Just Scraping By Til Lake Dora

Seam Stripe Scraping Sunday!

Ya know those times when you start picking at something, and next thing you know you are gett’n a little carried away? Well, that happened. I was cleaning up Stinky ( Not a metaphor ) and all this white dust was all over the place. Well as it turns out the fake white stripes are just flaking off. So, I grabbed a razor blade and just cranked.

Fun with White Flakes of paint

So here is the question. Do I keep it cleaned off and let the imperfection of the little darkness stay and create a more distressed look? OR

Clean, white or?

SAMPLE DARK SEAMS

Paint a slightly darker lines than the red to create the effect of seams?

BEST in Show at Keels and Wheels. 38 Special is. VERY SPECIAL Thanks to MBBW for the photos. Sorry about the drool

Clean and sexy thanks to MBBW .

Paint the entire deck and stripes darker. And make it all slick looking?

Not like she is perfect. More of a dirty Sexy.

NOW, here is a thing, These never had white stripes. just a seamed painted deck. The seams were red. And in my eye. A slight darker line would make it look more real. The deck is fiberglassed over so its all smooth. UGH. And I dont want it to look perfect. HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA, ya like that would happen.

The tools of the scrape trade

My belief is that a huge part of Stinky’s charm is her flaws. I love them and she IS a metaphor for me!

A subtle gloss left over look is kinda cool and may just be enough

58 degrees outside. Music cranking inside!

21 replies
  1. Syd
    Syd says:

    Much better with the darker red. Black Witch never had the white as far as I can tell it was filled with a red lead filler compound. I have always felt the white lines take away from the beauty of the wood.

  2. Martin Field
    Martin Field says:

    Darker red lines, for sure, on a less than concours level boat, but repaint the red decking to get rid of that patchy dark crap on the left. That’s just ‘orrible looking!

  3. Matt
    Matt says:

    Thats the raw fiberglass coming through. If I paint the deck though, it will change the boats feel. Then I need to do the white, then the interior looks crappy..er, and then the chrome.. And so one. Like pulling a small string on a sweater

  4. Todd C
    Todd C says:

    A slippery slope… under and near the windshield, rear deck. Soon your into a complete restoration and you miss what you had and her soul is gone. Hard choices.

  5. Syd
    Syd says:

    They had to have seams because the trees were not wide enough to do the deck with one board. Besides that would be a bugger to steam bend.
    Now as for the caulking goes, to keep the water from leaking through. Then I would guess early launches had narrow deck boards. Then someone came up with the time saving idea of using wider boards but to keep the looks the same used the fake narrower seams. Another idea is for the looks narrower seams look sportier and maybe even give the optical illusion of making the boat look bigger. Just some ideas.

  6. Russ
    Russ says:

    OK, the “seams” were just an affectation…sort of like the “wood siding” on my Ford Crown Vic Country Squire “Wally Wagon.” If you like it, fine. But consider this…I see hot rods and motorcycles in the last few years have gone to flat paint jobs, sort of what your sanded paint looks like. I know classic boaters all seem to be about the gloss, but the practicality of glare free decks can’t be denied. And you could always re-apply the fake seams (preferably in a dark color) at a later time if you decide you really liked them.

  7. steve bunda
    steve bunda says:

    This is a dillema , for me I would not like the fiberglass on the deck . It adds weight to the boat and just looks wrong. Either paint over , or tear off and replace the deck. Then where do you stop, Bottom, sides, interior, gauges, chrome, ?

    • m-fine
      m-fine says:

      I think if he ever started a restoration, it would end with nothing of Stinky left. Better off to stop messing with it and enjoy her for what she is.

  8. Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P )
    Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P ) says:

    Do white seams. they look cool on Chris Craft decks. BTW I see a refrigerator in “your” barn. A must for the workshop.

    • bruce
      bruce says:

      Well, now that you got started, you can’t exactly stop and leave it half molested. It’s hard to say what will work from
      3000 miles away, but you might try masking off the white so it doesn’t get fouled, lightly scrape the rest of the seam stripes off, and then blend what remains of the old red finish and the newly exposed portion by buffing with 0000 steel wool.
      Good chance that will impart a slight sheen as well as darken the raw areas.

  9. Dick Dow
    Dick Dow says:

    In keeping with the “non restored” ‘Stinky’ theme, the idea of a semi-gloss finish is appropriate and would disguise the fiberglass somewhat. On that model, the white or contrasting seams were not used, but have been on the boat and in all your photos to this point. Your call. As a side note, Garwood, in 1936 publications promoted the satin finish they used on their boats, so there is precedence for boats of that era not being so shiny… 🙂

  10. Matt
    Matt says:

    Well. I just spent all morning out there. Scraped the white off. And had a serendipitous effect happen. First, I had to google serendipitous But the darker red of the fiberglass plastic coating. I swear its some sort of rubber, anyway, its the darker red, and the red under the white is textured red. So with some simple scoring LIGHTLY, I created a dark area and light. Looks like a correct version of the seam look. A sloppy version. More impressionistic in style. And it didnt cost me any Monet!

  11. Ron Y.
    Ron Y. says:

    If it were mine, I might try this;
    Given the paint were thick and stable enough, mask the deck away from the side rails, sand with #400; use automotive 3/16 striping tape over the seams, – dark red, or white as you like; then varnish over all with satin finish or rubbed effect Epiphanes, for the season- easy to do and easy to change back. The varnish over the tape is shockingly undetectable as not being caulking for a couple seasons, and easy to remove later.

  12. Hamster
    Hamster says:

    Matt your done step away from the boat !
    any more and you have to go all the way and you dont want to do that. Just my too sence.

  13. Richard Rahn
    Richard Rahn says:

    Matt, this is a very cool looking and fun boat. I’m going to throw out a crazy idea. Something which I’m sure the purists will just get sick over. Like spit out their coffee sick. Consider using a tinted roll on bed liner material I’ve used a product called Monstaliner on Spec BMW race cars. It’s popular in the off road world where guys do their entire vehicle. They swear by it’s durability and has a pebble like texture. The red is bright and I think it would look good on Stinky.

  14. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    As my grandmother use to say, “quit picking at it”. Leave it for this season and see how it works. You can paint it next season. Once you paint over the “patina”, you onto another series articles to post and its just another Red/White/Blue. You’ve got a 100 point boat already. This can be the user/anything goes version. I’m all for the “used look”

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