1977 Ventura build

[Jmr1974]

Excited to say the inside of my hull is complete, final layer of csm went down today. Also did a little sanding on the old rigging holes I covered up. Next need to build a battery block, finish the splashwell delete and fill in the holes in the dashboard.

[Jmr1974]

So I want to start working on this, my plan was to buy a cheap harbor freight sandblaster and prep it, then take it to a welder to have the cone tack welded on, pick it up when he’s done then do the fairing and paint myself. Is sandblasting it a good idea or bad to remove the factory paint?

[XstreamVking]

Just blast or sand to remove the paint where you will be welding and fairing. Have the welder keep the vent plug cracked while welding on it. It prevents it from blowing out the seals due to oil/air expansion from heat.

[Jmr1974]

Just blast or sand to remove the paint where you will be welding and fairing. Have the welder keep the vent plug cracked while welding on it. It prevents it from blowing out the seals due to oil/air expansion from heat.

There’s nothing in the gear case (no guts). I’m swapping everything out of my old gear case into this one after it’s finished. Should I have him weld the water intake holes shut also or fill them with epoxy myself?

[XstreamVking]

Either way works , I prefer welding and then filling with epoxy.

[Jmr1974]

Also you mentioned just to blast only the area needed for the cone, why not do the whole case and start with a clean slate? I’m not going to match the factory paint, completely new color.

[XstreamVking]

Blasting completely is ok. You will have to start all over with the corrosion coatings and prep.

[Jmr1974]

Blasting completely is ok. You will have to start all over with the corrosion coatings and prep.

Yep, that’s what I figured I’d have to do. Thanks.

[tnelsmn]

I used to weld for a living and personally have never been a fan of welding on aluminum after its been sand blasted. I would grind/sand/wire brush if I was doing it. I just used a 60 grit on a 5" grinder to prep mine.

[Jmr1974]

Did a couple hours work on the splashwell delete today. I’m thinking this final layer of csm should get me close enough to being able to use the fairing compound to finish it out.

[Jmr1974]

Straight on view, pretty close to blending.

[Jmr1974]

Did my first coat of fairing on my splashwell delete tonight and some other miscellaneous spots like old rigging holes. I’m using a 2part fairing compound called total boat, total fair epoxy fairing compound. I’ll let it harden up over night then give it a sanding hopefully tomorrow and see where I need to add more.

[Jmr1974]

Still working on the splashwell,getting pretty close with that and the old rigging holes. Also started sanding the red paint off to get to the old red gel coat. I’m using a 5” orbital sander with 80grit to sand off the paint, should I stick with the 80 or go a little more aggressive on the grit? With the 80 I can watch the paint disappear and then the primer shows and then I get to the gel coat, this takes awhile with the 80grit but allows me to be careful not to go to deep into the gel (less fairing to do later). Everything above the rub rail has been painted and I believe everything below the rub rail is just faded gel coat.

[Jmr1974]

Anybody got an opinion on weather I should stick with 80grit on the orbital sander to get rid of the paint and primer or should I drop down to something like 60grit to speed up the process?

[LakeFever]

Many guys have success with paint stripper for this if the sanding is a pita. In auto body work for paint sanding we used 180 and jitterbug sanders. Ingersoll Rand makes a good one takes a half sheet. Gel goes on an 80grit finish so it might be best to stick with the 80 if your going to keep sanding it off. The speed of 60vs80 for cutting down paint would be minimal imo