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My boat turned out awesome with compound, polish n wax (some wet sanding was needed in couple areas). Took pic last night with boat and trailer waxed....and then a close up pic showing gelcoat around vent (should have gotten some others), but really happy considering it was my first time doing it to entire boat. Just need to finish interior polish to gelcoat sometime soon, it just needs a polish and wax to pop.

My actuator wire needs to run into the transom away from the mounting bracket to avoid the false floor or quick fill. That’s why it’s not running through the actuator. Just like MrWick’s Supreme install. I’ll tackle that after I mount the other side.

Got 2 1100 sac off the crew and they really hooked it up, great deal super fast shipping. Can't say enough.

pics of our 84 tru trac from back in the day

You can use standard mixing volumes for polyester resin. There are epoxy gel coats and polyester based gel coats. Most are polyester based and will use MEKP hardener. Gel coat is just resin, talc, pigments and usually a little surfacing agent which is just wax in a solvent (styrene for polyester/xylene for epoxy). Surface prep is key, it will harden faster the hotter your environment is. You can adjust this some with the hardener volume. If you have never used it before do some test spots/panels. Typically 1 ounce resin/gel coat to 10 drops of MEKP. More if under 60 degrees. Little less if above 90 degrees. If just covering chips and small areas, sand around the chip, wipe with acetone, tape the area off with excess room, paint on/dab on the gel coat, cover with a plastic sheet and smooth it out. Particularly useful if on a non flat surface. Flat areas will settle more uniformly. Nick

I bought a Makita, rotary with variable speed.....but knew I would be working on boat quite a bit and also plan to use it on vehicles. I hear Harbor Freight has a cheaper one and sure it will do fine. I would say it is important to have the variable speed tho cause you can "burn" the gelcoat if you go too fast. I started @ 600rpm to spread compound/polish and did first 2 passes at that speed and then sped it up to 1200-1500 max for another 2-3 passes going side/side and up/down over each 2x2-2x3 section. Time consuming and probably spent around 16hrs doing the wetsand, compound and polish, but I am a perfectionist and it was worth it once done.

Got my swim step cover from Evolution Covers today...they are running a special on these covers for $110.00, think it was a great deal. I sent template, got it today and it fits like a glove. Got trailer cleaned up today....used 2 coats of TR3 and then waxed with Collonite, even put a coat of wax on the rims and they shine like new again. Been windy as crap, we had a couple tornado's touch down this past weekend, Saturday is supposed to be good tho and planning to take it out for maiden voyage. Just waiting on my Aqua Marine Decking now

Looks like there is plenty of meat to screw into on the platform. When predrilling into wood I make sure the the drill bit is the same or pretty darn close to the same size as the shaft of the lag. That has always worked pretty well. This does not work well with fiberglass and I have broke stainless lags using this technique. For fiberglass I pick a drill bit that is just shy of the threads on the lag. Run the lags in by hand so you can feel the metal stretch. Start off with a smaller bit and if it feels to tight drill a wider hole. I would stay away from an impactdriver or screwgun those tend to break/twist stainless lags pretty quick. I do like the idea of some kind of silicone in the holes to stop water intrusion and it might act as a thread locker. Maybe 5200 even?

Yea, but you also know how YOU run the boat. he just bought it and for all he knows, it was never done before....or they ran engine dry, or its dry rotted, etc. You wanna do everything when you get a new boat to not take any chances....and then maintain it based on how you use it

Only mix what you need in a seperate cup. Most auto paint supply stores have mold release. You can use plastic wrap. But it will make it rough and harder to wetsand.

I was thinking about starting a thread for Tru Tracs & Falcons. We could load it up with pictures, manuals, work arounds, etc. Sound like a good idea?

So thot I would give an update since its storming hard here today...my carbon fiber vents on my 2014 SV244 were looking kindof crappy, dulled, faded and water spots on them. Even had yellowing on them which is kindof crazy cause this boat never stays in water and has been garage or in dry storage since being bought new and acetone and few other things I had tried did not do much. I know Nick213 has been promoting that TR3 on the forum for years and when I had mentioned getting water spots, oxidation on gelcoat he told me I should try it. I actually bought a 6-pack cause price was like buying 2.5 small cans and figured I could use it on the vehicles, etc. It says you can use it on most things and after 2hrs has some resins that harden and protect it. Anyway, I have had pretty good luck with it, even used it on my surf boards (tested on old one first), carbon fiber board fins, engine cover and few other misc things around house I wanted to clean up....after a few hours I followed up with Collonite wax and it brought a 2yr old surf board back to looking brand new and all the stuff I have tried on the boat, it did a good job. It does only remove light oxidation, but seems like a really good product. It cleans tougher stains and shines things up. Anyway...on to the carbon fiber vents. What I ended up doing after not being satisfied with just the TR3, was using the boat candy polish and using a rotary machine to buff them out several times, then I waxed with collonite and let sit for a couple days......then cleaned with acetone and used TR3 last night going over it very carefully, scrubbing hard with microfiber cloth and using several light coats. After hardening, earlier today I put Collonite wax on them and I gotta say they are just about back to brand new condition. Not able to get pictures right now but will get some later this week when i get the boat out in the sun. I know there were some older threads on here with people asking about cleaning them and I know I looked at every older thread trying to figure out what to do and why I am posting this thread for future reference. Really pleased with the results (thanks Nick). I plan to also use it on my vehicles and after using, I always also wax. Figure its double protection and since both shine, the combination leaves it looking pretty brilliant (you gotta let the TR3 harden before waxing tho) I am also going to use it on my anodized Aegis Tower. I used cleaner and wax last week cause I was in a rush but am going to go back and use the TR3 on tower and racks.....and then wax again. Love that Collonite paste wax, you can just wipe off anything that gets on the boat, in the process of also doing the entire interior of the boat with it since I already polished everything. (On a side note, got the boat fired up this morning at the house to make sure that impeller and everything else held tight, everything ran perfectly. Getting ready to go out this week at least once during late afternoon, gonna take off work early one day and also taking the family out on Saturday to play and surf). Once this storm moves thru, if weather channel is right, the next 3 weeks are looking really good. Hope it will start warming up for everyone else too, was a pretty brutal winter/spring for everyone this year. Feel bad for you Northerners, late start to season this year.

That stuff is awesome and the more you use it the better the results. I've gone over things 2-3 times with it and they look better and better. I use it the same way you are @InfinitySurf, on my table saw, boat, bikes, trailers, racks, even fiberglass shower enclosure's 😉. Best part is it's kinda a best kept secret because it's so cheap, works great and available at any auto parts stores. My old man has been using it on everything since I was a kid.

I was a very nice wave and boat, no doubt about it, also has the super charged engine...may have had a little envy there altho I really don't need anything bigger than what I have now, just sounds cool to have the SC engine . The engine was WAY louder than mine, you cannot hardly hear my engine (we both have FAE), sure a lot of that is the engine compartment insulation tho. For ballast, he had 1000lbs of lead plus full ballast, roughly 4500lbs. It was equal to my wave in height and had great push, but my wave is longer and I can get further back...drive up wave and get my airs. Wasn't really a fair comparison to be honest cause conditions sucked today and I am also rusty since it was only my 2nd run of the year. I will be going out with them a lot more this summer. I should get in a few hundred hours this summer between my boat, the guy I ride with every Weds and several others that I have met and will be riding with this year. I am only Centurion, friends have Malibu, Supra, Nautique, Mastercraft and Moomba.....nice to get some of every type of wave to make my skills better rounded. I really wanna add GSA to my boat so I can get better at transfers, gonna figure out a way to make that happen.

Congratulations Gdmatson!!

Got her hew home ready too!!!