Extreme Hull Makeover - Nacra 5.0 Edition

i have seen the poliglow videos (saw it originally on Ship Shape TV) and i believe it is basically the same thing as newglass, newglass2 etc.. .and they all work the same

I have newglass2 and love it.

I would put the decals down first as the polyglow may be to slick to adhere to.

As long as your rudders are fiberglass it is fine to use polyglow on them. I dont know if there are adverse effects on polyester rudders (like the old hobie's) but i do know my newglass says do not use on non-fiberglass surfaces

Use Poly-Prep on the rudders, it will take out the stain. You should have no problems using it on Nacra rudders.

Put the strips on between the Poly-Prep and Poly-Glow.

Agreed. Prep, decals, then Glo. Did this with my 5.2 with great results. Will be re-glo-ing this Spring before putting in the H20.

We have used Sno Bowl for years to take scum off. It is a mild acid so be careful. We clean the boat and then if we can power wash it to rinse it. Then put any decals on and then put on a couple of coats of was, we have been using star brite with teflon for years. A coat or two in the spring and a coat after a wash in the fall before storage. JMHO, YMMV, Richard.

Thanks for the help, all!

Here is the boat this summer with the old graphics scheme.

Here is the boat after removing all of the old, cracked vinyl graphics and after a good cleaning with Bar Keepers Friend and PoliPrep.

And now, with the new decals installed (thanks Bacho for emailing the vectored image files) and new pinstriping. Also, the picture is taken before applying PoliGlow.

Edited by flyingfishguy on Jan 27, 2012 - 09:30 PM.

Anyone have suggestions on changing the light blue non-skid sections on the forward part of the hulls to black? Paint?

Edited by flyingfishguy on Jan 27, 2012 - 09:24 PM.

black could get real hot in the summer sun...match head hot. but this would discourage anyone from standing/sitting on the foredecks and that's a good thing. the boat looks great! bet it looks even better with the poliglo.

how about light grey awl-grip? on the decks?

light grey was a standard deck color for nacras so it shouldn't look out of place

How did you make the turned aluminum end caps? They look pretty good.

black could get real hot in the summer sun...match head hot.

Didn't think of that!

Edchris177 wrote: How did you make the turned aluminum end caps? They look pretty good.

Ha! I wish they were turned aluminum. They're just oxidized 30 year old black plastic. Ideas for "blacking" them back up? I saw something at West Marine, I think, that was supposed to bring them back.

how about light grey awl-grip? on the decks?

That's a good idea. I'll look into it. Anyone else have experience putting the awl-grip over the blue decking?

Thanks,
Jimmy

flyingfishguy wrote:
[quote=Edchris177]How did you make the turned aluminum end caps? They look pretty good.

Ha! I wish they were turned aluminum. They're just oxidized 30 year old black plastic. Ideas for "blacking" them back up? I saw something at West Marine, I think, that was supposed to bring them back.

I thought those were aluminium as well. I was loving them :/

Edited by dichtbijzee on Jan 29, 2012 - 05:15 AM.

I have a sign maker here who claims he can do decals.. Can I please IM you with my email for a copy of that vector file.. Thx Hal

I have a sign maker here who claims he can do decals.. Can I please IM you with my email for a copy of that vector file.. Thx Hal

Hey Hal,

Check your messages. I left my email address there for you.

Thanks,
Jimmy

Hi flyingfishguy, I sent you a private message.. I would love a copy of that vector file. BTW I like the idea of making some aluminum caps. Thanks for the idea, I think I'm going to further investigate that!

erice wrote: how about light grey awl-grip? on the decks?

light grey was a standard deck color for nacras so it shouldn't look out of place

we used to have light grey on the deck of our 30' iroquois cat and it was too hot to lay on in aug. we painted the deck white.
marc

I would love to get ahold of the Nacra file discussed here. I too, am giving my boat a make-over this spring and could really use new decals.

Thanks!

Chris

On the weathered black plastic end caps, just rub on some vaseline, let sit for about 5 minutes, and wipe it off. Does wonders.

How did you do the V shaped hull cradles on the trailer? I've got a G-Cat 5.0 with the deep V hulls. The trailer has rollers now that are highly degraded so I would like to replace them with something similar.

After reading this post I thought I share my experience using Poliglow,etc. Last year I bought a 83 Nacra 5.0 and a few weeks back decided it was time to make her look pretty one more time. I did want to control the cost, I spend approx $68.- on Poliglow from Defender (great service and fast shipping)and some misc stuff from West Marine for a total less then $100.-. I thought about but decided against replacing the decals even though I saw some very cool decals that some got made right on this blog. Main reason for my decision was that I noticed that the decals on my boat were sitting on a somewhat raised gelcoat layer compared to the rest of the boat so replacing decals would have become a potential nightmare if they had not exactly the same shape.

The things that I was able to do were:
-Made some necessary repairs to scratches using Marine Tex.
-Cleaned the boat with a hard scrubbing brush and lightly sanded her with 600 grid. I really did go the extra mile to make the boat look as clean as possible, I probably spend about 6 hours on this. As the instructions say, this is probably the most important part/step of the process as Poliglow will lock in any stains that show on the hulls.
-Please note that pior to my cleaning/sanding these hulls were extremely very dull already, the sanding obviously didn't help but the gelcoat color looked much better after this.
-I applied the Poliprep which at this point really did not make much of a visual difference to the boat, it was already clean. The smell of the poliprep stuff reminded me very much of Simple Green that I have used to clean the siding on my house and gutters.
- I replaced a black weathered with a white anti-slip strip that I picked up at West Marine for approx. $20.-
-I spend a little time inventing a few brackets to hang the hulls off the garage ceiling (found that a piece of oak wood with some pre-drilled holes work perfect).
- After this I did apply the Poliglow in the same fashion as I had seen on the youtube instructional video. As the instructions indicate, the first few coats get sucked up by the boat and after that it will get easier for every extra coat I put on. I think I may have gone over it about 6 times.

Results (one hull completed vs one hull to be done) shown in pictures below. For less then $100.- not too shabby in my opinion, the boat looks pretty darn good once again! Per Damon, once the boat is poliglowed, it will not stain as easy which I'm very excited about. Tomorrow I'll do the other hull and put it all together and will be ready to hit the water this upcoming weekend.

One hull done.

Difference between Poliglowed and not Poliglowed hull:

Cheers!

Marc..

Edited by FlyingDutch on Apr 30, 2012 - 10:18 PM.

I think I have a couple of the factory Nacra decals in the modern font and in red/black.

Also, when you paint the deck they will get just a little bit more slippery, so keep that in mind. If I painted the decks again I would add some aggregate to make it non slip. Been there, done that . . .

I have those files. They are the standard "Nacra Font" and are red.. IM me with your email and will send them> Cheers Hal

These are the new font's like pictured earlier in this thread. The current design that says "Nacra Sports and Fun Catamarans". Got 'em in red to put on my red boat but the reds clashed so left them off.

I am in the market for nacra decals. Mummp... Are those the ones Murray's had a while back? Or did you have them made?

I just got done priming with epoxy kote. I may do anothr light coat. If you sand the crap out of that stuff... The hulls are perfect. I'm painting with perfection once the rain stops. I'll post my exploits when I'm done.

Shoot me a private message on the decals.

Thanks

Norm

nhanson wrote: I am in the market for nacra decals. Mummp... Are those the ones Murray's had a while back? Or did you have them made? . . .
. . . Shoot me a private message on the decals.
Thanks
Norm

They came from Nacra. I got a call 10 minutes after I made that post and they now have a new home. Sorry.

You guys inspired me to clean up my 1987 Nacra 5.0. I have cleaned the hulls with Barkeeper's Friend and sanded some rough spots with 400 grit. I am going to use Polyprep and Poliglow next, but there are some old Marine-Tex repairs that are darker than the white hulls. How should I treat these spots so they are not visible after the Poliglow?
Thanks!

I also had a few old spots that did not 100% match the hull. I cleaned them up as well as I could, after applying Poliglow these spots look the same on the hulls, the product didn't make those look better (or worse). One thing you can try is to rub a new layer of Marine-Tex on top. You'll probably never get a 100% match but this may make it look slightly better.

SquamTrac16 wrote: You guys inspired me to clean up my 1987 Nacra 5.0. I have cleaned the hulls with Barkeeper's Friend and sanded some rough spots with 400 grit. I am going to use Polyprep and Poliglow next, but there are some old Marine-Tex repairs that are darker than the white hulls. How should I treat these spots so they are not visible after the Poliglow?
Thanks!

Edchris177 wrote: How did you make the turned aluminum end caps? They look pretty good.

This earlier comment in this thread got me thinking... I'm lucky to have a very handy neighbor so a few six packs later... tadaaaaahhh

i posted this on another thread, but I got nutty with the Gimp and made some logos http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansoncoyne/7207331890/

As I'm in the process of refurbing my 5.0, I too am in need of some pinstriping. For now I'm touching up, not redoing everything. Questions:

My boat is of the same red/orange/gold color scheme as FlyingDutch (note I have PMed flyingfishguy to no avail). Does anyone have any leftover stripping, about 3 yards of each width and color, lying around they would be willing to part with?

When I'm ready for a full redo, perhaps in another season or three, is it possible to obtain a full graphics/stripping kit or do you have to have it custom made (find these elusive vector? files, color codes for the colors, font for the lettering/numbers) special order?

Since these hulls are a series of compound curves (no nice flat/square reference points) how do you know where to position the decals and lastly get the pinstriping straight?