We got the boat home, yes she is neglected, but it looks like she is fundamentally sound. First we had to take all of the not permanently attached kit off the boat.
We are going to strip the boat all the way down, wings off the whole lot, just to be sure there is no hidden damage. While we are not looking to turn this into a Championship level boat, T Bear won’t let us do a half arsed job. He is a hard task master.
First stage was to pressure wash the surface sand, bird droppings and all the other top level grime off the boat. Part of what we found is blistering on the top level gel coat on the shiny bits of the deck. Given she is a epoxy boat, it is more of a cosmetic thing, the fix is relatively easy, strip the gel coat off, fair and paint similar to what we did with the 14. No plans to do that…
So to the cleaning! First thing we did was a washing up liquid clean. Ordinary we wouldn’t use washing up liquid to clean things, especially on cars, washing up liquid strips everything, so seriously NEVER clean your car with washing up liquid!
But for what we are doing it’s perfect, it strips stuff.
Next piece of cleaning was to use Cif, it has micro abrasive in it. Gel coat is ultimately a porous material, when its initial top layer breaks down. Over time it will absorb more dirt etc. The only way to clean that out, you have to use abrasives. But ultimately we still want to build back up with coatings to protect the hull.
While this improved things, this still left rust stains and other stains on the surface. Next approach was to use Flash with Bleach it gets rid of the stains, but also kills off the green stuff that was on the hull and deck. The last level is to machine polish with a rubbing compound and then polish the hull and deck and finally use a wax to finish the off.
4 Comments on “RS600 – Breakdown, clean and make the job list”
Hey – where do you plan on sailing the 14 and 600? I sail a Musto Skiff on Malahide Estuary. There are a few 600s in Skerries as far as I know.
Hi Peter,
we sail the 14 out of Howth YC, deeper water, easier launching and lots of water to hurtle around in.
I bought the 600 from Skerries, so there was some pressure to bring it back. 🙂
First place I will splash the boat will probably be Malahide, I live near Kinsealy so it is the nearest body of water.
Tris…
You must have bought Coleman’s boat so. I sailed a 600 for 4 or 5 in Dun Laoghaire years before I got the Musto. They’re great boats – nothing like them in a blow. If you ever want to get them together, let me know. I’ve got my boat at Swords Sailing Club.
Yes that’s right.
I’ve been looking for a trapeze single hander since lock down started, they are difficult to find in Ireland. Not much point in sailing a laser when you need to practice helming from the wire.
When she is ready to sail I will give you a shout.