Need Boat Advice/Help/Question

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dungee

Dungee

Keeper of San Juan Secrets
So... at the beginning of this year while changing trailer bearing I found some deep scratches just above and forward of where one of our trailer bunks end. Come to find out a small piece of gravel/rock had somehow wedged itself into the carpet on top of the bunk and for however long it had been there had been terrorizing the bottom of the boat. Have gone all year without doing anything to it, none of the gouges/scratches are worrisome to me depth wise/structure wise. Today I re positioned the bunks to fully expose the damaged area, I also put about a foot long extra carpeted section on the top of each bunk.

My question for you guys is what would you guys do? I can ignore it as it’s on the hull and not obviously visible, but it’s ugly, and I’d like to at least put new paint over those spots. Should I do anything beyond that? Find a filler for some areas? Take it into a body shop? Just do it myself? If I could do something myself has anyone found stuff that works well? Fillers, sanding method etc etc? If the best option is to just leave it alone and not potentially cause more harm in fine with that, it still catches fish. Thanks again.

Preston
Oh FYI, aluminum boat, Crestliner, area of concern probably a foot and half, one spot in horizontal direction.
BDA4C467-9FA5-47CF-B08E-1B8B986E7DB0.jpeg 0AC0C480-EA83-4715-B408-C3018B6F9B89.jpeg FB171832-F50C-498A-912A-277DC71C6571.jpeg
 
Last edited:
None of those gouges look too bad, definitely not structually. If it was me, I would sand them nice and smooth, then put a layer of clear coat over them to seal it up, and to have zero drag as well.
 
Lake Bum said:
None of those gouges look too bad, definitely not structually. If it was me, I would sand them nice and smooth, then put a layer of clear coat over them to seal it up, and to have zero drag as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks LB! Thats the direction I’m leaning.
 
With a boat that new...the dealer should have spray cans of touch up paint. If you are going to sand it smooth....why not hit it with a little touch-up? It really only matters to you as no one else will see it. my 2 cents
 
That's too bad. I think you already got some good advice to try as a DIY project. That is the way I would go. No way I could ignore that if it was mine.
 
A lot of those look like you could polish them out with a little wets sanding (1500 grit or higher) and then polishing compound and a buffer. There does look to be some that are through the gel coat and into the glass. I would think those need to be filled and sealed. There are some kits that have the filler, gel coat, color agents, and release film. (https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/162676606705)

I have used this kit on a jet ski that had chip about the size of a quarter and it worked very well. Not sure if it would take care of your problem, you might have to buy individual components.

Because of the location I would think you could do it yourself.

Not sure where you live but if your in the Denver area, Mountain Marine in Denver does fantastic work at a reasonable price.
 
Yes, unfortunately some are deep enough that went past the gel coat. Is there a similar filler that would be applicable on aluminum?
 
I thought Dungee said that the boat is Aluminum. If it is Alu, look online at stainless steel polishing in the classic car genre. The process is the same. I have straightened, sanded and polished all the stainless on my cruiser and it came out great. You will start out with with a surprisingly aggressive grit sandpaper ( 220)on the deeper digs and move to the next grit until you are up to around 2000. You will need a sander and about 6-8 different grits. It is definitely a Zen experience cause it takes alot of patience. I would make sure there is no paint over the aluminum cause the new paint won"t stick if sanded any finer than around 6-8 hundred because the paint needs some fine scratches to adhere to. If it is painted, that is a completely different challenge If it is just clear coated, the job will be much easier. No matter which one it is, the gouges need to be sanded out until the finish of the Alu matches the surrounding metal for a decent job. As you can see, the amount of skill and work involved is why so many people just break out the rattle can. BTW always use a sanding block. If you just use your hand you will end up with a gouge of finer scratches. If it it fiberglass you would still sand down to about 600 grit and then shoot a matching gel coat over it. Hopefully it didn't get into the glass so you won't have to fill. Online tutorials are excellent for this project. There are polishing compounds available for alu or gelcoat. Sorry for such a blow hard reply but it is more involved than it appears.
Dungee Fishing said:
So... at the beginning of this year while changing trailer bearing I found some deep scratches just above and forward of where one of our trailer bunks end. Come to find out a small piece of gravel/rock had somehow wedged itself into the carpet on top of the bunk and for however long it had been there had been terrorizing the bottom of the boat. Have gone all year without doing anything to it, none of the gouges/scratches are worrisome to me depth wise/structure wise. Today I re positioned the bunks to fully expose the damaged area, I also put about a foot long extra carpeted section on the top of each bunk.

My question for you guys is what would you guys do? I can ignore it as it’s on the hull and not obviously visible, but it’s ugly, and I’d like to at least put new paint over those spots. Should I do anything beyond that? Find a filler for some areas? Take it into a body shop? Just do it myself? If I could do something myself has anyone found stuff that works well? Fillers, sanding method etc etc? If the best option is to just leave it alone and not potentially cause more harm in fine with that, it still catches fish. Thanks again.

Preston
Oh FYI, aluminum boat, Crestliner, area of concern probably a foot and half, one spot in horizontal direction.
View attachment 1377 View attachment 1378 View attachment 1379[/
Click to expand...
 
Lyle is right about the dealer having a matching paint available. If is is painted you should be able to get a fairly nice blend of color if you can still get the factory paint match but still need to do the sanding to around 800 grit.
 
preston if I was you I would call crestliner customer service for their opinion on how best to get that looking good again. your fortunate it did not grind a hole through the bottom. not sure what would stick to the flexing hull ? seen people use bondo but not sure if it held long term. at a minium crestliner should have some spray paint to match your hull, bummer but it happens!
 
Last edited:
I would do as mentioned above. Contact the dealer and or the manufacturer and tell them exactly what happened and send them the pictures. I am sure that the first thing they will tell you is that the problem is not covered under warranty. Then hopefully they will tell you how to correctly fix the problem area. I took the carpeting off of my old trailer years ago because the carpet had worn off and some of the bolts that hold the bunk boards in place had worked loose and were putting gouges in the bottom of my boat. I replaced the carpet with some strips of thick plastic that was made for boat trailers. I got mine at a shop in Grand Junction, but I am sure you could find some thing in Provo or Salt Lake. You can buy these pre made and even pre drilled for your specific trailer, but they are expensive. I bought a sheet of the stuff, cut it to fit and drilled the holes myself. Worst part of the fix was finding a place to set off my boat while I made the swap. I would also use a white plastic instead of black. The black plastic tends to grow and warp up in the hot sun.
 
For anyone following I just finished up. Aside from the color not matching it came out really good and I am pleased, my mind is at ease of the scratches (especially towards the bottom of the photo where the rock sat). I sanded in increments and layed a base of filler/primer. Since it is on the bottom I wasn’t really concerned with the color matching, I can always do that down the road anyway. Thanks again for everyone’s help.
0DD2E699-6BED-47D7-ACD3-54F1846A0444.jpeg
 
Last edited:
nice job. Amazing how the job gets more difficult the more you know. Matching paint and blending is no joke. Looks like you stopped the damage and saved the metal.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top