Thursday, August 29, 2013

This is a two part post on a Sea doo overhaul. Depending on where you are and the design your looking for, this job can be done for less then one thousand dollars. I will start with the hood and attachments for the sea doo since it was fairly simple and the owner just wanted a black finish.


All the parts were sand prepped first and all stickers removed.



 The main body did require some bondo work before I laid down a primer.


















This plastic box also needed to be painted black and took a little time since I didn't want to clog up the lever which opens the box.
 After 2 coats of primer I did some light sanding to remove any bumps from the finish.
 I used Auto Air paints so all I needed was a well ventilated area. No mask required.











I had to gut the mirrors and be careful not to break the glass since the mirrors angle to the sides the colour has to be consistent.
 This image shows the hood after 3 coats of opaque black. I also mixed in half a bottle of metallic blue which can only be seen in sun light.














Without good lighting this would have been difficult to spray.




This is the finished product after clearing.











These parts were completed in one day. I was able to paint and clear doing three coats. In between spraying, each part was baked to seal the clear coat.

Before I could tip the sea doo on its side all liquids have to be removed. Anything not bolted down is also removed to keep the sea doo as light as possible.



As you can see from these images, this Sea doo was in rough shape. Before recoating with gel coat I had to fill in any exposed glass.



All areas that were not removed will have to be covered and taped up.





These images show the black gel coat after spraying 2 coats.




As you can see, I did not remove all scratches since its the bottom of the sea doo is cosmetically not important.





I kept the tape line tight to the bottom plate and bagged the blower.




These images show the finish after wet sanding. With enough gel coat sprayed onto the surface you should be able to remove most of the orange peel finish and get a smooth surface.

After the bottom was completed I laid down the sea doo onto a thick piece of foam and propped the sides so it wouldn't tip left or right. The surface must be cleaned and all stickers removed in order to respray with gel coat.

Some components cannot be removed which can make the respray difficult but not impossible.
As you can see with this picture I had alot of cleaning to do.
 This picture shows the colour chosen and some of the taping required.
 Since the seat covers the engine it wasn't necessary to spray where the seat clips in. Down inside where the feet go can be difficult to spray. It is important to turn down the pressure on the gun and take your time.













This photo clearly shows how thick the gel coat is applied.
 This is after wet sanding and some of the tape removed.
 If enough gel coat is applied you won't have to worry about the under colour bleeding through and changing the applied colour.
 Back end turned out perfect and is ready for padding.











The sea doo now looks great! After the seat is redone of course. This job took 3 weeks to complete including the hood painting. A good portion of that time was dedicated to curing since the gel coat needs 24hrs before it can be sanded.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Seadoo Respray


These two images show the damage to the bottom of the Seadoo. The customer tried doing the repair on his own. Before I could respray this surface I had to level off as much of the damage as possible or my respray would not have a good finish.







The customer went with a red gelcoat to match the top portion of the Seadoo. These are images after spraying.




These images show the final result. This is a two day process. It took 15 hours in total to complete. This replacement coating will last for the life of the Seadoo.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Recent Home and Park RV repair












A tree had fallen on this RV roof and as you can see it punctured through in several places.













I cut away most of the damaged fiberglass and was careful not to cut into any wiring.



I used cardboard to keep the wet fiberglass up against the areas I had cut away. I used 6oz of fiberglass mat to seal up the openings.



I used an automotive bondo to seal up the glass and return the roof back to its shape.


I covered the repair with an all weather primer when it was completed. This repair took 7 hrs to complete.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

I currently work for Fibrelaminations Ltd/Canuck Industries. I supervise the finishing department which makes me responsible for all the fiberglass products that are shipped. We continually have walk-ins asking about gelcoat and fiberglass repairs so I decided to branch out from the plant floor and go on the road doing repairs. I'm currently living in the Hamilton area. I am willing to travel to anywhere in the Southern Ontario area. I keep my costs low for individuals and I complete my repairs ON SITE! I do not limit myself to just boats. I work with all fiberglass products from hot tubs to water slides. If you have something that requires a repair or you just want to bring back that gelcoat shine e-mail me at coreyivens@hotmail.com.


I look forward to hearing from you!

Corey Ivens