Building of the new Riptide platey **it finally floats**

[WOZZA81]

Nice looking project what height is it on the trailer?

[revs57]

G'day Greg,

'Bout time we had an update isn't it? I was down at Riptide Yesterday doing some maintenance (dropped a jiggler end in the fuel tank when I tried to drain it so had to pull the tank out! Idiot!!!) Dave said you picked it up a few weeks ago - how are the bling bollards and rails going ??? I still reckon you have too much time on ya hands!!!!

On track for Fraser???

Rhys

[rcfisher]

Hey Greg,
Getting itchy feet.
Would love to see some more pics.

[dfox]

Greg's quite busy of late, every spare second he's working on the boat, mainly sanding. It's getting close to the painting stage, most of the boat is in undercoat ... foxy

[Briz]

Hi Greg … great looking boat – sure it’ll look a treat when finished – I was interested when looking at your last post to see in the picture it seems you’ve used polly or automotive bog straight onto the ally (it's pink so that’s what I’m assuming – sorry if I’m mistaken) but having just gone through a bogging/painting process on my plate boat where I used epoxy mixed with micro-balloons applied to an epoxy etch primed surface (a bloody lot harder to work, sand and fair than polly) I'm interested in knowing if there’s some kind of shortcut in getting the polly to stick to straight to plate ally … if there is - then I’ve got to know for my next boat!
Briz

[turtleshead]

What a Weapon, Keep the pics coming .

[skipalong]

shes coming along great greg what will you be towing it to fraser with this yeah, i bet she will be heavy in the sand

[BilgeBoy]

Just paint the dam thing will ya!!!

Looking great Greg

Regards

BilgeBoy

[MEGA'bite]

thanks for the pics greg great to see a good quality job being done. look forward to the finish product, and you taking me fishin for those reds

[sid_fishes]

greg, its looking really good but 3 weeks out mate i dont envy you. and empty out your msg,s ok cheers ian

[Reefmaster]

Hi all,
Been flat out trying to get the boat finished for the up coming Fraser Island expo which we leave for in 5 weeks time. As of today the whole boat is in undercoat (cab needs another coat) with the sides pretty much finished and ready for the final top coat this weekend. If all goes to plan we have to rub back the rest of boat next week and hopefully the rest of the boat can be sprayed the weekend after. That leaves 3 weeks to finish it and that includes fitting out an alloy Trailer frame that Riptide will have finished by the end of next week.


All I can say is "DONT EVER TRY PAINT A BIG PLATEY YOURSELF"

what a massive task to do a good job and the amount of fairing/bogging is unbelievable. Every weld/join/corner has been smoothed out and the boat has been straightened to the best of our ability with the limited of amount of time we have to do it. We have probally gone way over board but while your doing it you might as well do a half decent job.

I will quickly run through the task required to prep an alloy boat for paint and hopefully save anyone from thinking of doing it themselves We are not panel beaters but have done a few cars in the past so the general idea was there.



The whole boat needs to be sanded back.

All holes/cutouts need to be done for components and also pre drill/tap all screw/bolt holes.

Acid wash the whole boat until it's sparkly clean (man that stuff is deadly)

Apply a product called Alodine which is mixed with water similar to the acid wash and applied with a garden spray. The alodine looks like Iodine (deep brown) and basicly anodises the alloy which seals it off. This makes the boat look off brown with streaks all over it. Kinda like it's been in a dirt paddock for 10 years
The alodine acts like a etch primer so you can start bogging and faring your life away with normal automotive polyester filler.


Most edges and corners that were bogged have been sanded back with a small piece of round timber dowel wrapped in sand paper. The sides were bogged in the required areas and in particular where ever a weld was placed as the welds cause high spots and distortion. The bottom areas of the sides where the floor and side pockets have been put in cause the most amount of distortion and also where the side sheet gets tack welded in small sections under the upper gunnel caping. To get the sides dead straight on a plate boat you would need to bog from top to bottom but this wasn't going to happen so we applied where it was needed the most. Weeks alone were spent on the sides and I could go on all day long about what was done to them to get a half decent result.

The section under the gunnel capping where it meets the side sheet is an area most run a very thick beed of sikaflex and paint over which looks ok but not the best. After some good advice we ended up using Epoxy resin with micro ballons. It looks like chocolate and we cut a plastic board into a nicely curved shape and applied under the gunnel cap. It took a few goes to get it 100% right and after rubbing it back with a large round timber dowel wrapped in sand paper it came out looking really good. (photos wont do it justice)


7 weeks of bogging and fairing have taken place and this was with my Dad working on it 7 days a week. (lucky he retired last year ) He has done a massive amount of work and I'm sure is sick of me saying we need to bog that or that doesn't feel right


To cover the boat we used Jotun penguard 2 pak epoxy high build primer. So far I have used 26ltrs (its on thick) We then guide coated the sides with black and rubbed it down by hand with long blocks and 320 grit wet rub sand paper. Using long blocks reduces ripples and it took 3 days to rub the sides down and get any of the low and high spots out.


Top coat will also be Jotun and hopefully I can post some pics with some colour on it soon.

I must thank my Dad for all the work he has done so far and also my brother Russel, Andy, Foxy(dfox), Rob(maccamania), Jason (bilgeboy) who have all been a great help.

Regards,
Greg





The pics are from just a few sections of the boat to give an idea of he amount of effort gone into fairing and smoothing everything out.

[Reefmaster]

some pics of the epoxy resin under the gunnel caping. It was sanded back with a round piece of timber dowel wrapped in sand paper to get a nice even curve.

[Reefmaster]

A few pics of where the bog is needed the most. The vertical bog area just past the very front of bow shot is where the anchor well is welded in which caused a high spot. The only way to fix this is to slow lightly build the area up to give it a nice even curve.

[Reefmaster]

The boat fully undercoated and sprayed with a black guide coat to help show where you have sanded and more importantly to show the low spots.

Second pic is after the sides have been fully blocked back and ready for paint.

[kevinnugent@westnet.]

Now people can get some idea of why these things cost so much!

Looks luverley!

Kevin