TOPIC: South Seas Samoan

Hi Guys, It's been a while between posts but we never stopped restoring boats. We (Del) restored the Falls Flyer with the motor cover it came out better than new. He did the best job anyone could have done.
Next was the third carAqua it came complete but real bad. Again I turned to Del and again he did a super job. Bringing it back to original factory colors and reproducing the seats I could not be happier with the results.
Now it is the South Seas Samoan, boy did I screw up on that boat. I took some well meaning advice had it sandblasted. Yowee I created a mess. And boy has it been an expensive lesson. But it is well on the way to completion and soon only I will know what a Dummy I can be. If any of you are thinking that I must be a real Dumb Ass for sandblasting that boat YOU ARE CORRECT.
Mostly I wanted to say Hi to everyone. If I can attach some photos to this posting I will.
Keep having fun everyone. Tommy in Tampa

Hi Tommy, great to hear from you again! We'd love to see some pics of your project Samoan, please do share.

PS - We ALL make some pretty bone-head mistakes, that's how we learn, right?

hey...great to hear from you again....yes please send pics of your boats...miss seeing what you guys are doing....redfishpirates

Tommmy thanks for the kind words.
The one good thing to think about for your Samoan even with the sandblasting it can be brought back. I wonder why the blaster didn't realize how deep he was going and stop or at least call you to take a look.
I took a carAqua to a blaster once. Hoping to save myself a lot of sanding time. He called me and told be he was blowing holes in the boat to get the gell off. But he stopped after about a two foot area. The gell on that boat was about a quarter inch thick. I ended up taking the gell off with an air chisel and then sanding. Many hours.
Tommys Falls Flyer and carAqua
Tommy hope to see you and Lynn at Traves in March
D

I was hoping Del would do the Samoan. Hope to see the pictures.

If you have more media blasting to be done.....maybe its time for me to relocate my equipment. Gator Wave

Tommy,, Nice to hear you getting back onthe samoan,I have talked to Gary and he has kept me up to date a little,, I have blasted No name but we played with so many diff. abrasive,, but some people swear by it but we went back to grinding all the way to cloth,,I am in hopes of getting my samoan done by tavaress,, what colors are you going with??I just did bl/wh with black trim,,see ya Bill Anderson

Hey Tommy, glad to find you again. I was starting to worry that i was not going to be able to get my Ride!!!

Tommy, did you use sand or another media? I was told the glass beads with about 20% less pressure works great removing gelcoat. I have to do the deck on the Glastron and was considering blasting.

I have very little fiberglass boat experience. But did read how others had good results with blasting. On my Playmaster with severe cracking in gel coat I tried different types of media. I have industrial quality equipment. I tried sand, synthetic sand, crushed glass and soda. For this project none worked as hoped.Ultimately used a hand grinder/sander. On thin automotive style fiberglass the crushed glass was effective. But very easy to go right on through thin fiberglass too. It really depends on manufacturer. Also if thick paint has been used. Some paints the media bounces off. People love to show me what others have ruined. Why the blaster does not stop and inspect is beyond me. If you have someone else do the blasting stay and WATCH till you TRUST them. If painted it can help to DA (sand)to open pores of paint up. No matter what always start with least aggressive and work your way up. Or stand 5 feet away and move in slowly with blaster. Patience is always the key.
I also use a fresh air machine. Which is now a shop vac with long hose to full face mask. Good luck,Dave

i found out the hard way that even on metal ,sand from an industial blaster makes alot of heat,i had a 79 ford pick up that i sand blasted,(my 1st time blasting with industrial equipiment),long story short it warped most of the body panels.john

A guy had a blaster on bridge job one time hit his truck with it where it was rusted. He told him it would tear it apart. Long story short after he gave it one shot he changed his mind. Now he had a large patch to make.