Hewes 21 Redfisher restoration.

[Josh B]

2 hours ago, whichwaysup said:

Josh, thats amazing.  What did you sand those hatches with?  What did you use to repair the plastic?   That battery box that sits under the dry storage in front of the cockpit gets cracked, and I always worry about two heavy batteries falling into the bottom of the boat.  Did you have to fox yours?

I sanded them with 60 grit, which is a little rough but they had quite a few imperfections I was trying to knock down. Before the 2nd coat I'll lightly sand with 150. Should be plenty fine for inside of hatches. 

My battery box is cracked on one corner, but otherwise is in good shape. I am contemplating fixing  it, but I don't think it will make much difference structurally. Cosmetically it would look better, but it's only visible when the cover is removed. 

That being said, I am planning to add some sort of cushion material, maybe eva foam or a piece of 1-3-5 mil rubber between the bottom of the battery box and the fiberglass shelf it rests on. Just to cut down on the rubbing/jarring and potential rattling. 

Josh B.

[whichwaysup]

There is a shelf under that box?

[Josh B]

4 minutes ago, whichwaysup said:

There is a shelf under that box?

Yes, there is on mine. It's bare fiberglass and the bottom of the box sits directly on it. There's some scuffing on the bottom of the plastic box, so I know it's touching. I assume this was from the factory, but have never looked at another year/model. 

[linesider 159]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:33 AM, Josh B said:

If I was still on the Johnson Outdoors program I would consider that, but not worth the price/effort for now. 

Looks like the JL Marine motor is ready for the masses, so hopefully it checks out and I can get that on the deck in the future. Have you had a chance to use one yet?

Josh B.

I have used it, it's phenomenal. So quiet that you literally cannot hear the motor

BTW, total cost of switching my ulterra to black was ~$300

[Josh B]

Not a lot to update this week... I got all the hatches sanded again and painted with a second coat of epoxy bilge paint. 

In addition, I started sanding all the smooth surfaces on the hatch gutters. I'm hoping to get all the sanding finished this weekend and if the stars align will get some primer sprayed. 

Josh B.

 

 

[Moderator]

This boat is going to look so good… 

Thank you Josh !!

MM

[mxf255]

Great work! Thanks for the updates. 

[Josh B]

Little Update. 

I've sanded my fingernails down to blood about 3 different times, so that's fun. Getting in all those corners is brutal, but i've found that wrapping your fingertips in masking tape helps. 

I sanded the entire topside of the original gelcoat, faired out all the repaired areas and sanded those back down. Then I sprayed the entire topside and hatches with AlexSeal 302 High Build primer. My goal was to filll in any low spots or imperfections with the high build. However, after block sanding the high build several of the areas were still pretty noticeable. So I ended up doing another round of fairing compound and then respraying those areas with high build and sanding again. After the entire thing was looking good I sprayed with Alex Seal 442 finishing primer and then sanded that down. 

Just when you think you have it perfect you spend an hour+ cleaning with paint-prep degreaser and find more imperfections that you didn't see before. My old man says that's why they call it "finishing" because it's never actually finished... it's just at what point do you give up. 

There's plenty of imperfections to find, but I'm willing to live with how it is. 

Yesterday I got all of the "slick" areas sprayed with AlexSeal 501 topcoat. After much deliberation, I decided to just go with "Cloud White" on the deck. It really just makes everything easier to match and I saw another boat with it that I thought looked good. It's pretty incredible how different the colors can be... when I sanded through the white primer the original gelcoat areas look pink. 

One major inconvenience for me is the required dry times between coats for diffferent products. They basically all require 12-18-24 hours of dry time between sanding, but then also recommend not more than 2-4 days after sanding. So with my schedule I have to try to plan ahead which sometimes means sanding at night so i can spray on the weekend. The edges are all sprayed with two coats and I can now mask the entire topside off to spray the non-skid areas. 

Primed: 

Faired again: 

CloudWhite Top Coat on the slicks: 

 

I also worked on the console. It had been a few months since I touched it and for some reason in my mind I thought it was ready for painting. However, when I applied the "guide coat" to it and started sanding it was obvious it had several high/low spots that needed to be fixed. So I faired that out some more, sanded, sprayed with high build primer, sanded and was getting ready to spray finish primer. That's when I decided to make some more extra work for myself. I originally made the opening below the stearing wheel for the acrylic door to be mounted to the exterior surface... but deep down I really wanted it to sit flush with the surface. So I busted out the router and cut 3/4" deep opening all the way around. This made the top edge only about 1 1/4" thick and I was worried about the strength. So I ended up adding another 2" wide piece of foam inside to support it and glassing that in with epoxy. Fairing all of that, sanding, and now i'm about back where I started ready to prime it. 

Console Work: 

The wife has me booked for a camping trip Thurs-Sunday this week, so I won't get anything done this weekend... but hopefully I'm spraying non-skid next weekend! (fingers crossed). 

Josh B.

[whichwaysup]

Josh, as always, incredible work!

[Josh B]

Nothing new, but had to set the hatches in to get them out of my way in the garage... also set the console in to figure out spacing and mark it off so I don't have to non-skid where it sits. 

I'll be honest, i'm sure most are thinking it too... i wish the console wasn't so big. (tall) It just looks a little goofy, but that's the shortest I could make it without needing to bend down to steer. I'm fine with it, but I know it would look better with a tiny console. 

Josh B.

 

[George Seither]

I think it looks just fine and the boat once you are done will be a pure fine-looking boat set up the way you like it! Following as ya post!

[Josh B]

Started installing my new hatch seals last night. 

Interesting that before I sprayed the top deck the paint inside the hatches looked super white compared to the original oyster white gelcoat on the deck. Now after spraying the deck white, the hatches look cream colored even though they were white before and the color on the can is "white". Oh well, I'm not sanding them again! ha ha

Getting everything masked off in the evenings this week so I can finish up the non-skid this weekend. 

Stay tuned,

Josh B.

[redzone1]

I love what you have done so far.  I do have a question though.  Are you going to be able to see over the console while seated driving?  Are you having an extra thick seat cushion?  It looks really tall from these pics……pics could be deceiving though.

[Josh B]

4 hours ago, redzone1 said:

I love what you have done so far.  I do have a question though.  Are you going to be able to see over the console while seated driving?  Are you having an extra thick seat cushion?  It looks really tall from these pics……pics could be deceiving though.

@redzone1So this seat cushion debacle has been probably the hardest deciding factor for me of this entire thing. In regards to the height I'll need to have the cushion about 6-8 inches above the hatch lid. I do tend to stand and drive the majority of the time, but I certainly want to be able to sit and relax when I want to. That being said, I'm still not 100 percent on what I'm going to do. My two options are a bench seat or bucket style seats (2 or 3). I'm about 90% on the bench seat, mostly because I think it looks better and is more practical for my family. If I did bucket style seats I would add some shock absorber mounts that would give me the needed height, but I'm afraid that would just look goofy. 

So assuming I go with the bench seat I have a couple options for that as well. I can build a base that sits up a couple inches off the hatch, I'm sure you've seen this... there's a couple guys on here that have it already. The other option is to creat a small cabinet with sliding drawers that would give additional storage. Most people do this with starboard, but I think that looks a little cheap and I would more likely build a fiberglass enclosure with smooth rounded edges. 

The next decision is whether or not to have a standard backrest built in or to make the backrest removable. If I'm fishing by myself or with a buddy I would leave the backrest at home and have the ability to move around better, especially if livebait fishing where you constantly need to get into the livewell behind the seat. 

There's so many options and I just cant decide right now. Whichever option I choose, I will have something custom made or make it myself. 

Here's a couple of pics I've found online to give you some ideas of what i'm talking about. 

Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions too. It's one of those things where I have to decide form vs function. 

Josh B. 

[HewesYourDaddy]

7 hours ago, Josh B said:

@redzone1So this seat cushion debacle has been probably the hardest deciding factor for me of this entire thing. In regards to the height I'll need to have the cushion about 6-8 inches above the hatch lid. I do tend to stand and drive the majority of the time, but I certainly want to be able to sit and relax when I want to. That being said, I'm still not 100 percent on what I'm going to do. My two options are a bench seat or bucket style seats (2 or 3). I'm about 90% on the bench seat, mostly because I think it looks better and is more practical for my family. If I did bucket style seats I would add some shock absorber mounts that would give me the needed height, but I'm afraid that would just look goofy. 

So assuming I go with the bench seat I have a couple options for that as well. I can build a base that sits up a couple inches off the hatch, I'm sure you've seen this... there's a couple guys on here that have it already. The other option is to creat a small cabinet with sliding drawers that would give additional storage. Most people do this with starboard, but I think that looks a little cheap and I would more likely build a fiberglass enclosure with smooth rounded edges. 

The next decision is whether or not to have a standard backrest built in or to make the backrest removable. If I'm fishing by myself or with a buddy I would leave the backrest at home and have the ability to move around better, especially if livebait fishing where you constantly need to get into the livewell behind the seat. 

There's so many options and I just cant decide right now. Whichever option I choose, I will have something custom made or make it myself. 

Here's a couple of pics I've found online to give you some ideas of what i'm talking about. 

Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions too. It's one of those things where I have to decide form vs function. 

Josh B. 

 

This is the best looking seat of all the ones you posted. The lower cushion isn't too tall like the others and is more in proportion with the boat type and size. Personally, I would have something less complicated and custom made. Just my $.02

[linesider 159]

Reach out to Rusty J for a pic of his setup, he did a seat style for his 22 sterling you would like. Could replace the bucket seats he did with a bench seat to seat 3 across

[whichwaysup]

Josh - 

I know this isn't in your consideration set, but the removable tempress/fish-on seats might be worth considering.   Making them removable gives you more flexibility - and i've seen some with pretty tall cushions.   Just a thought - I love mine, love that I can take them off to flyfish if I want, but they are incredibly comfortable and secure.

[Josh B]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:24 AM, linesider 159 said:

Reach out to Rusty J for a pic of his setup, he did a seat style for his 22 sterling you would like. Could replace the bucket seats he did with a bench seat to seat 3 across

I msg'd him on FB, but he hasn't read it in a few days... you know old people and the internet... maybe you can text him or send me his number? 

On 4/5/2023 at 10:25 AM, whichwaysup said:

Josh - 

I know this isn't in your consideration set, but the removable tempress/fish-on seats might be worth considering.   Making them removable gives you more flexibility - and i've seen some with pretty tall cushions.   Just a thought - I love mine, love that I can take them off to flyfish if I want, but they are incredibly comfortable and secure.

@whichwaysup I have considered these and actually spent a good amount of time riding in them myself. They are super convenient and comfortable too. They didn't pass the "wife test" for looks. She wants a bench seat or helm style seats with armrests. Something fancier looking... ha ha (who knows). 

[linesider 159]

7 minutes ago, Josh B said:

I msg'd him on FB, but he hasn't read it in a few days... you know old people and the internet... maybe you can text him or send me his number? 

@whichwaysup I have considered these and actually spent a good amount of time riding in them myself. They are super convenient and comfortable too. They didn't pass the "wife test" for looks. She wants a bench seat or helm style seats with armrests. Something fancier looking... ha ha (who knows). 

messaged you

[Josh B]

Okay fellas, made some progress this weekend. 

The console is primed and ready for paint and the remainder of the hatch seals were installed. 

Then I started on the non-skid. I spent about 6 hours masking the boat off. After it was all masked off I had to sand everything that would get sprayed with non-skid. I should have used the DA sander, but was worried about going too aggressive or hitting the tape, so I did it all by hand (i shouldn't have). After all sanding, I went through another round of the 2 rag method of cleaning, that alone normally takes an hour or so. 

I decided to roll the topcoat paint as I felt like this would be an easier method for getting a nice thick coat of wet paint for the non-skid to stick to. It dries fairly fast, so doing it by myself I had to do 3-4 feet at a time, sprinkle in non-skid particles, and then continue... this ended up causing me some grief, more on that later. So after I got the entire boat painted and the non-skid particles applied I had to let it set up for 12 hours. 

I had to get creative with a way to reach all the center areas... I first tried leaning over standing on the ladder and almost fell a couple times... so I found a 2x12 and moved the ladders back and forth as needed. 

The next day I cleaned up the non-skid, brushing off the excess first and then vacuuming. Then I started painting over the top. I applied three coats of paint over the top of the non-skid. This is when I noticed the first issue. Everywhere I had stopped/started my original rolling there was a visible line. Ugghhh... it's not terrible and actually one of those things that you can only see in certain light from certain angles, but still bothers me. It could be fixed... or I could make it worse trying to fix it, so I think i'll just live with it. 

 

 

 

Anyways, I'm satisfied with the outcome. All of my lines are nice, texture is nice, color is nice. I started running low on paint on the last coat on the inside floor... so the third coat is very thin and I really would like to get another coat on that since it's the most high-traffic area. I'll have to figure a way to scuff it all up though, tbd. 

I learned several important things that I would do differently in the future. First... get someone to help you. The method I used for sprinkling in soft-sand non-skid particles is great, but it should have been all done in one fluid motion. One person paints, the other person sprinkles. Second, being cheap costs me time and money. The soft-sand is pretty pricey. I found a guy on THT forum that had some for sale, about 60% off regular price. Nothing wrong with it, however it was grey (not white) and that took some additional paint to get good coverage. With white particles I probably could have been done with two coats of paint. Third, I used 3m masking tapes for everything... the high dollar vinyl fine line tape is awesome for bending and doing corners. However, it does not hold the line nearly as well as the green "paper" tape that is also pretty flexible. I thought I was doing right buying the more expensive vinyl tape, but when you remove it the tape will bend/give way more than the green and I had to manually clean up a bunch of the lines on the corners. Not a terrible amount of work, but still something to note. Lastly, make sure you have plenty of time reserved. Depending on the products you use you have to account for pot-life, overcoat variances, dry times, etc. Like most things, it took longer than I thought and I ended up working wayyyy late into the night to get it done within the recoat window. 

Next, get the console painted and start installing some gemlux hardware. More to come... 

Josh B.

 

[George Seither]

Donut’s delivered I love it!!!!!! Non skid looks great

[Fsu11]

Looks incredible Josh! Lines between nonskid and gelcoat are amazing great job!

[Moderator]

What a great job you did Josh !

Can’t wait for the finished product !! 
Marc

 

[Wanaflatsfish]

Yes Josh 

i think the entire boat should be reshot:)

I see every mistake (lol) I’m your video

you can spend another 40 hours on the deck but my suggestion is to get it finished and slime the decks

you can always come back and do a redo

Summer is coming and redfish await !!

dc

[redzone1]

I doubt you’ll be able see those slight variations in the nonskid out in the bright sunlight.