Rebuilding cabin roof

How hard would it be to remove hatch

I see two potential problems. Water intrusion between the hatch frame and plywood deck and plywood deck to windshield frame. How do you plan on sealing these intersections?

That is a great question. In my rebuild, I used thickened epoxy with the strongest bonding material available and no caulking. The builder used a **** glue and lots of caulk. The glue came loose and was non existent and the caulk just made matters worse when I removed the bad wood.

This rebuild is using poly, which isn't a strong glue so the question of using a caulking comes into play.

Hendo78 said:

PO ??? Crikey! How many times has this been done? Could be material choice ?.. Just sayin ... LOL

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Good point. I think there was some water intrusion and instead of fixing the problem properly like I'm doing, he simply glassed over the whole roof hoping the problem would disappear.

It's not clear from the pictures (I will take some close-ups next time) but the plywood actually extends about an inch under the windshield frame. This has two advantages in my mind: it give solidity to the entire roof as it will bond with what's in place and it will make sealing the joint easier. By overlapping the fiberglass on the window frame I think I'm in business.

It's the same thing for the hatch. The plywood extends about 1/2 an inch under the hatch frame creating a tight fit. With the resin, the fiberglass and the gel coat, I don't see how water could make it's way anywhere. Plus there's a gentle curve that drives water away from the hatch and the windshield so it's not like water will be sitting there trying to make it's way inside.

Maybe because polyester resin will not remain "stuck" to the wood. It has been proven thousands of times over. Over the course of time and temp cycles it WILL turn loose and allow water intrusion again. Had you not used wood as a substraight it would have no potential for rot. About any of the modern core materials would work and for that small of any area would have probably cost about 5 times as much as inferior ply and who knows what framing wood. Even ACX pine ply and pine lumber saturated with CPES is way superior to just plain wood and rot potential is all but eliminated. The poly will seperate from the wood. Again. Probably sooner than later. What I look at and think when I see these kind of repairs is, what else has been done like this. The construction could have been better originally and could definitely be done better now than originall. The window and hatches present a speciall problem for sealing that will be tuff for any procedure.

Greetings,
I think a re-read of post #27 is in order (first paragraph). I am quite enjoying this photo essay. Not the way I would have done it but I'm not doing it and it's not my boat. Your boat appears to be under shrink wrap. Nice and dry, out of the wind and softly back lit by the light diffusing through the plastic. One could almost...

Got a lot done this weekend. Finished the plywood, waterproofed it, filled the srew holes and seams and put on the first layer of glass.

Looking good! You're making good progress on your project.

Looks like the glass wetted down nice. Good Job!!

Looking good

How many layers are you applying. You mentioned finishing up with gel coat? Are you worried about print through from the glass fabric?

I'm planning on doing 3 layers. The first 2 are cloth from a big roll I already had and I bought some 1.5 oz matte for the top layer. I'm planning on finishing with gel coat. I understand this will be the tricky part in terms of appearance. Still investigating on how to do it properly. Would like to spray but it would be very difficult to work in such a small space and to cover all the wood, etc. to protect it from fumes.

There's an equalizer re the poly v/s epoxy ...... paint.

Gel coat

manyboats said:

There's an equalizer re the poly v/s epoxy ...... paint.

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I guess you want to match the gel coat on your boat that', so paint the easy way, is out of the question. You can apply the gel coat with a foam roller. The process is almost the opposite of paint. Expect to sand the gel coat smooth and buff out. You will need to apply enough gel coat to do this and leave enough gel to provide years of protection. This is a boat I'm working on that was gel coated at Ladd's in Stockton. The process required grinding off the old gel coat with a 8" disk sander and applying several coats of gel coat followed by two weeks of sanding to flatten finish using progressively finer paper and then color sanding and buffing out. Applying gel coat like paint is a lot of work compared to paint. With paint the prep determines the finish, Gel coat is almost the opposite. We can argue the merits of gel coat versus paint. It really boils down to maintenance. Gel coat will out last paint if maintained, buffing once a year more with dark colors. Paint will require almost nothing more than washing for 10- 15 years.

Thanks Scary. My boat is entirely painted with Brightside so there's no gel coat to match. My main concern at this point is to get the finish to be smooth. I'm not sure which way to go at this point. If I sand the surface smooth and apply Brightside, will I get a nice smooth finish or am I just not understanding the process correctly?

If I sand the surface smooth and apply Brightside, will I get a nice smooth finish


You bet , IF the paint is installed properly.

Spray equipment might be best , but is beyond most owners.

ROLL AND TIP is the preferred method for owner painting. 2 folks required.

Just be sure to use a roller for epoxy or varnish (fewest bubbles) and a good $40+ varnish brush for the tip part.

Looks good from 1 foot , if you do it right.

Fotoman said:

Thanks Scary. My boat is entirely painted with Brightside so there's no gel coat to match. My main concern at this point is to get the finish to be smooth. I'm not sure which way to go at this point. If I sand the surface smooth and apply Brightside, will I get a nice smooth finish or am I just not understanding the process correctly?

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Two pack Interlux Snow White matches the white Brightside, but would be much longer-lasting, and not that much harder to do, in view of your relatively small area, using roll and tip as FF suggested. My front cabin roof had to be replaced just like yours, and was done that way, and looks as good as gel coat.

primer

I would recomend two coats of primer. Sand glass with 180 grit prime sanding between coats with 220. Roll with foam roller and tip. Wipe glass with a damp cloth two check for shiny spots . prep is where its at with paint.

Great. I think I'll take this approach. I've done a lot of rolling and tipping for the rest of the boat and was always impressed with the results.

Remember if you are going on a cruise like the Loop , it would always be better to paint AFTER the trip is over.

Many of the Canadian locks are tiny and get filled to the brim with boats , that move from lock to lock like a set of stairs .

Not every 20 ft infill boat has fenders , has a rub rail, or gives a crap about your paint.

Finished the last layer of glass today and started to work inside.

Felicitations,
C'est bon.

It's coming along nicely.

Done with the sanding, first coat of primer.

Greetings,
Mr. F. Looks pretty good from here.

Very nice work!

I just hope mine comes out as good, replacing starboard side slider window and wall right now, puting in a motion windows slider with built in screen.

Project completed!

Greetings,
Mr. F. Looks really nice AND it's done!

Not trying to be a Dic* but....non-skid and glare reduction?

It is beautiful work...but those 2 items would be nagging me.

There was no non skid before and since it's an area nobody ever really walks on, I'll leave it as is. The few times we go in the front is to sit on the cabin to drink a glass of wine. Lol Glare reduction? Oh no, I worked very hard to get it really really shinny!

Fotoman said:

There was no non skid before and since it's an area nobody ever really walks on, I'll leave it as is. The few times we go in the front is to sit on the cabin to drink a glass of wine. Lol Glare reduction? Oh no, I worked very hard to get it really really shinny!

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I bet you did and it's a great job!!

Just those could be issues on my boat...good luck!