Conference unifix::sailing

    Paul:
    
    When you find out where to get the teak & holly, give me a call.  I
    have been wanting to do the same thing for quite a while, now.  I have
    carpet on finshed fiberglass, but the carpet is always getting wet!!
    Maybe it makes sense to place a bigger order for the t & h.
    (DTN 282-1669)
    Niles
    

    Try Boulter Plywood in Somerville Ma. for all of your exotic plywood
    needs.   Don't bring you AMEX.   Bring cash, lots and lots of cash.

    Yes, boulter is the place.  We purchased two 4x8's to redo Fat
    Tuesday's floor.  It isn't cheap.
    
    Dave

re .0:

Awlgrip: Call Awlgrip and ask for the phone number and address of a local 
distributor. The paint is available from some mailorder places (Defender 
for one), but many of the solvents and other stuff needed are harder to
find. If you haven't, read the Practical Sailor article about polyurethane 
paints. They're not all the same. 

Teak and holly plywood: Very expensive, and, worse, the teak veneer is very 
thin. It doesn't take much to damage it. Ten foot sheets may not be 
available. Before you buy the plywood, consider buying teak and ash (or 
holly if you can find it) lumber (3/4 inch thick). Bandsaw it in half and 
run through a planer. You should get planks 1/4 to 5/16 inch thick. Epoxy 
these to the existing cabin sole. You'll now have durable and lovely cabin 
sole. The price may not be so lovely (but neither is the price of the 
plywood.) Our factory installed teak and holly sole is done this way. It
has a couple of deep gouges that are almost unnoticeable. The outrageous
cost no doubt included much, much skilled labor. We've never even regreted
the cost for a moment. If you'd like to see it, our boat is in our front
yard.

    re  Awlgrip
    
    The local source is BOATEX in Natick Mass at 508-655-2000.
    
    If your friend hasn't used it before, I'd hesitate to have him learn on
    my boat.  Professionals respect Awlgrip like no other paint.  It's not
    so much the toxicity - all Polyurethanes are toxic, it's the
    temperamental nature of the paint itself.  Likes to curdle, drip, or
    flat out with little provocation.  If there are neighbors within sight
    of your yard, I'd think about enclosing the boat before trying to
    paint.  The overspray from an air sprayer can travel quite a distance. 
    I'd worry a bit about the residents of my own house too.
    
    BUT, if your friend has the experience and your site can contain the
    vapor, I'd be interested seeing what can be done with my boat.
    
    Incidentally, if you haven't seen it done, boat/automotive painting is
    a world apart in complexity and price from sloping on Interlux.  
    
    - gene

    An expansion of a comment by (.5) with regard to Auto painting, I
    am in the process of getting a horse trailor repainted and I am
    having it done at a truck repair shop in southern New Hamshire.
    I am having polyurethane paint applid for durability and luster
    - the same reasons why we have to paint boats. They are familiar
    with all the brands and switch between them regularly to get the
    colors requested by the customer. I don't think I will be getting
    Awlgrip because they don't make an '88 Ford metalic grey color but
    I will be getting another product also heavily used in Marine 
    applications.  
    
    I have seen this shops work on the uneven surfaces of truck cabs and
    excavation equipment and it is beautiful. A suggestion may be to bring
    your boat to be painted or get one of those painters to come to your
    boat. They work with it all the time and have the equipment and set-ups
    to do it properly. Remember that now a-days trucks are both fiberglass
    and steel so the experience is there.

    (my $.02)

    Shell Lumber in Miami (Coconut Grove, actually) has Holly &
    Teak plywood --  4x8x0.25   $67.98

    Also one and two face teak and honduran mahogany.

    They have a nationwide WATS, and will crate and ship.

    	800/327/3409    (800/621/6391  Fla. only)   305/856/6401

    Thanks to all for your inputs.
    
    Paul
    

    I own a 1982 Pearson with a dark blue hull.  The hull has started to fade
    and chalk and I am trying to decide if I should spring for an Awlgrip
    paint job.  Has anyone out there made this decision and regretted it?
    Also, what is the maintenance and life expectancy compared to the original
    gel coat?   Thanks in advance for any insights you may have - Larry.
    

    I have had two boats repainted with Awlgrip and have not regretted it a
    bit (with the exception of paying the bill!).  I think those who have
    seen Wildside over the years will attest that even the white hull
    gleamed.  Your gelcoat is shot.  Paint is the only answer.  Even then I
    would consider going to a white.  Dark colors just don't last and show
    nicks.
    
    Also, painting anything bigger than an Etchells is best done by a pro.
    Both from a cosmetic standpoint and your health.  This is bad stuff to
    mess with!
    
    I can recommend a place in Newport that does excellent work.
    
    Dave
    

    The skipper I race with on Lake Champlain changed colors on his boat
    last summer from dull, faded, chalky red to gleaming, shiny, pretty,
    deep dark blue.  The job was seamless, no runs etc.  Very impressive. 
    As an aside, I saw a boat being stripped of it's gelcoat for one reason
    or another.  The person I was talking to said they used a semi
    automaitc stripper?  Instead of grinding it off by hand they used a
    machine that walked back and forth along the hull and lapped the gel
    coat off.  Anyone else seen this?  The result was strange looking.  I
    wonder if the boat was blistered or otherwise damaged extensively and
    they were going to regelcoat the whole hull.  This was in the Jamestown
    Boat Yard in early November.  It seemed to be a very expensive
    proposition.
    
    Brian

    	I seem to remember an article in Practical Sailor about this
    machine. Was about a year ago maybe? Manufactured somewhere in Europe
    and if I remember correctly one of em was headed for Jamestown. I can
    dig up the article if anyone is interested (and has DEEP pockets...)
    
    Paul
    

>>>  ...used a semi automaitc stripper?  

Yes, such a machine has been invented, and is based at the Jamestown Boat 
Yard.  It consists of a stripping cylinder at the end of an articulated 
arm, which is positioned/moved/controlled by hydraulics which can set up a 
fairly constant pressure against the hull.  The 4" wide stripping cylinder 
consists of many narrow blades (quite similar to a multi-piece router
blade for a table saw) mounted more or less spirally for a 3" dia tool.  
The blade design is mostly a function of controlling chatter, which can 
overcome the hydraulics' ability to hold position for a smooth pass.  
Depth of cut is controlled by the relationship between the blade assembly 
and the housing it's mounted in.  The arm's articulation allows controlled 
cuts on any surface (overhead, underneath, vertical) and any curves with 
radii only slightly more than the cutter diameter.  

It was invented to strip gelcoat from boats afflicted by the polyestermite, 
osmotic blistering.  The guy travels all over the east coast, and while 
it's not inexpensive, it is: relatively fast, quite consistent in cut, 
relatively environmentally safe (there are vacuum suction hoses near the 
blades and the housing is also shrouded; the operator wears a full head 
respirator and needs only to handle a few controls through gloves).  And, 
he claims, for the quality of work done, it's reasonably priced, too.  

Quite a piece of machinery.  It was on display at the JBY booth at last 
Sept's Newport Boat Show.  He had a section of hull there with actual cuts 
made -- it was quite impressive, especially when he said he could do full
stripping of a 40- footer in just a couple days. 

J.