On 8 Mar 2019, at 23:23, James Alton via Groups.Io <lokiyawl2@...> wrote:

Jose,

   When you say that the Faux-teak is missing in places do those thin areas look white by chance? If so closely by feel deck where you have the white areas and you may find that the wood grain texture exists in these areas, they are just the wrong colour.  In looking at my boat, I am pretty certain that Amel brushed the gel coat into the mold for the Faux teak colour and then sprayed the rest of the deck mold with the white gel coat that we see on the areas outside of the Faux teak area.   This makes sense from a production standpoint because to spray the Faux-teak area would require masking off the entire deck mold except for the Faux-teak area..a lot of extra work.  It is really hard to brush gel coat to a  perfectly even thickness  so perfectly normal to have some thinner areas.  These thin areas look on my boat like brush marks because actually they are, only from the reverse side. (grin)  The only point I wanted to make was that on my boat at least, enough white gel coat was sprayed over the top of the Faux Teak gel coat that despite the Faux-Teak colour being thin in places, the fibreglass is well covered and protected.  So I view this as just a cosmetic issue so pretty low down on my to do list currently.  

  You can certainly experiment with patching in the Faux-teak colour where it is missing.  I have not yet tried touching up my decks using the ideas that follow so your mileage may vary but I have done similar touchups on some other projects.  Unfortunately the results I have obtained are never as good as the original but there has always been improvement..  I would suggest getting a flattening agent for your Awlgrip to reduce the gloss and improve the traction some.  You will need to experiment with how much to add to get your best match.  The paint will need to be dry to know for sure how it will look. Go for a bit too shiny as the trend will be for the Awlgrip to flatten more over time.    As you found out, super shiny Awlgrip is really slippery stuff.  

  I wish that I could suggest an anti-slip additive for painted surfaces but I have not really found one that I like much and I have tried more than a dozen over the years.  Sand does work great for nonskid but it is too hard to sand down with normal sandpaper so when the time comes to recoat you have a problem.  Sand also has a colour so will show up as the paint wears down or chips off of the sand bits and this is the problem with many of the other additives.  We have had good luck using glass beads to varnish.  These tiny beads are added to the paint used for reflective stripping on the roads.  With (Including the Awlgrip /Awlbrite varnish) varnish, the glass beads disappear visually though the non-skid texture remains.  You can also sand them down when the time comes which is a little confusing since I would think that glass would be too hard to sand too but it does work.  I have not tried the glass beads with the Awlgrip paint but it might be worth doing a small test panel to see if you like it or not.  The fine Awlgrip non-skid additive will hold up the best of the additives they sell.  The more coarse Awlgrip additives become very slippery over time as the paint sticks poorly to the plastic bits so eventually you end up walking on the exposed plastic bits as the paint chips off.  I developed a technique where I thicken the Awlgrip and apply it with a roller.  It makes the best non skid I have walked on to date but it would completely cover you wood grain. 

   If you go to the Awlgrip.com website and click on colours at the top of the page, you will see the option to have custom colours created.  Awl grip can be applied in thin coats which you can use to your advantage in blending the paint to the Faux-Teak gel coat.  Build up thin coats  as needed to cover your thin areas and then enlarge the patched area with additional coats to end up with only one thin coat at the edge of the repair. You want to spread out your laps in other words.  You could also do a little wet sanding and polishing around the blend lines to help the paint blend into the gelcoat.  A tiny HVLP spray gun might also work well in doing these touchup areas but it takes a little practice.

   I am not really sure how to properly prepare the Faux-teak gelcoat surface for paint since you are wanting to retain the wood grain effect.  Sandpaper will tend to flatten the surface so the only other option I have used are the Maroon Scotchbrite pads which you can compress into the low areas to scratch all surfaces.  The surface really needs to be freshly scratched everywhere to get a decent bond. Awl grip is supposed to be applied over a primer such as the 545 but white or gray are your only options so will complicate patching.   I have found that the Awlgrip topcoats actually have great adhesion to a prepared surface as rule so if I try patching I will omit the primer.  

  Glad to hear that you like the Awlgrip on your hull.

Best of luck with the patching, please let me know what seems to work for you.

Best,

James

SV Sueno

Maramu #220

On Mar 8, 2019, at 4:03 PM, Jose Venegas via Groups.Io <josegvenegas@...> wrote:

James,

Thanks for your info.  When I had Ipanema's hull done with Awl grip 5 years ago, the also covered the non-skid sections of the stern, making them quite skiddy.  I complained and they added an extra layer with a few grains of sand or something like that which made the better.  However, I did not like the look of it compared with the original finish.  Because Ipanemas Faux-teak is in general good, after what you tell me I will try to get some thinner paint to have a few touches in the areas where it is missing, hopefully not reducing too much the pattern.
Interested in finding out if people have used other methods to deal with the problem

By the way, the hull painted wit Awl grip still looks shining after more than 5 years and with very little work.  I will use it on the deck when ready to do it in a year or two

Jose 
Ipanema SM2K 278

Hi Gary et al,

The bolt in question is the starboard aft position. Without it in place and the winch loaded up the whole winch moved so it isn't a question of where was the deck flexing. The body of the winch, without that bolt was bring pulled to lean forward. It was particularly noticeable when breaking the anchor free. I have no reason to believe there was any other cause and I noted once again the Captains attention to detail in not relying on a GRP deck but adding the certain strength of the bolt through the flange onto the hawse pipe. With that bolt in place movement is NIL and has been so for many years. So again I commend caution and attention to this detail when choosing a repair system. The load on the anchor winch can at times be considerable, we are not always anchored in calm water on a clean bottom with little wind.

Regards

Danny

SM 299

Ocean Pearl

With On 08 March 2019 at 08:07 "Gary Silver via Groups.Io" <garysilver@...> wrote:

Hi Danny:

Thanks for that re-iteration.  Can you describe in more detail where the deck was flexing?  Was it just at the bolt location or over a wider area?  The deck is stiffened also by the vertical fore-aft wall between the port and starboard sides.   Was the tab on the hawse pipe acting merely as a backing plate or was it the fiberglass collar with the hawse pipe as an assemblage that provided stiffening. 

I remember years ago Joel warned against attaching an inner forestay to the cleat on the winch or to the decking in that area without carrying the loads down to tougher structure.  

Thanks for any additional insight you might provide. 

Gary S. Silver
s/v Liahona 
Amel SM 2000 #335

On Mar 8, 2019, at 4:03 PM, Jose Venegas via Groups.Io <josegvenegas@...> wrote:

James,

Thanks for your info.  When I had Ipanema's hull done with Awl grip 5 years ago, the also covered the non-skid sections of the stern, making them quite skiddy.  I complained and they added an extra layer with a few grains of sand or something like that which made the better.  However, I did not like the look of it compared with the original finish.  Because Ipanemas Faux-teak is in general good, after what you tell me I will try to get some thinner paint to have a few touches in the areas where it is missing, hopefully not reducing too much the pattern.
Interested in finding out if people have used other methods to deal with the problem

By the way, the hull painted wit Awl grip still looks shining after more than 5 years and with very little work.  I will use it on the deck when ready to do it in a year or two

Jose 
Ipanema SM2K 278

On Mar 8, 2019, at 11:32 AM, Thomas Kleman <lorient422@...> wrote:

Day 1 of the bow locker floor replacement. I'm reminded of the elder Moltke's tenet that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. As I cut the port bow locker's floor out, the 3 inch lip I was leaving to later mount the new floor on completely separated (wood from the fiberglass). Now there is only a 3 inch thin fiberglass lip with no plywood underneath it. There was no structure holding the plywood up from underneath along the port side. It seems to have been glassed/supported from the top only. When water penetrated the wood the fiberglass broke away. When the time comes to install the new floor, I suppose I will need to create the lip I thought would still be in place......thoughts ? 

Thanks Ian. I am struggling to get to grips with the electrical system. The engine/starboard alternator is charging but not sure about the domestic/port alternator and I dont really understand the data my shiney new clamp meter is giving me. I need to read a book I think.

Mark

Sent from my Samsung device

-------- Original message --------
From: Ian <parkianj@...>
Date: 08/03/2019 11:52 (GMT+00:00)
To: main@amelyachtowners.groups.io
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Sharki shaft alternator

Mark
On my Santorin you have to put the key in and switch on (next to your ameter). The green light comes on. It sends a current to the alternator to excite it and start it charging. You should turn off when finished using it and put your gear lever in reverse to stop the alternator charging before switching on the engine.
I believe the diodes in each of the engine and alternator should prevent any ‘issues’, but that is the prescribed Amel method.
My knowledge of electrics is limited - someone with a better understanding may chip in here.
The Santorin prop shaft pulley is quite a bit bigger too, so will turn the alternator faster. There is a significant drop in prop shaft speed as soon as you turn the alternator on.

Ian

Day 1 of the bow locker floor replacement. I'm reminded of the elder Moltke's tenet that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. As I cut the port bow locker's floor out, the 3 inch lip I was leaving to later mount the new floor on completely separated (wood from the fiberglass). Now there is only a 3 inch thin fiberglass lip with no plywood underneath it. There was no structure holding the plywood up from underneath along the port side. It seems to have been glassed/supported from the top only. When water penetrated the wood the fiberglass broke away. When the time comes to install the new floor, I suppose I will need to create the lip I thought would still be in place......thoughts ?