Black Hawk refurb - day 2

[Deaks]

The following weren't actually done in a day but are the result of an hour or so pinched in the evenings before it got dark and a couple of longer sessions on Saturday and Sunday. In total I'd say I was about 12 hours actual work.

Remove rear rails.
Dead easy. 3 nuts to each rail without significant corrosion. Came straight out.
Remove final rear cleat.
Easy with all nuts in good condition.

Remove rear light mast.
Also easy. Held from below by a number of stainless nuts, came undone by hand. Chopped through wire as I intend to rewire.
Remove windscreen.
Easier than it seemed as the screen was only held in by half a dozen screws.

Having said that every screw was corroded beyond the point where any screwdriver was going to work.
Instead I centre-punched every one and drilled them out. Takes accuracy, (hence the centre punch) but no real problems.

Remove nav lights.
Easy. 2 screws each. Didn't even have to cut the wire - there wasn't one!

Remove lacing hooks.
Drilled out two rivets in each hook. Didn't worry about damaging them as I intend to replace.

Remove fender eyes.
Drill out four rivets. Took more care as I'm re-using.

Remove hatch rails.
Screws under plastic trim buttons. Easy but takes care if the trims are to be re-used. Think I'll replace.


Remove cabin window.
Easy but time consuming.
Fortune came without the external steel trim so it was just a case of undoing the thirty or so screws, takes a helper to keep the screw stationary while the nut is undone.

It was quite then easy to break the silicon seal and remove the window panel.
The original gasket material was mostly removed with a chisel since it'd clog the sanding disc in no time.

Sanding, sanding and some more sanding.
Trial and error gave the following as the best method:
There are three coats of paint on Fortune's topsides.
I cut through the first two with an 80 grit disc with the sander running at half speed. Just cutting through the top two coats and leaving the third was easier than it sounds, as long as you don't try to speed the sander up.

Then swap to 120 grit and speed run the sander at full speed. Let the sander operate under it's own weight and don't push down.

After a total of about 18 hours work Fortune looks like this:




In other words a bit rough!
Next jobs: Remove cabin hatch, instrument panel and starboard window. Then keep sanding!
I'm guessing about 8/10 more hours before the topsides are ready to paint. The only issue I have at present is getting the paint off the textured surfaces. The stripper I'm using doesn't seem strong enough but I'm warned against Nitromors because of the risk of damaging the gelcoat. Might try it, though.

Deaks

[Pauly]

You've made great progress Deaks. Have you considered a brass wire brush for the textured surfaces? Possibly even a cup type one in a drill. Keep the installments coming.

[Deaks]

I'd dismissed the idea of a wire brush as being too harsh but hadn't thought of using a brass one.
I'll give it a try. Thanks.
Deaks

[Pauly]

Alternatively a well used steel one, they do get a bit softer after they've had a thrashing.

[rodey]

comming along nicely mate.
i had good results stripping the paint off a boat i resprayed last year using owtrol marine strip.
takes a while to work then just wash it off with a powerwasher,

[Deaks]

Hi.
I'm using Owlatron now. It removes the upper two coats (white then grey) reasonably easily but hardly touches the final white coat at all. It's not simply an issue of low temperatures because I've brought the anchor well hatch into the house to see if application at room temperatures would do the trick. No difference. The various wire and nylon brushes I've tried all damage the gelcoat. Heatgun also started to damage the geIcoat., It's got to come off because I'm pretty sure the 2K paint I intend to use won't stick to it. Deffo an experiment with Nitromors this weekend.

[rodey]

tats a pity i thought owtrol would of shifted it for u, agree about the temp dont think tat would make much difference.
looks like the nitromorse will defo have to come out.

[Hoggy]

Hi Deaks, really good post and exactly what I’m doing with my black hawk. Have you posted anything else regarding your renovation as i would be really interested to read it? Also I am after the steel trim to finish off the windows. Did you manage to source any??
Thanks Dave

[Freebird19]

Really good to see your photos showing great progress. Really clear descriptions as well. I look forward to future developments! Thanks for sharing your experience.