Seeking ideas for a sun/aged E38 transom

[Mel Snyder]

33 years ago, I purchased this boat new, with the color scheme of a Landfall 38 (sand colored hull, white cabin, burgundy cove and boot stripes) (Ericson demanded extra deposit for the colors, then used it in an ad, Ericson 38 vs. Landfall 38!).

Alas, the yard in Westchester County, NY commissioning the boat spelled the name wrong ("Mel's Angle" instead of "Mel's Angel") and a chastised yard worker angrily ground the paint off with an abrasive buffer. I was livid.

Despite the age of the hull, the boat looks very nice, although the hull is faded. But the transom looks awful.

Short of a costly awlgripping of the whole hull, I wonder if anyone has any experience applying any laminates to the transom that, being reverse, takes an awful beating from the sun.

Ideas gratefully accepted!

Mel

 

[e38 owner]

some photos may help

There is a guy here, (there must be others) that could gel coat the back
Thus try buffing and if it fails gel coat to the edge and blend.
If the gel coat is thick enough there are some useful tips on this site about bringing back the shine. Mainesail has a good step by step article

Another thought may be to just awl grip the cove strip and bring it down the transom. The strip would act as a separator to allow you to alwgrip the transom

 

[Loren Beach]

New gel coat, maybe

I know of one older boat in my area where the owner wanted to renew the 60's-era off-white gel coat. He found a fellow that is good with glassing and had the hull re-sprrayed with new gel coat. I believe that the usual alcohol/wax stuff was sprayed on so that the poly gel coat would cure. Then it was all sanded down with very fine paper - something like 400 to 600 to something like 1000 or finer. Then it was compounded and then buffed with something like "finess-it" .
The result looked like a molded out surface, to my untrained eye.

So, it would appear that with the right skill/talent, you can have a "new" gel coat surface. Matching the color might be the bigger challenge, however.

Regards,
Loren

 

[Mel Snyder]

There is a guy here, (there must be others) that could gel coat the back
Thus try buffing and if it fails gel coat to the edge and blend.
If the gel coat is thick enough there are some useful tips on this site about bringing back the shine. Mainesail has a good step by step article

Another thought may be to just awl grip the cove strip and bring it down the transom. The strip would act as a separator to allow you to alwgrip the transom

This photo doesn't fully do justice to showing how bad it looks - it's a small section of a much bigger image in my gallery - asking for a photo of my boat's transom is like asking a woman to take a closeup of her ugliest zit.

Note how worn off the gelcoat is under Mel's Angel - that's where a worker at an unnamed Mamaroneck boatyard aggressively ground off his mistake, "Mel's Angle," 33 years ago. But you can see the rest of the areas where the sun and weather have worn the gelcoat down to the fiberglass.

The rest of the boat is really great for 33 years - including one disastrous trip to Miami and the Keys, where the sun destroyed the burgundy cove and boot stripes ( a friendly guy in the boatyard taught me how to "tip" paint, so I can now keep that looking nice).

So you see - there's really no gelcoat left to restore.

 

[Frank Langer]

A skilled tradesman can apply new gelcoat, spraying it on to get a nice finish. An easier and cheaper option (though not quite as correct) would be to get a reasonable color match at a paint store and paint it with a good quality exterior paint. I have painted two previous boats with good success. With either new gelcoat or new paint you will need to redo the name. I have had good outcomes with vinyl lettering at a sign shop, still in good shape after eight years.
Frank

 

[tenders]

Agree with Frank. Strip off the existing letters, remove as much hardware as possible, and paint the transom with a close color match...or pick a contrasting color, perhaps one matching your mainsail cover, for extra snazz. Or find a gelcoat wizard to recoat the transom - the application isn't particularly hard, but I find color matching to be very difficult and that might not be a great first DIY project.

I had a similar problem on my white transom a really long time ago and the one-part Brightsides polyurethane I brushed on looked good for quite a while. It doesn't now, but the vinyl letters I put on top of it do and I haven't felt a need to pull them off to repaint the transom. The fact that it doesn't exactly match the rest of the hull has been unnoticed and irrelevant.

 

[Mel Snyder]

Agree with Frank. Strip off the existing letters, remove as much hardware as possible, and paint the transom with a close color match...or pick a contrasting color, perhaps one matching your mainsail cover, for extra snazz. Or find a gelcoat wizard to recoat the transom - the application isn't particularly hard, but I find color matching to be very difficult and that might not be a great first DIY project.

I had a similar problem on my white transom a really long time ago and the one-part Brightsides polyurethane I brushed on looked good for quite a while. It doesn't now, but the vinyl letters I put on top of it do and I haven't felt a need to pull them off to repaint the transom. The fact that it doesn't exactly match the rest of the hull has been unnoticed and irrelevant.

Paint was my first idea- if I sort of matched the white cabin and cockpit, it could look nice - and reflective white might minimize later deterioration and color-matching challenges . Frankly, I'm looking for a solution that costs hundreds, not thousands of dollars. The boat ***IS*** 33 years old.

 

[Mel Snyder]

A skilled tradesman can apply new gelcoat, spraying it on to get a nice finish. An easier and cheaper option (though not quite as correct) would be to get a reasonable color match at a paint store and paint it with a good quality exterior paint. I have painted two previous boats with good success. With either new gelcoat or new paint you will need to redo the name. I have had good outcomes with vinyl lettering at a sign shop, still in good shape after eight years.
Frank

No matter what, the name will DEFINITELY be vinyl. Cutting masking tape friskets is a long, tedious job each times the painted letters needed to be refreshed.

 

[tenders]

A quart of Interlux Pre Cote, a quart of Interlux Brightsides of the color you choose, a bunch of sandpaper, and some brushes, and you're done for just shy of $100 and three hours of time...and you'll have a lot of leftover paint.

PS: "Frisket" = excellent word. New to me. My word would be "stencil," what's the difference?