2001 SV1900

[shannond]

Hi Folks,

New to the forum.  I was tired of being land locked being an owner a bigger offshore boat waiting for the weather to get right, so I recently purchased a 2001 SV1900 to get out on the water more often.  She was in bad shape when I found her, but I'm slowly bringing her back to life.  A rewire is in short order, but I've already started to clean her up.  Good news is the motor has zero corrosion and runs perfect.  Here she is after 7 gallons of Clorox to get the funk off.  I've also done a 3 step wet sand (1000, 1500 & 2000) and compound which has made a major improvement to help bring her back.  Looking forward to many years of use out of my new to me Sea Pro.

[Juan]

Welcome to the forum... She's looking good and rewires are popular on most Sea Pros.

[gnrphil]

Welcome, nice job on the wet sand she looks great.  emthup

[shannond]

Thanks guys! I think a lil more dirt and funk inside the boat, she would have had oak trees starting to grow with all the acorns that were in there. The self-bailing hoses were packed which blocked water to drain.  Here's a short clip showing the reflections after the wet sand & one pass with compound.  This is after surface correction only.  No wax was applied.  This is work in progress and plan on applying a coating to the gel coat for longer protection.

[gnrphil]

That does look really good, I used NuFinish on mine and it held up well.

[shannond]

Thanks!  Here's a short clip showing what I started with when I brought her home.  Nasty, but I saw beyond the dirt and oxidized gel coat the day I went test ride.  I knew I could bring her back.

[shannond]

Another clip showing some progress.  I haven't finished wet sanding / buffing the inside yet, so not every surface is reflecting/shiny.  Still a huge difference from when I picked her up.  I thought it was going to be simple to remove the cooler/swing seat, but I just read a thread how everyone complained how hard it is to remove.  It has to come out so I can try to squeeze into that console or have my son go in there to help with the rewire.  I just found a good deal on a leaning post, so even if the cooler seat gets messed up while trying to remove it, the leaning post will be going in its place.  I also ordered a new Simrad GO9 XSE with total scan to replace the out dated electronics that came with the boat.

[freezerfiller]

Nice job, I know that was a lot of work to get it to the point you have it!

[985crabs]

Awesome! I have the same boat just maybe a couple years older. To think that it might could look that good is exciting. You are hereby invited to Louisiana to do your magic. Great job.

[shannond]

Thanks 985crabs. It's really not that hard, but it does take some time. BTW, I live in Sportsmans Paradise as well. Maybe after I finish mine, we can work something out later about me doing that magic to your boat. LOL

[985crabs]

Sent you a PM.

[shannond]

I had 3 weeks off and got a good bit done on my bay boat.  More wet sanding and compounding done.  Amazing difference in the before and after.  The bottom of the boat had gel coat missing on the front keel from the previous owner driving it up on something.  I used Marine Tex to cover the bald spots.  Here are some videos of before and after.  Sorry for the portrait videos.  I guess I didn't think about sharing these when I hit record. 





Here is after:

[shannond]

While going through all the wiring, I decided to take apart the dash panel to clean things up a bit.  I didn't like the faded paint, so I covered it with a carbon fiber overlay.  I already replaced several of the breakers and switches, but will eventually replace them all as well as the gauges since none of them work correctly.  I also added a Simrad GO9 XSE with totalscan.  Unbelievable some of the factory wiring.  That negative was laying in the the bottom of the wire tube which was wet and nasty.  No wonder so many things didn't work correctly.

[shannond]

Once my rewire was completed, it was time for a much needed break.  I still have some work to do, but I also needed to test the livewells and new Simrad, so off to the launch for some fun.

[freezerfiller]

looking good! If you can move that spare up a few inches, it might save you some trouble on speed bumps and less than perfect boat ramps..

[greenheadrocker]

What a difference some time can make. I'm jealous. I'm currently in the process of wet sanding mine and plan on buffing it back out. Any suggestions on the buffing part or the wet sanding part? Never done it before. I wet sanded with 1500 grit and picked up a bottle of Allura super cut compound. Did you wet sand the non skid also?

[shannond]

Thanks!  For this boat, I did a 3 step wet sand using 1000, 1500 & 2000 on most areas.  The bottom of the boat had big gashes in some areas, so I used 600, 800, 1000, 1500 & 2000.  I tried some areas just using 2000 and compound, but the results were not great.  I also tried 1500, 2000 and compound, but again the results were not as good as doing the 3 step or more wet sanding.  I've learned that if you try short cuts and don't remove all the old dead gel coat, its going to clog up your pads a lot faster when compounding.   I used a spray bottle with a drop or two of soap to wet the area when wet sanding.  A garden hose makes too much of a mess.  Then I realized I was having to refill my spray bottle too often.  I grabbed a one gallon spray pump and that turned out to be the best idea since it lasted longer and I didn't have to constantly pull a trigger to spray.  4 or 5 drops of simple green or dawn in the one gallon sprayer is plenty to provide some lubricant to the wet sanding process.  A vehicle windshield washer brush with the squeegee is another good tool to have.  After wet sanding an area, use the squeegee to remove the wet dead gel coat from the area to inspect.


I've used many different pads and products for the compound / polishing stage over the years.  I now exclusively use Marine 31 Captain's One Step Compound / Polish applied with Rupes Blue Coarse foam pads.  I have a Shurhold DA polisher with a 5.5" backing plate and a Griot's 3" DA polisher.  I buy the 4" and 6" Rupes pads for those two polishers.  The bigger pads of course are used in large areas like the sides, bottom and inside gunnels.  The smaller pads work better for the console and tighter areas.  The Rupes pads perform awesome, but they don't last very long.  It's good to have a stock pile of both sizes so you can swap out pads as soon as you see the pores getting clogged.  Clean the pads often with warm / hot water by squeezing / massaging the pad to free up the built up compound /dead gel coat.  Set the cleaned pads on a towel with velcro side up to dry. 


I purchase the Marine 31 One step compound / polish and the Rupes pads from Autogeek.com.  The Rupes pads are not cheap, so here's a tip to save some money.  Sign up in the Autogeek forum and for the news letter email.  Lots of good detailing tips in that forum anyway if you're into that.  Every few weeks they have sales and you'll get the notice with emails.  I wait for the 20-25% off sales with free shipping to gather up the stuff I need.  Autogeek always has awesome deals around black friday and Christmas time, so that's a good time to stock up for that winter project.   

Here's a pic of my usual working pads for a day of buffing.  Again, its best to swap out the pads often to help prolong the life of the pad.  It sucks that these pads don't last longer, because they really perform awesome.  

Hope this helps.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers!


     

[greenheadrocker]

Wow that's a heck of a reply. Thanks. I have only done 1500 grit so far. So the compound you use doesn't require you to come back and use a mirror glaze to finish it off? Also I have the wool pads for mine. Should I not use them and stick to a foam pad?

[985crabs]

Again, kudos. Looking great. Where on earth did you get that carbon fiber overlay? That looks great.

I have to encourage you to put steps and fenders on that trailer. If you don't, you will accelerate the deterioration of all the shiny smoothness you just worked so hard for.

[shannond]

The shine you see in those videos is from one pass of the Captain's one step product that was used after the wet sand process.  I still have not waxed the boat or applied anything else.  My plan is to apply a ceramic coating after all surfaces are corrected.  I have a rotary with wool pads and found that it will clean up the gel coat, but it will also leave some cloudiness and swirls.  It may take 2 passes with wool to clean up the cloudiness, but still leaves swirls.  Then I have to go correct that with the Rupes pads, so I put away the rotary and wool pads.  I'd say use what you have if you're happy with the results.  I'm by no means saying you need to go spend more money on the stuff I used.  I'm just sharing what works for me.  I may be taking the long way around by wet sanding all the surfaces, but I like drinking beer while working on my boat and I'm happy with the results I get.  lol