White Ants in the Play-Pen

[Figjamm]

Would you please tell more about the problems with the appling of the gelcoat and what you have learned. Seems the rest is going so well and with the assistance of a well quallified glasser that there must of been some problems that he was also not aware of. It seems that sometimes the only way to learn is from mistakes, whether they be ours or someone elses

There were no problems with applying the gelcoat... in the end Ross did the spraying himself, as our glass mate was busy with other things.

As you probably already know, gelcoat is designed to go into a mould and when it comes out of the mould you are working with a smooth surface. When spraying it onto something you end up with the opposite. A surface full of craters, similar to 80 grit paper, that has to be sanded until it's smooth.... and the sand paper clogs up fast!

Over 200 Hook-It discs were used as well as a lot of sheets. Planing straights had to be done by hand and flat areas between were done with an orbital sander. The sander left swirls that were near impossible to remove.

The whole hull has been done twice with 120 grit, 3 x 400, twice with 800, twice with 1200, 3 x 1500 and twice with 1500 micro... then buffed with a cutting compound and a polish.

NEVER again.... any future boat we overhaul will be done with 2 Pak


P.S Enjoy your Easter in Melbourne blaze.... we were down that way ourselves last Easter.

[Fishin_Dan]

NEVER again.... any future boat we overhaul will be done with 2 Pak

Geez - That makes me glad I chose to go with the 2 Pak option first up!

Welcome back Bev.

[blaze]

I feel your pain guys, that a lot of rubbing. That song "saddie the cleaning lady" sorta makes house work look easy even if she did rub her fingers to the bone because I know how yours and Ross's fingers would have felt like. gotta be on the down ward slide now
cheers
blaze
Ps
have a happy easter, take a breather and enjoy

[wessel]

But it sure does feel good after the fact when you open that beer, sit down, light a cigarette and look at what is sitting in front of you.

Just hope that this boat dont turn into a trailer queen that never gets on the water because the owner is too scared that the paintjob will get dirty


Happy easter downunder lads

Wessel

[Figjamm]

[quote author=ColacGirl link=1137501549/360#360 date=1144876464]
NEVER again.... any future boat we overhaul will be done with 2 Pak

Geez - That makes me glad I chose to go with the 2 Pak option first up!
[/quote]

Just think, we could've been sitting on an island eating mudcrab NOW... if only we'd 2 pak'ed

Just checked your project site for updates.... any more progress on your boat Dan? Did you sort out your ant problem? Sorry for not replying... I lost your email somewhere between loads of SPAM & genealogy requests.

[Figjamm]

I feel your pain guys, that a lot of rubbing. That song "saddie the cleaning lady" sorta makes house work look easy even if she did rub her fingers to the bone because I know how yours and Ross's fingers would have felt like. gotta be on the down ward slide now

Only Ross' fingers worked down to the bone... my dermo broke out thanks to all the chemicals, so I've been made redundant from boat duties

have a happy easter, take a breather and enjoy

No rest for the wicked... Ross' worked on the earthmoving gear for a day and a half... now back into preparing the deck for gelcoat.

[Figjamm]

Just hope that this boat dont turn into a trailer queen that never gets on the water because the owner is too scared that the paintjob will get dirty

This is becoming my greatest fear! He has put in an order for umpteen new buffers

[Figjamm]

Happy Easter to all you rebuild addicts

Today is Day 90 of our saga!

There's no Easter smilies so I'll share this with you instead

[smiley=bdaycake.gif]

[spuderico]

[img]C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Pictures\happy_easter.jpg[/img]

Happy Easter

[Angla]

Colacgirl
That must feel like a major stage is over now that playpen is upright again.
There are hurdles in anything we do. Just some hurdles are bigger than others and take more money, or sweat and tears to get over.

Have to admire your fortitude to get the job done.

Chris

[catchy_fishy]

[quote author=catchy_fishy link=1137501549/300#303 date=1142108064]
Bev
What have you learned (about black ants), through your earlier research ?

Here in Oz, black ants are pretty harmless. I would assume they are in your boat to hide from the weather, or they have found a food source.

Finding water under your springy floor is not sounding good, and you definitely need to see what's going on down there.

I hope your not going to be the next re-build on here but if you are, post lots of pics for the re-build addicts

[/quote]

Problem solved. I got the pest guys out to treat the entire house and garden. There were several black ant nests, and a rather large one inside the house, under one of the carpets - still gives me the shivers thinking about it.

Also found the water in the boat causing the onset of the rotting - managed to stop that one so I'll let it dry a bit and see if a new deck is in order or not - naturally I hope not.

Out of interest while the insect treatment company was here I got speaking to the fumigator himself - turns out he has his SA springbok colours for bank angling - and we got chatting as one does.

I threw him a curved ball and asked if he thought termites (white ants) might ever make a nest in a boat. "No never, not a chance" was his reply. I showed some of the pics of play pen straight away, and he was gob-smacked. He may end up referring to this thread a lot in his professional business.

Thought you and Ross would like to know. In the bug world you have become stars.

Mike
PS to the re-build addicts you have always been stars - thanks again for always posting.

[d-man]

[quote author=blaze link=1137501549/345#359 date=1144704871]

As you probably already know, gelcoat is designed to go into a mould and when it comes out of the mould you are working with a smooth surface. When spraying it onto something you end up with the opposite. A surface full of craters, similar to 80 grit paper, that has to be sanded until it's smooth.... and the sand paper clogs up fast!

Over 200 Hook-It discs were used as well as a lot of sheets. Planing straights had to be done by hand and flat areas between were done with an orbital sander. The sander left swirls that were near impossible to remove.

Hind sight is always 20/20! Adding wax in styrene (get it from your fibreglass supplier) to the gelcoat mix at the same rate as catalyst will seal the surface and make sanding soooo much easier - no clogged discs. The gelcoat itself is unwaxed so that when it is sprayed in the mould it stays tacky to get a better adhesion when the glass is laid up.
But as you said - 2 pack is a better option for big job like yours.

[cooky]

Hind sight is always 20/20! Adding wax in styrene (get it from your fibreglass supplier) to the gelcoat mix at the same rate as catalyst will seal the surface and make sanding soooo much easier

don't jump on me, I know bugger all, but isn't Gelcoat basically Flowcoat without wax/styrene? or am I imagining what I think I've read somewhere. Memory is fading

[d-man]

don't jump on me, I know bugger all, but isn't Gelcoat basically Flowcoat without wax/styrene? or am I imagining what I think I've read somewhere. Memory is fading[/quote]

Yep, that's pretty much what it is, back in the days when I was playing with fibreglass gelcoats had a bit of a plasticising polymer in it as well, Don't recall if flow coat had it or not but I don't think it did.

[Fishin_Dan]

Hey Bev - No more updates yet as I've been away in Central QLD, and working a few weekends. Got a few days off coming up, so hope to get into it again then.

Luckily they were just ants Did a search on the net and found heaps of comparison pictures. It was just somewhere for them to live out of the weather luckily!