RESTO Truck bedliner paint for bottom

[jjsinaz]

Well, the restore of my 96 GTX is coming along. I have the upper all sanded and buffed out and it came out pretty nice. Now I have started on the bottom. Oh my, what a mess that is. The gel coat is worn down to the fiberglass on the keel and there are a lot of heavy scratches and gouges. I was able to sand the starboard side down and get it looking pretty good. (down to the line where it turns under to the bottom). I think I can achieve about the same results on the port side, so both sides look good and are original color.

I've bee thinking about different ideas for doing the bottom and the idea of using truck bed liner paint came to mind, because it is durable and seems like it would hold up fairly well when beaching etc. Even thought about painting over it with green so that it kind of blends in with the rest of the hull.

One concern I haveis with the texture of the bed liner paint. It's rough. I wonder how much extra drag that would place on the hull and reduce speed.

Just wondered if anyone else has ever tried this.

I'll post some pics of how the resto is coming.

 

[Ankeneyou]

I think [MENTION=71213]glsmohio[/MENTION] did a few hulls with bedliner and had good results.

 

[MikeM8560]

I be concerned of the drag also id go with a barrier coat

http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...4TG8xJ78JE0Mg46O3ZkSTGNaHh88Ph38QMaAr4r8P8HAQ

 

[Ankeneyou]

Well there is a lot of science involved but a rough bottom which traps air bubbles can give an advantage with less drag. I'm just not sure where that benefit/tradeoff point would be. I'm sure it's different for every hull design.

 

[mikidymac]

Trapping air in engineered locations is one thing. I would not use something as rough as bed liner. That would cause a lot of drag.
When the race skis are prepped they sand rough lines in the bottom in one direction from nose to tail.
If you can't live with the bottom as is the best and most cost effective way is to order and spray on the factory gel coat. Gelcote International.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I'm sure someone posted good results with bed liner but no, I wouldn't do it myself unless I could verify and probably not then.

I use epoxy appliance paint on hulls all the time with good results, not sure how well it would resist beaching abrasion, I'm not in the habit of beaching boats.

Epoxy is used as a bottom sealer due to it's waterproof.

 

[jjsinaz]

Here's some pics of the resto so far. Couple of the scars on the bottom

 

[jammin777]

i had a 99 gsx rfi that was just about as bad as yours gel cote international has the seadoo colors and should have the green you need, i would get a gel cote patch kit for the deep scratched and sand the rest of the hull good then but a quart of green gel cote and spray it on mixing it with duratec high gloss. no was needed and will have a lot less orange peal using duratec. drys quickly, sand it down starting with 180 grit and work your way up to 1000 grit, then power buff with heavy cutter, then buff with fine grit polish, follow up with hand wax.
http://www.seadooforum.com/showthread.php?67577-99-seadoo-gsx-rfi-semi-restro/page2

 

[jjsinaz]

Thanks for all of the comments guys. I think I will nix the bed liner paint idea. Nice work on the GSX Jammin

 

[glsmohio]

I'll post some info on this later on. It's peewee football day lol. But I have did this to two ski's with no proformance lost at all.

 

[Mickirig1]

If you can turn hull upside down I would wet sand the defects out and shoot gel coat on it. I have never used gel coat so I don't what it's like. You maybe able to use frog tape to set your lines. Use 3 inch masking tape to make a hump the gel coat can't get over, so no runs down the hull. No way to shoot it. Use paint pads to apply. Wet sand / buff it out. I always wondered if Imron Paint would be good. They put it on Fire trucks. Hard as hell paint!

 

[mikidymac]

Good ideas but you would rough up the surface and spray the gel coat all the way from the bond line down. You will have to have the ski upside down.

 

[Mickirig1]

The paint job is only as good as to the surface it's applied to. Poor Prep = shaky results. Always rough the surface anytime you apply pain or finish. Wet sanding is the best. Very faint scratches that finish fills and no show on finish. Got the time you can shoot primer then wet sand it smooth. That is the best way to do it. Stuff sticks to primer real well ! It has to be clean and de-greased! Tack ragged if it is auto or rattle can paint. Don't push the spray, thin coats are best. It has to be 70 degrees or better for best results. Take your time. Mask or cover stuff that will be hit with any over spray.

 

[mikidymac]

If you are applying gel coat no primer follow the manufacturer recommendations. For gelcoat typically 120 grit is as fine as you want to go to give it a good "bite" to adhere to.

 

[jjsinaz]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. My dilemma is I have no way to turn this thing upside down. The engine is in it, as well as gas, oil etc and I don't really want to mess with all of that. What I was thinking is rough up the bottom real good and fill in the deep gouges with either body filler or gel coat repair, which I have some of. Then roll the gel coat on, like jforest did on his. I realize it will have some texture to it by rolling it on, but it is the bottom of the ski. I would do two coats of gel. I'm hoping this will work out.

 

[jjsinaz]

Oh, and Imron is excellent for below waterline painting. I worked at a marina back in the 90s and that's the only thing we'd use below the water line. The only thing about Imron is it contains isocyanurates, which are highly toxic and you must use a supplied air respirator when working with it.

 

[mikidymac]

If you aren't going to flip it I wouldn't bother.
Polish it the best you can and just enjoy the ski as is.
No body filler as it will just absorb water.
There is no harm running your ski as is.

 

[jjsinaz]

Yeah, you're probably right. Still, I would like to do something with the bare fiberglass on the keel. I believe that will also absorb water if left exposed the way it is

 

[mikidymac]

If you leave it in the water all summer it might absorb water but for normal riding and storage out of the water it will never be an issue. I would say over 80% of skis have the fiberglass showing on the keel.

 

[Mickirig1]

Just repair the damaged areas. Who cares when it is in the water. You can't see the repairs. I just view it as battle damage. It happens, at at least it's not a beach queen, just sitting there anchored un-ridden all day!

 

[jjsinaz]

She's almost finished

Well guys, she's almost done. Just have to put a new seat cover on her and she's done. Had her out on Black Friday and ran real good. No melted RAVEs this time :lol: Here are some recent pics. Thanks to jforest for the inspiration (and the link to where to get those decals)

 

[Mickirig1]

Nice job, looks great!

 

[soccerdad]

Nice and clean look. Good job!

 

[jjsinaz]

Thanks Guys! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

[Mickirig1]

I am a painter at heart. I love good jobs and good breaks on paint lines! Never can understand half assed paint jobs and breaks! Keep it clean or don't do it!