DE25 Ownership Log

[fallguy1000]

Did you ever figure out how water got into your fuel Matt?

Could it have been through the air intakes?

[Matt Gent]

I'm not sure there ever was water in the fuel. I know that the inspection ports over the (plastic) tanks leak, so water can sit right on top of the senders & valves. Would like to change that arrangement.

Boat has sat mostly dormant for about a year. Took my girlfriend & dad to Flamingo / Everglades for a weekend Feb 2020 with the canoe on the roof to do some exploring & see crocodiles, camped with some fishing buddies. The canoe is really too big to haul that way. The power trim died on that trip, and I've been too busy to fix it with new house projects and rebuilding the pontoon (other thread). When I did try to take the boat out it ran really rough, which a new set of plugs fixed right away. I checked the fuel and it is clean. That engine has a VST tank with a little filter screen which is known for getting clogged up, I'm due for a clean-out and new screen.





The boat is due for some serious cosmetic TLC. Just about every surface that wasn't glassed is checking, and the paint is flaking off of the primer on the glassed areas. I just have too much going on to strip it down and repaint the whole thing. Will need to tackle it area by area. First is the block for the rigging hose, fixing that before dropping off at the shop for power trim.



Whatever wood was used for this block and for the bowsprit is splitting and delaminating. I'll replace with ply and glass it over.









I have repainted the cabin top, about 2 years ago. I used System 3 (same as original build), with its hardener and primer per the instructions. It looks like crap already, not sure what I did wrong.

Of all the things about this boat, the durability of the paint is probably my biggest gripe. It has looked like an old commercial boat for 3 or 4 years.

I'm also going to install trim tabs. The space gets limited back there with the recommended 24" tabs from Bennett, may go with 18. Anyone know how close to a trim tab the transducer can live? Needs to be out of the prop path as well.

[fallguy1000]

What topcoat are you using?

Florida sure is hard on stuff, but the topcoat is not helping.

What is the hardtop substrate?

I think you have made all arguments for glassing all ply surfaces.

I'd probably put a new ducer on before fighting for space with tabs. That ducer location is not ideal anyway.

[fallguy1000]

To me, I would question the surface prep. But if I had a paint do that, I'd probably sand it all off and start over with a new system. Sorry.

[Matt Gent]

System Three Yacht Primer and their WR-LPU topcoat.

When I did the cabin top, I sanded it down to fairing compound with a few patches of the original primer. Wiped with acetone. It is glass over foam. There are also handrails up there that I sanded to bare wood and painted, most of the paint has flaked off.

For the rest of the surfaces I don't know. Was told it was the same S3 paint which is why I bought it. Will probably use Awlcraft to repaint.

The whole boat needs to be blasted or sanded down below the primer, plus glassing over the checked wood, and I just don't have the time.

[Matt Gent]

For the transducer, it has to move inboard to clear space for the tab. It will end up below the corner of the buoyancy tank on the Armstrong bracket.

Garmin says to mount it out of the prop flowpath, but no value given. Humminbird asks for 15" from the prop, which I cannot fit. Would be about 4" from prop if I fit 24" tabs; 8" if I fit 18" tabs.

[fallguy1000]

For the transducer, it has to move inboard to clear space for the tab. It will end up below the corner of the buoyancy tank on the Armstrong bracket.

Garmin says to mount it out of the prop flowpath, but no value given. Humminbird asks for 15" from the prop, which I cannot fit. Would be about 4" from prop if I fit 24" tabs; 8" if I fit 18" tabs.

All u can do is try and see if it works before buying a hull mount ducer. The hull mounts are usually much better and can operate at full speed. Yours might kick out at 20mph which sux bigtime. Won't know til u try.

[fallguy1000]

Whenever someone sells an additive to make their paint better; it makes me say hmmm.

https://www.systemthree.com/products/crosslinker

I had a lot of trouble painting over s3 primer. Still don't know if it was just my dirty shop or what. But the major fisheye areas were on the places where the primer got a bit thinner from sanding and you could see thru it a bit.

I honestly wonder if their primer needs a longer cure time. Like if I sanded through to the bottom and the primer was not cured enough; it reacted with the topcoat. It is a theory; likelt wrong.

[cracked_ribs]

I would say the number of people I have seen with primer issues on S3 primer is probably equal to all other boat primers combined. I don't know whether it sells so much more that there are just more examples - more people have had issues with McDonalds coffee than with the coffee from my local bakery, but that doesn't prove my bakery makes better coffee - or whether it really is problematic.

But man, I have seen enough issues with S3 primer that I won't touch it.

Granted I have a bunch of products like that which are usually thought of as good, but I won't use them. West epoxy, I won't use, for example, and it's been a mainstay of boatbuilding for decades. So I may be making choices based on my own intuition that are not supported by data, I don't know.

But S3 primer...not a fan.

I also don't leave exposed, un-glassed ply. I don't care that it's supposed to be fine. I have seen too many issues. If it's exposed to the elements, it's getting glass fabric, or else I consider it disposable.

[fallguy1000]

I would say the number of people I have seen with primer issues on S3 primer is probably equal to all other boat primers combined. I don't know whether it sells so much more that there are just more examples - more people have had issues with McDonalds coffee than with the coffee from my local bakery, but that doesn't prove my bakery makes better coffee - or whether it really is problematic.

But man, I have seen enough issues with S3 primer that I won't touch it.

Granted I have a bunch of products like that which are usually thought of as good, but I won't use them. West epoxy, I won't use, for example, and it's been a mainstay of boatbuilding for decades. So I may be making choices based on my own intuition that are not supported by data, I don't know.

But S3 primer...not a fan.

I also don't leave exposed, un-glassed ply. I don't care that it's supposed to be fine. I have seen too many issues. If it's exposed to the elements, it's getting glass fabric, or else I consider it disposable.

What confuses me is water cleanup..

??