MORE QUESTIONS - HULL/DECK/CABIN/FOLDING PROP

[brendan.lyon]

All - I cannot reinforce how useful this forum is for a relatively new Tophatter (and yachter) like me!

I'll borrow your knowledge again if I may:

1) Has anyone had their hull repainted or resurfaced? My boat has a green hull, which looks a bit tired, has some fairly significnat (but superficial) scratches from previous owner's tender rubbing against - and would look much nicer with a fresh colour/surface- My question is - can I get a shipwright to simply repaint the hull? How much would it cost? Or do I have to have it resurfaced - the colour I want is white -

2) Re the deck - what sort of cost is it to have the decking freshened up - how do you do it (eg what do you ask for) and does it need to be professionaly repainted or can you bleach it back to look newer?

3) IF I wanted to freshen up the plastic surfaces in the cabin, would I paint? If so, what with?

4) Finally - is there any reason why a tophat cannot have a folding or feathering prop fitted? Has anyone got one? And is there any drawbacks or performance/power issues compared to a fixed 3 blade prop?

Thanks all!

Brendan.

[auriga]

Brendan

Whilst i have not had any of these done, i did enquire about hull/deck refurbishment and was told by the shipwright that id be better off putting the cash toward a new boat,

There is a lot of work involved in a complete hull / deck refurb/repaint and would require a fair bit of time on the hard

Whilst specific numbers were not discussed, i got the feeling that with the labour involved it'd be quite north of $10k

Re freshening up the plastic inside, try a little bit of acetone (though make sure you test in an inconspicuous small area first as some plastics melt with contact to acetone), i used this on my interior and it brought it back to life

cheers
dan

[Dolphin]

G'Day Brendan,
Try this product. It may suit all of what you want and it's AUSTRALIAN made.
http://www.norglass.com.au/how-to
For more info go right down to the bottom of the home page and click on Documents, DIY guide. There you will learn all about the coatings for boats. The hull preparation, test the hull by running water over it. Where it beads it has grease on it. Polish the area with Jiff until the water runs smoothly over the hull and let dry.
some people use it as a sealer below the waterline for the prevention of Osmosis. It was done on Felicite before we bought it and we have still had osmosis in the large bubble kind 10 and 20mm dia and also the small bubbles along the boot topping.

Folding Prop.
Felicite has always had a folding prop. They work well. The boat gets up to hull speed and they reverse well. The shaft is offset in Felicite if that makes any difference. Only real problem is when the boat slides sideways on a wave, or in a tight turn, the prop rattles under power. I forget what the pitch is. I may be wrong but I think it is 10 x 12 (Diameter X pitch) 2 blade, geared prop.
The only comparison I have is a Cole 30 had a 3 blade prop replaced with a folding one. The boat felt free coming off a wave where as before the boat would slow down because of the drag. Fantastic improvement.
I have also learnt heaps from this site and I hope that I can at least contribute something to it.
Happy sailing.
Greg.

[Phillip]

Evening Brendan,

I have a Mk 1, it was tired inside and I cleaned it down with sugar soap and painted with white exterior high gloss dulux!

Did that in 2005 and it still looks good.

Phillip
SEAKA

[taunto]

G'day Brenden, I have just finished doing a lot of work to a very neglected green tophat called Gulliver,apart from all the repairs, she needed to be tarted up on the outside ,she now looks beautiful and it was not that hard to do.First you will have to have your boat on the hard. Second you will have to scrub all the area that you want to clean with some acid type cleaner there are many on the market for this purpose, start on the deck as it then can ,and will drip over the sides .Then with an electric buff do a heavy cut back with a fiberglass cutting compound , apply polish and wax of the best quality .Your boat now will look as pretty as a picture, without a great outlay , it takes a lot of elbow grease ,don't start unless you can put the hours in . Cheers Taunto