Ok, back onto my project but another snag. Tried to take off the live bait pump bracket and it seems that using plenty of sika or equivalent behind the plate is not such a good idea. It has stuck so well that it pulled the gelcoat off, seems to have a very thin coat there, bummer. The good point is it was dry as a bone there. So a small repair job required.
So now to get the tabs off and the question is what will happen to the gelcoat. Does sika soften if some heat is applied to the tabs with a heat gun, I'm aware there will be a fine line before it starts to affect the gelcoat. Any one tried it?
I don't think heat will soften it, once it's cured it's pretty solid, I think you are going to have to invent something to cut behind it, like when they cut car windscreens out with wire, but then, if you can try a bit of heat on the pump bracket you just pulled off, you never know.
Might be worth a try with the wire thing. It's just bad luck I suspect that the area the pump bracket was screwed to wasn't so much as thin but the glass hadn't been rolled in properly as the first layer of CSM was white and no resin in sight, a flaw in manufacturing. The boat is just over 30 years old and it's just one of those things that would never shown the light of day until I started playing with it.Originally Posted by Noelm
My go to is a length of braid between a couple of dowels. Doesn't work all the time and is better if the sika is thicker. Next up is multiple razor blades or Stanley knife blades used like wedges VERY carefully. Last one is a fillet knife - modified with a chisel point if it makes life easier.
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Thanks for the hints Scott, Col, I guess my 1 day project just got bigger but on the plus side the weather isn't playing ball.
Ok, just waiting for resin to go off. Finally managed to get the tab off, what a job. The wire thing just wasn't cutting it, I ended up using a couple of paint putty blades and first of all just starting at the edges and tapping with the hammer, going deeper on every pass buy about 1/2 mm, the sealant was that tough, apparently Simpsons Sealant was used on it, certainly much stronger than Sika. I followed through with a much wider putty knife just to keep a small amount of leverage on the tab. Cleaned it all up, cleaned out the screw holes and filled them with resin via a little syringe I have especially for that purpose.
Later on this afternoon I'll have to flowcoat the area, sand it back (painful job at the best of times) buff and polish it. Then I can reinstall the bait pump and trim tabs in their new positions. Fortunately the Starboard side I won't need to move the deck wash pick up as I can cut 5 mm off the tube and it will all fit.
I'm starting to wonder why I started this job.
fyi, since starting in the mines I’ve lost weight
hint hint
Almost didn't recognise you the other week.
Quick update, got some time today and made the effort to move the port side trim tab. It now allows me a bit more flexibility to move the transducer if necessary and now looking at it as it is not so close to the hull I suspect maybe even a slight improvement in economy which would be a bonus.
I decided to put another project on hold and have now removed the Starboard trim tab, a lot easier for some reason and have injected all the old holes with resin, I'll finish it off tomorrow.
The old position,
20210919_171810.jpg
The new position
20210928_134848.jpg
Did you have to thicken it first? Have to do similar on mine but worried about not getting all the air out and having the resin just flow back out.
Yes I did, I have plenty of Q Cells which I added, not enough to make a paste but just thickened it a bit. The syringe I used was actually one of those Ant Gell (tallon I think) syringes which was all used up, I kept it especially for this purpose. I used some masking tape (the one used for brickwork and concrete is really good) which I secured just below the hole then injected it in and taped it up, even unthickened it won't run out much. There will be a little dimple once set but that isn't an issue, the biggest headache is colour matching the gelcoat afterwards to fill them and other damage to the gelcoat.
The tints I used were yellow and ivory, remember very little is required.
This is where the live bait pump bracket that caused me issues, repaired, flowcoated, sanded and polished and moved to the left by about 50mm.
Great work 👍
Yeah I have yet to play with colour matching. I have to match cream, tan and brown on mine. Bought white base for the lighter ones and neutral for the brown, plus cream + tan + brown + black + red + yellow + blue pigments for tinting. Will try to tint batches large enough to do all I need and then just portion out and add MEKP as necessary.
With the tinting start with just a dab on the end of a match stick, you will be surprised at how little is needed. Only start with enough flowcoat to do the job at hand, keep your base colours clean, I have found the tint will reduce the shelf life and if you over tint you'll have some to add to it.
Did the starboard side today , went easier after the port side was done. Looks so much better as well, hoping it will work better all around.
Also learnt that beeswax works really well when tapping into ally. I couldn't find where I put it this morning so tried zipper lube and it worked almost as well.
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