Enforcer SX 10 year project!

[dream4ta]

Ok guys. Now that I own 2 83 Enforcers I plan on starting to work on one of them slowly while still running and enjoying the other. I would like to start this resto thread out with getting some input from everyone of a few things! It will be a very slow resto so dont get excited to see much on it but slow and steady is my plan!

First off I plan on doing the bottom of the boat but before I do this I need to have a game plan for the rest of the boat.

Paint or Gel coat?? My red boat as most of you know was painted by Robbie and Brian and looks great. However paint has some down sides. It doesnt last as long from what i have read and it is not as durable... But it looks great and is easier to deal with! Gel takes a lot more work to make look great but when its done and done right is a good finish. What way would you all recommend?? Also would you use the special race boat epoxy bottom paint or just paint or gel?

Bottom mods? While the boat is upside down I plan to straiten and sharpen it up as much as possible. would anyone recommend any other mods to the running surface for better speed and handling out of this hull? I have not seen much on any of them that have run over 80 so this might be a trial and error spot but who knows...

Color?? Throw stuff at me!! I dont have the greatest imagination in the world! I love the red and black on the other boat and the boss lady threw out the idea of green and black. But other than that i would just like to hear some thoughts!

Thanks for any input and get ready for the slowest Mate resto in forum history!!

The starting out pic!

 

[DropTop5.0]

I think your making good progress. You've completed the 1,800 mile drive and the boats stripped down and ready to get reassembled.

This thread had some bottom massaging in it and I believe the knowledge came from Offshore Ginger. http://checkmate-boats.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22880 You may be able to contact Jeff and see if the the mods helped or not and pick his brain. I believe Jupiter Pulsare has some bottom knowledge.

As for colors, I really like the Convincor style of white with the red checkerboard and I would prefer gel-coat for its durability. Just my 2 cents from someone who has never painted anything.

 

[Rob B]

I would go with gel coat or awl grip for durability since you got a blank to work with. The thread that drop top linked to is great for reworking the bottom.

 

[redstrat]

Slow and steady is the way to go. I have 3 years in on my MX-16. My family is questioning my sanity. Gel vs paint is a hot topic. Will this boat stay in the water or live on a trailer? How do you feel about hours of sanding? Do you plan to keep this boat for your grandchildren or move on to another hot rod? I thought long and hard before deciding on Awlgrip but I think I might try gel on my next resto. As for colors and design, I spent a lot of time looking at Viper 1's photo collection (the boats man, just the boats). As an interior guy I also suggest that you consider how the colors will carry into the cockpit. I would even suggest picking your fabric colors before you choose paint or gel. It is much easier to mix paint than it is to find fabric when you're trying to match colors. Hope this helps.

 

[nathan]

green and black could be a nice color combination. I would make sure the green is the primary with the black as an accent.

 

[dream4ta]

Slow and steady is the way to go. I have 3 years in on my MX-16. My family is questioning my sanity. Gel vs paint is a hot topic. Will this boat stay in the water or live on a trailer? How do you feel about hours of sanding? Do you plan to keep this boat for your grandchildren or move on to another hot rod? I thought long and hard before deciding on Awlgrip but I think I might try gel on my next resto. As for colors and design, I spent a lot of time looking at Viper 1's photo collection (the boats man, just the boats). As an interior guy I also suggest that you consider how the colors will carry into the cockpit. I would even suggest picking your fabric colors before you choose paint or gel. It is much easier to mix paint than it is to find fabric when you're trying to match colors. Hope this helps.

I plan on keeping this one for quite some time. It will live on a trailer mostly with some time spent on a lift possibly. I am really leaning more toward gel for the durability as Chris stated. I am also not making final colors until i look at fabric!! I will be asking many questions when i get to the making of the interior as well as this will be my first interior and it will be all custom so it will be a learning curve! As we were looking at it more last night and trying to get some of the stuff out of it and ready to be flipped the boss started thinking that a primary color of orange with gunmetal gray accent color. I just wish i had a better imagination!!

 

[Gimme Fuel]

I think copious amounts of glitter flake should be required if doing gelcoat......

 

[DropTop5.0]

I agree with Gimme Fuel. I think a Flaked out Enforcer would be awesome.

 

[dream4ta]

Ive never been huge on flake.. But I think that I could see how some flake might help it out some!!!

 

[dream4ta]

Got her set off of the trailer Friday afternoon and got the center section of floor up. Got a little more stripping to do and then its time to get her flipped over! I promise I will start using the boss lady's camera to take pics as I start getting things actually worth taking pics of. For now a couple of the really fuzzy pics from my camera!

 

[Kurtster]

green and black could be a nice color combination. I would make sure the green is the primary with the black as an accent.

I'm pretty jealous, I've been wanting an Enforcer or large Persuader for my next project, and using a "Green Hornet" color theme ---- green primary / black accents and striping / gold leaf boat lettering / emerald green powder coating on hardwares / green led's everywhere.
First I need to finish my Batman color themed Checkmate

We don't need to have our own imaginations, we can just adapt others into our likes and wants {in this case it would be Mr George Barris's imagination}

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[JUPITER PULSARE]

The best advice I have for choosing colors is to log onto other boat manufacturers Web sites and view their photos. Active Thunder boats, Hustler, Nortech, Outerlimits, Sunsation, to name a few all have great cabin, Cockpit and paint scheme photos..

 

[demag67]

im doing my bottom in a epoxy gel coat called max gpe. you might want to look into. my top im spraying in a base clear set up using amerflint or now called duraflint which I have read that it is close to gel but 10 times more clear. I agree with jp go on some of the manufacturer websites to come up with color schemes. congrats on picking up the enforcer. I wanted to make a trip to go get that but have enough projects going on now. good luck with the build.