Trailer Time!

This weekend sanding was finished on the hull.  The entire piece is a milky, porous white.  All the shiny spots have been removed and the glass is properly roughed up. It took 3 additional passes, in between each one she was rinsed, scrubbed and wiped down.  The sanding did not take that long considering the length of the day so I focused most of my energy on the trailer.

The right side after 1 pass with the wire brush.  

Over the last few visits I've been brushing liberal amounts of WD-40 onto the frame, bolts, joints and every nook and cranny I could find.  The gallon jug of WD-40 was a great investment.  Today I attached a brush wire wheel to a hammer drill and went to town removing the loose rust.

I removed the centerline rollers.  One of the brackets had to be removed, the bolts being seized I had to cut them out with a Dremmel reenforced cutting wheel.  The roller bunks on the sides will be replaced with entirely new ones.

The big breakthrough was finally being able to tilt the trailer.  The original Luger trailers have a joint about 4' from the trailer coupler.  The tilting action allows you get the boat in the water without "getting your feet wet" according to the catalogue. In reality the tilt is useful and keeps you from getting your knees wet.  The tilt action occurs naturally due to the weight of the boat.  Once the bolt is released and the trailer on the launch the boat freely floats right off.  I'm glad I will easily be able to recover this function.

I removed the stem next so I could remove all rust from the tilt bolt.  The bolt came off easily and is soaking in a WD-40 bath.  The crank was a lot harder to remove from the vertical post so I had to resort to the reciprocating saw.  With the stem removed the trailer was much easier to handle so I flipped it upside down and removed more rust.  After I scrubbed and rinsed everything with de-greaser to start to remove the WD-40 remnants.

Next I will have to epoxy the hull and in-between curing points I will be treating the trailer with Rust Bullet coating.  Two coats of that and she'll be ready for a shiny new coat of blue paint.

Once the trailer and hull are done the project is half over. With new rollers, guides, crank and lights she'll look as good as new.  The last thing I wanted to do was put a new clean bottom onto old black deteriorating rubber rollers.  The bearings were replaced 2 years ago and they are still in great shape.  The tires are also good and relatively new, I will need a new spare.

80 grit sandpaper is your friend

This weekend Moe was good enough to give me a ride and help start the sanding process.  We took of the first layer of everything (gelcoat, old patch repairs, old marine sealant, etc).  Today's surprise was in the form of a rubber gasket that covered the surface of some of the screws at the bow.  The hull must have come in 4 pieces, the hull, both sides and the transom.  The sections were screwed together, probably with wood or a stringer to join them and then the seams were glassed over.  I could see the seams clearly from the inside of the boat and the screw heads began to show through thre trim.

You can clearly see the hull sections as they join.  The screws were covered with a rubber gasket at the front, which was covered with Bondo or other sealant and then painted.  As moisture worked its way into the grooves the screw heads became visible by the rubber being pushed up through the paint and primer because the moisture was trapped at the metal head and fiberglass.  

You can clearly see the hull sections as they join at the transom.  The rubber gasket did not run the whole length of the hull but was only used to fair the final coat of primer/gelcoat.  I didn't really want to investigate under the rubber but it was really, really wet where I did and it came off easily.  

Once it was all off it was clear that it was only used where necessary and much of the hull did line up cleanly amidships.  

We gave every inch of the bottom a once over with the 80 grit sandpaper.  The decal registration stickers came off cleanly with some Methyl Ethyl Keytone (MEK).  MEK is my new favorite solvent.  In between sanding sessions the hull was rinsed with fresh water and we even did a rinse with Tri-Sodum Phosphate (TSP) to make sure everything came off nice and smoothly.  She is still shiny in a few places so another pass will have to be made at everything so that everything is solidly dull before we can begin to epoxy the screws, dings, scratches and the lovely gouge on the front. 

Next time after sanding and cleaning the holes will be wetted out and epoxy will be applied.  Before final curing some thickened epoxy will be applied to begin to fill in the gaps, depending on the repair this will be another 1-2 layers.