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Ok it's been a long winter and I'm ready to start the restoring of my 1969 16ft. Eastport. Here are my starting pictures. I will post more as I go . Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks..
http://s1373.photobucket.com/user/dns...a.jpg.html

(Moderator moved to appropriate forum)

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You have your work cut out for ya. I'm in the same boat so to speak. As someone once told me..."Enjoy the process"

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Let the work begin and have fun.

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If the hull is dry,

Take everything out, clean out leaves an junk.
Wet sand the gelcoat, from the pictures it doesnt seem to have extreme crazing. And she may look good. Compound it, and wax.

The console, idk about that, and add a rub rail.

Power tools are your friend.

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I plan on sanding filling and painting. Any suggestions on paint? I got a new console from speciality marine for 1/2 price because is was blemished. Not badly though. I've been getting stuff on eBay and craiglist all winter.

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First thing I would do is replace the brass drain tubes. Then seal the weld line again. Make sure no water can penetrate the transom. Then restore the gelcoat, following the wetsand, compound, polish, and wax process, like what jw0287 suggested. You can remove the old vinyl glue from the gunwale using acetone. Ready to restore with a plan of sanding, filling, and painting is oxymoronic. Restore to the original configuration and you will have a jewel to treasure for years more.

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What is your painting experience? Rolling some walls does not count. If you paint you want to use a two part polyurathane like AwlGrip. Its very expensive. Painting with a single stage "epoxy" such as Easypoxy is more forgiving but will only last a couple of years. You can also regel coat. It takes less skill but alot more labor. From the looks of the pictures and especially the transom picture, I would say the gelcoat can't be restored. It will only look worse, once you install a new console. Those who tell you to sand, polish and wax the existing gelcoat, are probably at the outer limits of their ability. If your going to restore that boat, do it right.

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With regel coating do I have to grind off existing gel coat or can I sand down exiting , repair damage areas, then gel coat over existing gel coat?

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Your comment; With regel coating do I have to grind off existing gel coat or can I sand down exiting , repair damage areas, then gel coat over existing gel coat?

You can gel coat over existing gel coat after repairing damaged areas. Spray it with a cheap spray gun, such as the one sold by Harbor Freight for under $20. Its a siphon gun intended for spraying primers and has a 2.0 tip. You need a tip that large or larger to spray gel coat. There is alot of info on the web about spraying gelcoat, read everything you can before starting. I even practised on an old plastic garbage can first before tackling my boat.

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Not to get ahead of oneself, but before you even decide how to apply gelcoat, and whether to use a spray applicator, a tongue depressor, or your own finger, you need to understand that there is no formula for the light blue interior gelcoat color. When Fisher-Pierce, Co. mixed the light blue gelcoat, it was done by a factory worker, not a machine or computer. Essentially, they took benzoil peroxide (BPO) and dimethylaniline (DMA) and mixed to a light blue color. BPO was the yellow and DMA was the blue; too much BPO and the gelcoat would not cure; too much DMA, and the mix was teal/green. Today we can use a coloring agent such as Evercoat marine coloring agent Blue, production number 100-507. It is a trial and error process to perfectly match your BW16 interior gelcoat color. It is not difficult. You just need to be patient, and willing to get your hands dirty.

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Its true, tinting gelcoat is not that hard to do, but it takes patience and a sense of colors. I tinted an almost exact match for Desert Sand. Assuming you will start with white gelcoat buy more than you need. Then when adding the tinting colors, which should be available from the fiberglass supplier where you bought your gelcoat, if you get the color too dark you can lighten it by adding white gelcoat to the mix. Don't buy your gelcoat online, find a fiberglass supplier, they can answer any questions you have. If you provide them with a sample color, they can color match it for you, but it will cost you some bucks.