August 19, 2013 - Day 496

Hey everybody!

When we left off we were looking at a fully-sprayed but still-unfinished wad of fiberglass and gelcoat; the challenge now is to get this thing looking like a proper boat!

First order of business was to lay down some texture on the floor of the boat. On factory boats the texture is usually built into the mold so the lines are geometrically perfect; since this is a rebuild we have to rely on two-inch masking tape and steady hands to get those perfect lines.

First we sanded down the original surface with 180 grit (wet), then taped it up. After a blow-off and an acetone wipe the new gelcoat would adhere both chemically and mechanically.  

We brushed on activated gelcoat and quickly rolled the texture with a GlassKoter roller cover; they claim that these leave less lint behind than a standard roller, but the pictures attest that it still left some.

The second coat was required to achieve the proper 30 mil depth that we were after. We've been told that as long as you apply your second coat within 12 hours then their is no need to sand or acetone between coats.

We are confident in this approach after completing the floor, so we replicated the procedure with the fuel covering decks before moving on to the foredeck.

The foredeck was a little tricky because of the long continuous front sweep and the long reach r

required to get to the center; when working with activated gelcoat you have to move fast, so a little foresight goes a long way.  

We had four ladders set up and a long-handled roller to maximize coverage to the middle of the deck.

Matty was feeling pretty confident with this texture coating by now, so he tried a little experiment on the foredeck. See that little FishingNosara vinyl sticker in the middle?

Check out the result when removed after the second texture coat:

Meanwhile, Craig and Jamaal have been fixated on the exterior appearance of the Discoverer. Craig picked out a nice pair of teak planks for the side gunwales and is scouring the southeast for two matching-grain planks for the transom.

We are aiming to match the look and functionality of the teak covering board on our current T-Craft, the Wanderer.

Also, Craig made the trip down to Showboat Custom Coatings in Pompano Beach to pick up our refitted tower. They hit it with their special SB230 coating which should make this aluminum bulletproof forever.  

Lastly, our buddy Jamaal has brought his deep experience with finish sanding to bear on the outer hull.

He is wetsanding the entire hull using a 6 inch DA and progressively increasing his grits from P180 up to P1000. Here is where we are now, just after the P600 and before the P800

You can see that it is starting to shine in places, and more importantly there are no spots where the fiberglass is showing through; this means that we have achieved proper depth with the blue gelcoat.

Hopefully we'll be up the P1000 this weekend, then its on to compound and wax. Meanwhile it's time to start scheming on re-installing the bow rail, deck hardware, tower, and outrigger mounts.

Stay tuned!

August 24, 2013 - Day 501

The gelcoat polishing continued this week on The Discoverer Project as Jamaal and Matt have been pouring hours into wetsanding.

It's hard to take pictures that properly illustrate the smoothness, but the reflections are beginning to tell the tale.

We started with P400 to knock down the high spots, then progressed through P600, P800, and P1000. The function of the high grit is to bring out the shine and eliminate tooling marks from the lower grits.

We are also investigating the best way to finish this thing off; we may compound it before wax or we may just wax it.

Also we have to figure out the best way to apply the bottom paint, thinking that we may have to prime with a gel-etching primer then apply the best bottom paint we can find.

However we also are finally ready to start putting the boat together in other ways too. Time to swap out the fiberglass grinders for saws and drills; nice to be back in a familiar problem.

• Entry level package for up to 3 anglers.
• 5 nights in Casa Tranquilo, Casa Surfeando or Apartemento (sleeps up to 3 persons)
• Three Half-days (5 hours) of fishing on 27' Explorer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• $2100 Total
• $700 per person

• Entry level package for 4 anglers.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Bonita, Casa Caribe or Casa Jardin (sleeps up to 6 persons)
• Three Half-days (5 hours) of fishing on 31' Wanderer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• $2800 Total
• $700 per person

• Fully-loaded package for 6 anglers.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Capitan (sleeps up to 9 persons)
• Three Full days (8 hours) of fishing on 31' Wanderer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, lunch, and tackle.
• Include Four Passenger Safari Cart for 7 days.
• $4500 Total
• $750 per person

• Mixed fishing package for 2 anglers.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Bonita, Casa Caribe or Casa Jardin (sleeps up to 6 persons)
• Kayak Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Fishing Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch. Choice of river mouth or beach casting.
• Three Half-days (5 hours) of fishing and/or snorkeling on 23' Adventurer. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• $1540 Total
• $770 per person

• Romantic getaway for couples.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Tranquilo or Casa Surfeando (sleeps 2)
• Champagne and Chocolate Check-in
• In-house couples massage for two.
• In-house Breakfast for 5 days includes assorted local breads, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and juice.
• Full service cleaning including wash/dry/fold laundry.
• Private 2 person Horseback Mountain or Kayak Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Sunset fishing trip (2.5 hours) on 31' Wanderer. Trip includes water, fruit, cookies and champagne.
• $2000 Total
• $1000 per person

• Nature exploration package for 2 persons.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Tranquilo, Casa Surfeando or Apartemento (sleeps up to 3 persons)
• Kayak Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Horseback Mountain Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, equipment, guide, and lunch.
• Snorkel Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Two bicycles for 7 days.
• In-house couples massage for two.
• $1400 Total
• $700 per person

• Fully-loaded package for families up to 9 people.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Capitan (sleeps up to 9 persons)
• In-house Breakfast for 5 days includes assorted local breads, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and juice.
• Full service cleaning including wash/dry/fold laundry.
• One Half-day (5 hours) of fishing on 31' Wanderer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• Safari Tour for up to 8 people (Snorkeling, Kayaking, Horseback, Fishing, Surfing, Eco). Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Include Six Passenger Safari Cart for 7 days.
• $5000 Total

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CHECK OUT: Safari Cart Gage section of the FishingNosara Blog.