Shetland 535 refurb step by step

[EvangelicalAtheist]

Great post which I will watch with interest. Has motivated me to also put a few pictures up of my restoration project.

[Whammers]

Stage 2 is now complete (all old items off the topsides) and stage 3 has begun. All the unwanted holes have been filled with "Big Boy" marine filler with added fibres and finished off with Finnissage fine stopper.

I've done all the rubbing down of filler with an orbital sander using 80 grade Mirka Abranet pads which are SO much better than conventional sandpaper.

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[Whammers]

The Abranet is porous so extraction of dust is much better, and it seems to cut better with no clogging. Also seems to last much longer. Recomended!

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[EvangelicalAtheist]

Coming on nicely!

On mine I decided to fill everything back in to more or less how it came out of the factory and then start afresh cutting new holes. It seems overkill but to be honest if you are filling 100 holes you may as well fill 125 and then get to place everything where you want! The most time consuming job is finding all the gelcoat cracks and chasing them out... not sure it is necessary but I'd hate to paint it all expecting a pristing finish only for it to start cracking again. The epoxy I am using isn't the easiest or cheapest to use but I am impressed with the results... mixing with glass "bubbles" for the top coat makes it easy to sand and I hope will make all the repairs seamless. It does have a tendency to leave a few blemishes when it is sanded back (probably just my inexperience) where filler didn't pack in properly but I've got a small tin of gelcoat repair that I will use for that.

How is all your core material? Replacing that isn't as hard as it looks if it is rotten or wet and I am making sure that I don't leave any wood open to the elements by drilling all holes oversize, filling with epoxy and then drilling through the correct dia. hole, that way the core material should last forever.

[Whammers]

Luckily, core material all seems good. I'm a bit anxious to keep the boat watertight. I really must get windows in and cabin door on before winter. But havent obtained either yet!

[Whammers]

She's now almost ready for paint. This weekend, conditions permitting, the topsides should receive their first coat of ultramarine blue combi color. I'll try to get two coats on sat/sun hoping that will give reasonable coverage.

Next weekend the plan is to do the hull. I've chosen white aluminium as the hull colour but its a metallic so I don't know how it will work when applied by roller. We shall have to see.

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[Whammers]

I still have some sanding to do on the underside of the hull but I have burned out my second power tool now... yes, the sander!

I shall need to obtain a replacement before the hull can be finished. That's next week though. Today I start the painting.

[EvangelicalAtheist]

Keen to see what the finish is like with a roller as thats how I plan to do mine, though I think I will wait until Spring. What type of paint are you going use?

[Whammers]

I'm using Rustoleum Combi-Color. Used it succesfully on my campervan refurb.

I'm not completely happy with the first coat (didn't get the consistency quite right) but the beauty of this method is you can rework it as many times as you like until satisfied.

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[Whammers]

Oops. Why are they upside down..??

They appear the right way up on my phone and I cant see a way to edit them online. Admin, can you help?