# 1986 Gheenoe highsider restoration



## TripSmith (Sep 18, 2019)

Sounds like a good project Jake! No one has chimed in so I'll give you my advice after just finishing my first moderate rebuild.

First is don't buy everything from West Marine... Buy online from places like Jamestown Distributors, Total Boat or even Amazon.

You may not need to sand all the "paint" off. If the boat has been "painted" then you do... if it's the factory paint then it's probably gelcoat (polyester resin with tint in it so it works like paint). If it's gelcoat then all you need to do is dewax it (wash it good with Dawn soap) and sand it with 60 or 80 grit sand paper then wipe it with acetone before you lay down new resin/glass.

First thing I'd find out is if the gheenoe is made with polyester resin or epoxy resin.... If the hull is made with polyester then there is no need to pay the premium price for the epoxy when the poly will do just fine. I used "unwaxed" resin from Total Boat for my build (2 gallons) and loved it....

The core you will be looking for is something called Divinycell. It works great for making decks but if you plan on putting screws through the deck then you should go with something like Coosa board I believe.

The fiberglass I think you need is 2 different kinds. "1708 mat" and a "chop strand". Watch some of Boatworks Today's videos on Youtube to learn about a lot of the products.

You will also need some resin filler like silica dust or something to create a thickened putty to "filet" your panels in place.

You need to learn about when to use "waxed" and "unwaxed" polyester resin as well. Basically you should buy unwaxed resin and add the wax on your final coats. The difference in the two being that you don't need to sand after a coat of unwaxed resin before you do your next coat.

You can get a "fairing compound" from Total Boat to cover up your mistakes if you make that many. Watch Youtube videos on using it  (Total Boat has their own instructional videos)

I can't answer the paint questions... But I can tell you that I used tinted gel coat from Jamestown Distributors for the topsides of my boat and I LOVE it...... Killer stuff that is looking to be super tough (exactly what I wanted)


My next tip would be when you have a question to ask on the forums to ask one at a time as I think you will have a better chance of getting an answer. 

Good luck!!!!


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## JAKE HARRIS (Mar 25, 2020)

Thanks for the help man! I’m not sure what kind of paint is on it because I bought it used from someone who redid it previously and they did a pretty terrible job on the paint so it is chipping like crazy and I can just about pick most of the paint off with my finger nails. I’ll be asking questions individually now. Also do you happen to have a YouTube channel?


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## TripSmith (Sep 18, 2019)

You're welcome. Wasn't very long ago I had some of the same questions. Sounds like you do need to remove the paint like you said.

Yea, I might have a channel


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