020, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by tnelsmn

I did a layer of 1.5oz CSM on the bottom of the of the floor.

Thanks, I’m guessing you did it mainly for moisture protection not for rigidity...

**tnelsmn** · 07-14-2020, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Jmr1974

Thanks, I’m guessing you did it mainly for moisture protection not for rigidity...

My only intent was sealing the wood. Any rigidity is a by product of that for me.

**Jmr1974** · 07-14-2020, 03:04 PM

I also noticed in one of your pages a while back you painted the pad area before putting your floor plywood down, I guessing you did it where you anticipated any water could sit when your out boating. Did you use gel or paint? How did you apply it and what grit sanding did you use to accept the gel or paint to the glass?

**tnelsmn** · 07-14-2020, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Jmr1974

I also noticed in one of your pages a while back you painted the pad area before putting your floor plywood down, I guessing you did it where you anticipated any water could sit when your out boating. Did you use gel or paint? How did you apply it and what grit sanding did you use to accept the gel or paint to the glass?

Everything below the floor was gel coated. Applied with a brush. Well, mostly dumped in and spread out with a brush. I sanded everything with 36 before applying gel. Mostly because 36 works so well to knock the sheen of cured resin and prep it for the next layers. Theres a video of this process on my youtube channel.

**Jmr1974** · 07-14-2020, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by tnelsmn

Everything below the floor was gel coated. Applied with a brush. Well, mostly dumped in and spread out with a brush. I sanded everything with 36 before applying gel. Mostly because 36 works so well to knock the sheen of cured resin and prep it for the next layers. Theres a video of this process on my youtube channel.

I’ll have to check out your video

**tnelsmn** · 07-22-2020, 01:45 PM

Well, I can say that the fiberglass and gel work is finished on the build!

I ended up starting over sanding the gel on the deck. I found a lot of sanding scratches and a few spots I wasn't happy with so I started over with 240 on a hand block. I just made a few passes and quickly moved up to 400 and so on. Followed that with a three stage buff using 3M Perfect-it gelcoat.

I pulled it out of the garage for the first time in almost two years. It was great to see it in the sunlight agin! I had to set the windshield on it for a few pictures. I'll straighten out the frame before it gets mounted for good.

The interior needs a good cleaning and the rigging can begin. It's going to be hard to start drilling holes in it.

Sitting a 875 total hours.

**JDChase** · 07-22-2020, 02:14 PM

What a beautiful job!!! you are now a pro! You should be very proud of that job!

**LakeFever** · 07-22-2020, 02:56 PM

Looks so good, really so soo good you did a great job laying this thing up and an even better job with entertaining us all in this thread with pics and vids. I learned a ton and bought my next project mostly because of this thread which i will be referencing a ton when i get to mine. Congrats on level 11

Can hardly wait to see some vids of it flying