TOPIC: 1st blocking completed on the Fabuglas Commodore

I finished the first blocking of the deck this morning/afternoon. My Cruiser is a 19'er and it took me a solid 4-hours of block sanding. There's not much to show.. so theres only a couple pictures to add to the webpages.
I just wanted to show you all the process I've been using for many years on Cars and boats. Yes, I have done many fiberglass cars too. The Studebaker Avanti- is a fiberglass bodied car (made by MFG)... and I've done several.

The photo below is an area on the side of the cabin that was heavily "crazed". I purposely overblocked the area where the crazing is... so it would show up better in the photo. That entire panel was crazed like that- not just that small area. The epoxy and High-builds have done their job.

1) The deck was aggressively sanded with 80G sandpaper with my Dual-Action air-sander to remove all the old oxidation, and to give the primers a good "bite". All edges and corners were hand-sanded.
2) The initial primer I chose is BASF Diamont EP589. It is a newer offering in their line. It's a combination epoxy, high-build, and sealer. This is laid on pretty heavy, and will fill light crazing fairly easily. Heavily crazed areas are brushed in a circular motion, to fill in the scratches.
3) Next, I like to use (3) wet coats of Diamont's DP-20 Urethane High-build epoxy primer, as my primer/surfacer. This may seem like alot, but you end up blocking 75% of it off. I love it's build characteristics and filling ability. It dries very quickly, and blocks easily- without filling your sandpaper too fast. It can be wet-sanded to a very slick surface. I have found that it does not shrink nearly as much later on (3-5 years)
Cheap high-builds are often slow-curing, and gummy when sanded- even if you wait 24 hours- this makes for more work- and you use more materials. These also tend to shrink more as they age.. and your sanding scratches and body-filler edges will begin to show in 1-2 years.
4) Tommorrow, after I've filled in some hardware holes that I won't be using, and a few odd nicks and chips I found.. I'll re-spray (3) more coats of DP-20. The final coat will be over-reduced to provide as slick a surface as possible. This relly cuts down the blocking-time with 320 grit, and then watersanding.

Great tutorial. I don't know what some of the materials are but the guy who will be spraying my deck sure does!! Thanks for sharing. Mike

TC wrote:

Great tutorial. I don't know what some of the materials are but the guy who will be spraying my deck sure does!! Thanks for sharing. Mike

I agree wholeheartedly Ray, thank you! These are tips that only experience can teach, MANY of us sincerely appreciate your sharing them with us. Mike (and anybody else who hasn't checked it out) just wanted to mention that Ray's website has much good info posted on the restoration process and pictures too, very educational IMHO. Since you're sharing your knowledge and not advertising your business, maybe the staff at FG wouldn't mind if you put a link to your website in your signature ??? Just a thought.......

Mark,
I don't mind at all putting stuff like this up. There's no way I can restore ALL the studebakers/boats in the world.. and there's many people that just can't pay someone to do it for them. I always wished that I had a resource for this when I first started building cars in my backyard! I made alot of mistakes back then... that ended up costing me more in the end, and even shortchanged the car I was working on (my own, not customers).

There's lots of stuff on my website's Tech-pages related to bodywork, buffing, etc.. These are as relevant to Boats as they are to Cars.

Just trying to save "my friends" some time, money, and especially effort. This stuff isn't "easy".. and having to redo things that didn't work out... is a PITA.

Probably the biggest mistake one can make is skimping on materials. Yes, cheaper brands/types can do an effective job, and they have their place. But there's no substitute for using quality materials. This is especially true of boats that not garaged and covered their whole life. That's why I post part numbers, brands, etc.. of materials I use.

No need for advertising... too darn much to do as it is...LOL!

mike ,you hit the nail on the head o say to use high build primer on stress cracks,if you try to use spot putty,it will crack over time,its too plyable and it shrinks.the only difference is i use ppg high build,and it works great too.
you are giving great advise to us all,thanks john

John,
(I know what you meant to write, but...)
Crazing isn't really a "stress" crack. It's an area where the surface has dried out, or expanded/shrunk.. at a different rate than the substrate. Being exposed to the elements: sunlight, moisture, and physical abuse.. just exacerbates the situation. In this case, gelcoat expands and contracts at a different rate than the glass-reinforced polyester resin below.
This eventually happens with almost all types of surface coatings. Generally, the crazing is in the outermost layer(s) only.. and isn't of structural concern.

However, stress cracks are generally areas where the structure is subjected to movement from an outside source. Such as impact damage, vibration (often known as "work-hardening"), twisting, etc. These require a much different repair sequence. Simply using body fillers or spot-putty does't return the original structural integrity of the panel. These usually require some type of reinforcement.

Guess another tutorial is in the offing...LOL!!!

yep,you got me ,i know its called crazing but i had a brain fart,lol sorry,i hope i was right about spot putty,lol