SoFla rebuild photos

[gran398]

Fitz, agree 100%. Thank you friend.

Rick, hi-jack all you want. A boat has but one captain. It's not easy being a captain. So for starters....thank you.

The legal aspect was what was thinking of, and the reason for the "chill" post.  Defamation, regardless of "truth" can be (and is) construed as defamation.....damaged character, damaged livelihood.  What we print here is available to billions around the world. At that point, there is a case for libel. From anyone.

No need to go further. Been enough trauma around here this week. Not doubting what transpired, or what was stated. I believe what you say. But point being, the potential liability would be attributed to the poster, foregoing liability to the website.

Guys, we have a great forum. As Seabob says, best on the net. I feel that as well.

But the times we live in...when a company pays out tens of millions for coffee that was served hot...do we really want to go here?

Please take this post as it was sincerely intended.

Thanks all.

[slippery73]

I would be perfectly fine with a new floor, open transom, hatches and in/out gelcoat for $10K. Basically, I want mine back to original new condition. I do all my own rigging and engine install anyway. I`ve got perfectly good engines, electronics, Ttop etc. I think alot of these rebuilds get loaded up on cost with dual station towers, full transoms, articulating jack plates and $15K new engines. This is why I am anxious to see Scotts rebuild and find out a number. He is not getting all the bells and whistles just a reconditioning of sorts with all new materials. I have seen a number of the Southwest Florida high end rebuilds on the market and see alot of asking numbers but never see the selling numbers. I love old Aquasports; but quite frankly have better things to do with $30K in this economy than sink it into a 35 year old boat.

Unfortunately the cost to do that work correctly is very labor intensive. After gel coating my boat I wouldn't even consider doing a paint/gel job for less than $4000 for the exterior(labor only). My boat was in good shape also, there was no bottom paint, no barnacles, not much damage at all for almost 40 year old boat.  Then your interior..... $2-4K.... transom....$2k.... hatches....etc.  By the time you add it up, its easy to see how a shop will charge $20k-30k for a rebuild.  I'm not just making up numbers off the top of my head, I spray a ton of finishes on lots of different materials and the prep work that goes into these old boats is crazy. Its not a matter of gelcoat or paint either, both will have close to the same amount of prep. Im guessing thats why I see lots of inferior finishes on some of the rebuilds.

[gran398]

Slippery,

Thanks, good points. You're right, a paint job is in the prep. As a younger guy, one of my buddies had a pretty good sized body shop, I'd go help him at nights just for fun and beer. Everyone in town said they were the best. They were also pricey. But they did beautiful work.

And when you go to car shows, look at the awesome work there, directly related to labor/skill.

The rebuilder has been discussing this very topic. He recommended a guy here in town that has a sandblaster on wheels, kind of like you would see a pressure washer on wheels. He can set it up for soda blasting. Chris's idea is to blast off not only the bottom paint, but the hull sides as well. The soda supposedly works quite a bit softer than sand, more control. Guess the idea is the soda can do 80% of the prep?

Lewis, this is something you have knowledge in, any thread-steal    here is appreciated.

Slippery feel your labor estimates are spot-on. In my case, no interior finish refurb to consider. Only thing have right now is a fiberglass shell.

 

[Capt Matt]

Gran
I had my interior and removed cap sandblasted before I started the rebuild and was thrilled at the amount of labor it saved and how well it came out. The fiberglass comes out looking like new and it removes stuff you could just never get with a grinder.
In the next few weeks I will be rolling her over and having the same guy sandblast the outside too. The Sandman as his company is called has the most high tech sandblasting equipment I have ever seen and comes to you. The machine can be dialled in so exactly it only removes what you want taken off. He charges $300 to come out.  This time I have a friend who has a stripped 24 proline and needs his services too so we will split the cost.
Matt

[gran398]

Matt,

AWESOME report! This thing might have a silver lining after all. Thanks  

[slippery73]

Slippery,

Thanks, good points. You're right, a paint job is in the prep. As a younger guy, one of my buddies had a pretty good sized body shop, I'd go help him at nights just for fun and beer. Everyone in town said they were the best. They were also pricey. But they did beautiful work.

And when you go to car shows, look at the awesome work there, directly related to labor/skill.

The rebuilder has been discussing this very topic. He recommended a guy here in town that has a sandblaster on wheels, kind of like you would see a pressure washer on wheels. He can set it up for soda blasting. Chris's idea is to blast off not only the bottom paint, but the hull sides as well. The soda supposedly works quite a bit softer than sand, more control. Guess the idea is the soda can do 80% of the prep?

Lewis, this is something you have knowledge in, any thread-steal    here is appreciated.

Slippery feel your labor estimates are spot-on. In my case, no interior finish refurb to consider. Only thing have right now is a fiberglass shell.

 

Problem I had with the prep was.....as I sanded out the very light gelcoat crazing it opened up tiny pinholes from where the first layer of chop mat wasn't completely bonded to the gelcoat as it was applied in the mold. The more I sanded, the more pinholes appeared. I don't think media blasting would make any difference vs sanding in my case. Maybe my boat was worse than others, but It was a real pita to remedy. Spraying gelcoat to fill the pinholes proved fruitless, it just pooled up around the holes, to much surface tension in the gelcoat to fill them. I ended up having to roll gelcoat on the hull to fill all holes, then basically sand all of that back off so it just left the tiny holes filled. Then I could commence with topcoat. Fillers proved useless also, the holes were to small to fill, I would have had to really thin the filler out and do a super light skim coat on hull for that to work, that would have been way more work than sanding off the gelcoat scratch coat.

Thats the other problem I have with the shops out there, I know there is no way that they would have gone through all that work to do it correctly. They would have just sprayed over the crazed gelcoat and it would have reappeared somewhere down the road.

[ANTIBLING]

Right now I have a 1984 222 being restored at Coast to Coast in New Port Richey and  we are 2/3's of the way done (just purchased a 2010 200 etec new). As of now my experience has been great and price not bad either. Some day when I can figure out how to post pictures I will show everyone. My decision to restore instead on buy new was simple. Old boats are simply built better and a restored 222 will outlast and out preform any production line boat.

Havent seen any of the boats these guys have done, but the shop I work for (well, I physically made) some custom starboard items for a few of the 'Avenger' brand boats they were producing. They switched over to a company called Blue Seas I believe, because they did work much cheaper, and it LOOKED much cheaper. Not bashing anyone for saving a buck, but you would think a company doing rebuilds/building boats, would want top of the line products going in their boats and strict attention to detail.