First RIB - Searider 4.7 with an interesting spec...

[Rupes]

Originally Posted by J.W.W.

Beautiful!!!

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

Great boat - you will have a lot of fun with her.

What areas you planning to explore with her this year?

Thanks!

This season the plan will be to keep the boat on the water and explore South Devon - we've done loads of it via kayak already so have some nice places in mind. I'd love to plan a proper voyage down to Cornwall - Falmouth, the Helford and the Lizard / Porthleven - but need a bit of experience before we tackle that. I'd love to do the North coast of Cornwall too, maybe next year if we get properly kitted up for towing... Cheers!

[whisper]

You're going to put me out of business at this rate The other one you looked at at my place sold within a couple of days and she's now high up in Scotland

Keep going! Enjoying the pics and progress

[Rupes]

Originally Posted by whisper

You're going to put me out of business at this rate The other one you looked at at my place sold within a couple of days and she's now high up in Scotland

Keep going! Enjoying the pics and progress

cheers Alex, glad that all worked out, she was a really lovely boat!!

Am really enjoying all the little jobs and the learning process, it will be great to get her on the water though. Really just a few gel repairs and a quick fix on the console to do now - the rest can wait for the winter! Doing our level 2 course in a couple of weeks

[jeffstevens763@g]

cracking boat Rupes she's coming together nicely enjoy.

cheers

[SteveHall]

Looks brilliant! I really want my hull polishing but haven't had the time..

[Rupes]

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

cracking boat Rupes she's coming together nicely enjoy.

cheers

Originally Posted by SteveHall

Looks brilliant! I really want my hull polishing but haven't had the time..

Cheers!

I used this: HullKote Speed Polish: An Environmentally Friendly High Gloss Polish for Boat Hulls & Spars - McLube

Very easy to use - you just apply and buff off again, I put it on with a DA and took it off with a microfibre towel. Did half the hull and the transom in less than 2 hours.

Planning to keep the boat on a mooring over the summer, but I want to avoid anti-fouling her at all costs. I've done loads of research on here and elsewhere and I'm going to experiment with regular pressure washing (2-3 weeks) and occasional waxing and see how I get on... We'll hopefully be using the boat all the time, which I've read can also help to keep the growth under control. Also planning to put a little bit of surf wax on the underside of the tubes at the transom as I've read this can help to prevent barnacles, but cant seem to find much info on this, and I need to check that I can easily get the wax back off again!

[paul sparkes]

You coming on the Pasty run in 2 weeks? Its in the cruises section.

Paul

[Rupes]

Originally Posted by paul sparkes

You coming on the Pasty run in 2 weeks? Its in the cruises section.

Paul

Hi Paul, we'll be doing our RYA level 2 course that weekend unfortunately! Shame as it would be great to meet a few people.

[paul sparkes]

Where are you doing that?

[Rupes]

Plymouth Powerboat School at QAB

[paul sparkes]

Thats where i did mine. You'll enjoy it, its a really interesting course. Plenty of time out in the boat which was good. We'll keep an eye out and give you a wave!

[Rupes]

Originally Posted by paul sparkes

Thats where i did mine. You'll enjoy it, its a really interesting course. Plenty of time out in the boat which was good. We'll keep an eye out and give you a wave!

Good to hear!

[Ribquest5.3]

What a beauty!

[Rupes]

Originally Posted by Ribquest5.3

What a beauty!

Gel repairs taking a while as there's only so long I can tolerate lying under the boat sanding and getting covered in dust... but nearly there

[Rupes]

FINALLY finished repairing the gelcoat

By far the most awkward boat related job I've done to date.

The repairs themselves were fairly straightforward - just cosmetic chips to the gelcoat with no structural damage to the laminate - but there were lots of them and they were spread around the hull with the worst along the keel (I assume caused by beaching). This meant lots of climbing underneath the trailer and working in extremely claustrophobic circumstances... such fun.

The basic process I used was:

• Taped nice and tight to the damaged areas, allowing a little room for grinding
• Ground back the damaged gelcoat to create a feathered edge
• Lightly sanded the exposed laminate to get a good key for the gelcoat
• Cleaned / degreased with acetone
• Applied clear gelcoat (86%), catalyst (2%), wax in styrene (2%) and pigment (10%) - I wanted to do this in one hit, so I over-filled the repairs
• Left to cure for 24 hours
• Dry sanded back through the grades 80>180>240 to blend level with the surrounding surface
• Re-taped the repairs
• Dry sanded back through the grades 320>600>800>1000>1200
• Polishing compound by hand and DA in some places
• Wax

The results are far from perfect, but I'm pretty happy with them and have learnt a lot.

Before:









During:




 

[Rupes]

After:













Cheers!

[matt h]

Looks amazing Rupes. I did my gel repairs slightly different but looks great now. Really good job dude

[SteveHall]

Looks brilliant!

[Max...]

Looking great - you must be itching like crazy to get it wet...