Ribtec 725 refurbishment

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by kevinsc

Hi Ken
I'm still enjoying doing the build and looking forward to when it's finished. When I was writing the question about drain holes I kind of knew that it would be better to have drains fitted. Unfortunately the duct size I only have 50mm between the top of the fuel tank and the bottom of the deck might have run 3 ducts to make sure i have space.
Cheers Kevin

Not a bad idea to run an extra duct just in case, always seems a bit nuts running battery live & neutral unfused in the same duct as the fuel line but it seems standard practice, separating them can only be a good thing👍
Glad your still enjoying the refurb it'll be good to see it on the water

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by beamishken

Not a bad idea to run an extra duct just in case, always seems a bit nuts running battery live & neutral unfused in the same duct as the fuel line but it seems standard practice, separating them can only be a good thing👍
Glad your still enjoying the refurb it'll be good to see it on the water

I forget what size they used but when I had the deck on my Ribtec 9m done but similarly we specifically put in 2 fairly large ducts. One could comfortably fit all the cables, harnesses and hydraulic hoses anyway, but was very nice to have an empty spare for easy running of extra wires as I added bits!

[kevinsc]

Hi all
Things have slow on the rib front, with holidays and being to finish stuff around the house. Managed to glue and screw the deck strips into place to screw the deck to. I used A4 marine screws but a few of them the head snapped off is this normal I've never used A4 screws before.
I have countersunk the screws, do I them have to fill them and fibreglass over them?.
Cheers Kevin

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by kevinsc

Hi all
Things have slow on the rib front, with holidays and being to finish stuff around the house. Managed to glue and screw the deck strips into place to screw the deck to. I used A4 marine screws but a few of them the head snapped off is this normal I've never used A4 screws before.
I have countersunk the screws, do I them have to fill them and fibreglass over them?.
Cheers Kevin

Yeh stainless screws & bolts are soft as $hit if you dont snap them you round out the heads when the driver bits slips. I'd fill glass over the heads probably wouldnt bother individually filling each screw head but I would make sure they were full of resin as I laid up the glass.

[kevinsc]

Hi Ken
That's rubbish that A4 screws are made of toffee. But will glass over the screws. Then will able to get the cable tubes ran.
Cheers Kevin

[kevinsc]

Hi All
Got the screws glassed and sealed at the back and run the ducts run in. Put 3 ducts in for the boat and one in for the A frame fingers crossed there's enough space for everything. Just need to get the gelcoat ordered to paint under the deck

[kevinsc]

Hi all
I'm going to gelcoat all the bit under the deck but was wondering what is a good gelcoat name to go for that lasts.
Cheers Kevin

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by kevinsc

Hi all
I'm going to gelcoat all the bit under the deck but was wondering what is a good gelcoat name to go for that lasts.
Cheers Kevin

You want flowcoat or topcoat, presumably you've used polyester which is prety much generic, I doubt theres much difference between brands. For underdeck areas like that I add some resin which thins down the flowcoat as it's often quite thick & gloopy. The flowcoat is basically gelcoat with wax added so it cures unlike gelcoat which remains sticky until over coated. It does mean you need to grind the surface if you later want to bond to it as the wax prevents a chemical bond.

[kevinsc]

Thanks ken
I wasn't sure about flowcoat/gelcoat thought it was the other way round. Does that mean if you add styrene to gelcoat of your final coat it will dry non sticky and hard.
Cheers Kevin

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by kevinsc

Thanks ken
I wasn't sure about flowcoat/gelcoat thought it was the other way round. Does that mean if you add styrene to gelcoat of your final coat it will dry non sticky and hard.
Cheers Kevin

Add wax to gelcoat to make it go hard & none sticky, (that's basically all flowcoat is), gelcoat wont cure until you exclude the air, the wax migrates to the surface and creates a barrier allowing it to set none sticky.

[whiskylee]

Originally Posted by kevinsc

Thanks ken
I wasn't sure about flowcoat/gelcoat thought it was the other way round. Does that mean if you add styrene to gelcoat of your final coat it will dry non sticky and hard.
Cheers Kevin

https://youtu.be/rY_Nf1hPado?si=W1RAj80f6iI1yZFF

[kevinsc]

Thank you for the link whiskylee
Cheers Kevin

[kevinsc]

Hi all
Just before I purchased the paint for the rib I was going to get gelcoat and in styrene for final coat because I was going to give the hull 2 coats of paint. I noticed on east coast fibreglass that it's sold in kg, how do you know how much to get?.
I was looking through old threads and found one from Nugent and he was painting his hulls in hmg acrythane 4g paint is this better to use.
Cheers Kevin

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by kevinsc

Hi all
Just before I purchased the paint for the rib I was going to get gelcoat and in styrene for final coat because I was going to give the hull 2 coats of paint. I noticed on east coast fibreglass that it's sold in kg, how do you know how much to get?.
I was looking through old threads and found one from Nugent and he was painting his hulls in hmg acrythane 4g paint is this better to use.
Cheers Kevin

Not sure if you mean the outside of the hull or inside floor, if it's the outside of the hull it's far easier to use a car/truck 2k paint stick with solvent based not water base which is mandatory for cars now due to epa but perfectly legal on trucks& everything else. I ran a bodyshop for many years & sprayed a good few boats with good results. Also sprayed international perfection marine paint & hated it, very expensive & you cant flat & polish afterwards if you get any runs, orangepeel or dust. Also re gelcoated a couple & whilst it's more original it's very labour intensive requiring lots of sanding & polishing afterwards. First choice for the outside hull is a good flat & polish of the original gelcoat if possible but if not then two pack paint is the best option imho
For the deck and inside then flowcoat & antislip flowcoat is the best for a brushed finish.

[kevinsc]

Hi Ken
Thank you for your help.
I see what you mean. Will get flowcoat for under the deck stringers etc to give them extra protection and for the deck it's self. And 2k paint for the hull (when I'm ready) and have spray painting a bash.
Cheers Kevin

[kevinsc]

Hi All
I might be getting silly but I just want to make sure I have glassed the right thickness on all the stringers and bulkhead before I put some flowcoat on everything under the deck to give it one final protection. On all the corners and also where it connects to the transom I have used 2 layers of 600 biaxial and 2 layers of 600 csm and Then 2 layers of csm over the rest of the exposed wood. Is this enough fibreglass to gain the strength I need.
Cheers Kevin

[A1an]

Yep that’s a chunk of glass

[kevinsc]

Hi Alan
It does look very thick in the corners about 5mm. Flowcoat is on its way to finish off under the deck 😀, then the fuel and deck on.
Cheers Kevin

[kevinsc]

Hi all
While I'm waiting on my fuel tank being made, I've started getting the rest on the deck cut and ready to be fitted but as mentioned being the marine stainless screws are shit and the heads snap off. So was wondering what everyone else uses to screw down the deck with.
Cheers Kevin

[beamishken]

I'm guessing your screwing through the ply into the top of the stringers which are glassed & the screws are biting in the glass? If that's the case probably a small pilot drill through the ply deck then lift the floor & drill the glass to the outer diameter of the screw so its clearance and can bite into the wood below. I usually wet out strips of glass along the stringer tops & scrunch it up so it stands up then drop the deck down & fix it one it's gone off the floor should be stuck & the screws doing virtually nothing