Cat Refinishing--What's your take?

I wouldn't wrap it all the way to the bottom and would stay short of where the cat trax will rub the hulls. I intend to wrap mine down low and use a batten to guide a razor blade to trim it back near the waterline about an inch or so clear of where the cat trax cradles slide. It's a little more durable than straight up solid color vinyl because it will have a flexible PVC laminate over the printed vinyl for UV and general protection - but you can scratch it with a trap hook or other hard thing. It's the same material as you see on the printed car wraps - it can handle 90 miles an hour and will resist rocks and sand and hold up for years but it's not a hard coating like paint or gel coat. It wouldn't survive long on the bottom of the boat if you are sliding up the beach. It can be patched (reprint a small section) and removed and/or changed on a whim.

Weight though. Probably an extra four-five pounds you'd be dragging around.

Although, a mural of a B29 flying away from a mushroom cloud with

It's Miller Time!

down the side of one hull is rather intriguing.

You are one dark mother fu@#er Karl. Good to see that marriage hasn't changed you a bit.

The wrap Mike had put on the C20 was pretty cool and held up well. It did not go under the hull like Jake said so not a problem with the beach. We did scratch it in a few places when it got hot (the solid black parts) because it was a little softer, but overall very durable. Mike took it off after a couple of years when he sold the boat so maybe he will let us know how that went.

I actually wanted to get something like that on the back of my work trailer.... Kinda figured my generally yuppie demographic of a customer base wouldn't care for it too much though

I had left a Worrell sticker on the inside hulls on waaaaay too long (from previous owner), and it wasn't until I discovered the magic of MEK did it come off in one easy pass...

There is definitely a life span for easy removal. The material manufacturer's get pretty serious about communicating that for car wraps (can you image what an entire car wrap left on for too long would be like to remove?).

Only as much as I can imagine what MEK would do to the underlying paint job <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Jake, how much does the environment have to do with that? On one side of the spectrum you've got a vehicle that sits outside its whole life a mile from the sun in Florida, the other being in a dark nitrogen filled environment.

The life rating on them takes the worst case into account. Keeping it out of the sun, or indoors, etc. will extend that.

The same guy that installed my hull wrap removed it. Cost $150 and took him less than 2 hours. He used a heat gun and it pulled right off.

For lettering, sponsor decals, stripes, etc - use a 3M Stripe Off Wheel. I used it on my a-cat to remove a regatta decals, etc that would not come off. It did not scuff, mar, or scratch the gelcoat.

Does that wheel remove the vinyl as well or just the adhesive?how long does it last?

I've got one of those wheels (somewhere...or, come to think of it, I might have loaned it to someone who never returned it). It only works on fresh graphics. It won't work on crusty stuff. It does also remove the adhesive but you will still need to use a light solvent and a little elbow grease in the knooks.

It took off the vinyl and adhesive for me. I wiped it with alcohol afterwards to clean up any spots I missed.

So really we are looking at side hull protection? I'd say on an Infusion Mk. 1 that is important. Not sure about the Mk. 2 boats, hopefully they fixed the minor gelcoat chipping issues of the Mk. 1. For those with other boats we're really looking at sponsorship dollars.

This still doesn't help Tad with his problems. Option are to grind out the gelcoat and redo, only to likely redo again in a few years, or move to paint, or move to a new boat. I like the pain idea but I'm not a pro and the coloring issue seems like a concern.

Tad's problems are being remedied this week with a bottle of rubbing compound, a bottle of wax, and a 10" random orbit buffer.

Now if I can get a day without it raining - that would be ideal.

you need a genuine

polisher

and not one of those random orbit buffers to accomplish anything. The buffer is decent for putting on wax and avoiding some swirls - but they typically don't have enough oomph to cut gelcoat (or paint).

I've got a trip to harbor freight planned. They have a 7" polisher on sale for like $30 that has my name written on it.

I bought a Makita a few years ago, it was a little pricey but seemed to be well worth it compared to the HF stuff.

HF stuff is good enough to use infrequently. I'll use this thing maybe twice a year and the rest of the time it will spend its life in a shed. Even if it does die, I can buy 4 of them before I get to the price of a makita.

I've got a Milwaukee Polisher , love it. I rely on tools every single day, I never once have regretted buying the best I can. I do prefer the Wizard brand foam polishing pads over the 3M brand ones though, and I'm a huge fan of 3M products. The Wizard ones seem to last longer. I still stick it to a 3M head though.

If you do go cheap ,make sure the polisher is balanced so as not to dig and wobble. I bought a Blue point/Snap-on polisher off of E-bay after killing a few cheaper (even Black &Decker) ones. I like the 3M wool pads( Haven't tried the ones Karl mentioned though) and the 3M restorer and polish. It's such a miserable job I feel spending a little more on quality tools to make it expedient and top quality at the same time is worth it.
One thing people seem to fail to realize is paint goes bad just like gel-coat. The high end paints seem to advertise 5-7 years before a re-coat.

I put the ole bitch in the garage today and getting her taped off to grind off all of the non-skid.

After I'm done with that, I'll tackle the refinishing project. Here's what I'm dealing with:

Old scar repair. When the white was sprayed on it was just too transparent or just not built up enough.

Yellow side repair. This was gelcoat that never fully kicked. It also happens to be the spot where I tagged the lowered tailgate of Jake's truck with the boat while trailering down at Columbia sailing club. Last time I tried to do anything with this spot, it just got tacky and sticky like I had just pulled off a decal there. I think the only way I'm going to fix that is with a big decal... Jake???

Then the gelcoat flaking. Just need to sand it down I think so it stops then properly wet sand, compound and polish.

Boat is going up for sale this winter likely so I need to get her looking respectable at least.

Interesting...the white bow repair where it flaked off - that was gelcoat with duratec (I did this part) but it looks like it's back too far and on shiny gelcoat. This is probably why it's flaking off....in my defense, I hadn't anticipated how transparent the duratec would make the gelcoat and I ended up having to put much more on and feather it back further than I intended to blend in the thickness...but now I know. Thanks for the pics.

Don't worry Jake - I'm not picking nits with you whatsoever or trying to call you out. You did me such a solid favor on that repair that I couldn't ever hope to repay you. You still cutting hull vinyl? I might need to cover up these scabs with something more easy to apply than paint or gelcoat. As far as I can see it, the ONLY way that I'm going to ever get a like new finish on this thing is if I either paint the whole damn thing (adding more weight) or grind every bit of gelcoat off the thing and respray it - and given the revelations you made earlier in the thread about gelcoat not being meant as a paint, I think that I'm pretty screwed.

no offense taken...I learn from every project.

I honestly think you are over thinking this. Just removing the mildew might make a pretty solid improvement. 😉

It seems that the duratec repair (although clearly chipped but not a fault of the duratec) is still pretty glossy...is that the case?

Decals are not a problem...our graphics shop has improved and grown and our newly created 900 sqft is getting small already.

I may be overthinking it - but I caught a lot of friendly jabs at Sizzler about my boat looking like sh*t so I decided that I shall once again, for the third year in a row, try to polish and wax the thing. Those blemishes aren't going anywhere unless I completely refinish the boat or cover them up with some swanky graphics 😛 Like I said I'll be selling the boat this winter so I'm not going to be dumping a whole lot of cash into it now.

The duratec spot actually mildewed a bit more than the rest of the boat - its not glossy anymore but then again the tarp that covers the boat doesn't quite make it all the way out to the ends of the bows so its pretty much uncovered in the floridian aun all the time.

Is that a picture of the

new

garage-mahal? Thats pretty boss.

going to get another cat or take a break from ownership?

Probably take a break. The wife and I will have to move this time next year - and so far the only places that she wants to apply for fellowship to are landlocked mountainous areas. Thankfully it will only be for one year that we have to live in such dreadful conditions. Then after that I'll get back in. Right now Wilmington NC is where we're thinking of ending up. Wife already has stamped her approval on the purchase of a new boat when she's done with fellowship - but she's talking something bigger than a beach cat.

We'll see at this point.

Haha (dreadful)
Gotcha, well if (when) you get depressed and need to sail. drive over to dunedin and hop on