Yet another broom Gemini?

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totalbeginner
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Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by totalbeginner »

As I bought it.
As I bought it.
Firstly, hi to everybody on the cmba forum.
As you may have guessed I'm new to this boating malarky, but I've spent many years looking at boats being towed thinking "if only". So long story short, trawled through eBay looking at basket cases & boats out of my price range when I came across what I think is a Gemini, 5 miles away from my house & looking quite good.
A quick trip to view it at dusk & it looked quite good although the paint felt 'strange' to touch. £200.00 changed hands & it was mine! Thanks to your forum I really bought it because it had a windscreen! Back home, fence panel down & it was in the garden.

Day one of the "It won't take long to tart it up". Out came the pressure washer & off came some of the black paint, oop's! Time to have a closer look, the paint was a liberal coat of Dulux's finest household gloss. As it was the first warm day we had this year I took a scraper to it & most of the paint fell off. 50% of the gel coat hadn't been keyed, the rest had, by Torvil & Dean skating on it. :hmmm:

Day two, (Pictures to follow) stripped everything off of the boat including most of the paint just leaving the corners & awkward bits for my sons to do, this is payback for nurturing them for over 20 years.

Before I continue with the boat I do need to ask some questions & seek some advice. Money as always is an issue but there are some area's I don't want to compromise for my peace of mind, or if I sell the boat the new owners peace of mind. When I replace the transom wood, there is a large bolt through it that holds the rubber block that the outboard rests against, does anybody know where I can get one of these nuts & bolts in marine grade stainless? it looks to be 20mm, possibly 25mm thread diameter. The two witches hats/grommets that the steering cables come through, I can get the retaining rings in black or white plastic but does anybody know if these are available in stainless/chrome?

I'll put the next photo's up as soon as I can to show how things are going. I might not know much (anything) about boats but as I've painted everything from a mini to a 747 I may be able to offer advice on painting & related matters like repairing GRP. Hopefully this will be a long relationship with this forum & I look forward to offering whatever help I can to others.

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Alacrity
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by Alacrity »

totalbeginner wrote:When I replace the transom wood, there is a large bolt through it that holds the rubber block that the outboard rests against, does anybody know where I can get one of these nuts & bolts in marine grade stainless? it looks to be 20mm, possibly 25mm thread diameter. The two witches hats/grommets that the steering cables come through, I can get the retaining rings in black or white plastic but does anybody know if these are available in stainless/chrome?
See Sea Screw or A2A4 Fixings for anything in the way of stainless fixings. A4 is the higher (below the waterline etc.) grade, A2 above the waterline & inside). Re. the steering gaiters, if you can find somewhere that sells decent quality ones post it on here as I for one would be interested!

Good luck with your project, plenty of help on here & someone will chip in re. the paintwork.
Mercs are like women, no 2 are exactly alike. That's what testing is about. In general it is safer to test motors and props than women!

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Rapier
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by Rapier »

Is the keyed up section really bad? Down to the glass fibres? I always try to recover gelcoat, is just so robust compared to paint - bar the 60s and 70s reds and oranges which are mostly unstable. Is not particularly thick on the Gemini though. That Yamaha will make it fly, nice Snipe break back trailer too.
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totalbeginner
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by totalbeginner »

Thanks for the replies.
Is the keyed up section really bad? Down to the glass fibres?
It's not really deep just over a large area. My wife described it as looking like someone had used a compass point on a giant spirograph (showing my age here) It's about 12"/300mm back from the point of the bow. I'll have to resize the photo to try to show it. It's not a problem, it's just more work than I expected. As for the gel coat being thin, I laid inside when the sun was out & I can only think that this boat was started at nearly 5.00pm on a Friday, my pond that I made is thicker than this boat :giggle:
The info about the transom bolt was a great help A2A4 have the diameter & I sent them an email to check the lengths available.
The next photo shows the standard of the keying on the side stripe which was also black.
All in all it's nothing I can't put right, just more work than I wanted.
Regarding the chrome/stainless ring, I went through loads of websites looking for idea's and saw some on a red boat, looks like another night of trawling the web, if I can find it and contact the owner I'll post the info on here although I have a feeling it was a boat in either America or Australia, so it may work out expensive to source the parts. :(
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keyed or what?
keyed or what?
Crap transom repair & the bolt I need.
Crap transom repair & the bolt I need.
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by Rapier »

That bolt shouldn't be there, is connected to a trailer snubber for some reason - it forms no useful purpose and will prevent the motor from being trimmed in. The scratching looks like normal mooring damage rather than keying; probably not been fendered properly. Like everyone in the business at the time (there was serious competition in this size of boat too and by the mid 70s it's late 50s styling was no longer the norm) Jack Broom looked very closely at his margins and scrimped where he could - all the deck hardware (originally chrome on brass, but later Fletcher / Glastron style wings in plastic) on the GRP boats were screwed down with mild steel nuts - the ply transom 'protectors' were gripfast nailed through the hull and into the encapsulated wood transom, so letting air/water in and hastening rot, so very few will have sound transoms these days. They're boats made to a price and were probably too light - I believe had they been a heavier layup they would have been much more choppy water kindly and stronger overall. Having said that I really enjoyed owning and using mine.
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totalbeginner
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by totalbeginner »

$T2eC16V,!)kE9s4,!!c7BRc!(BhGBg~~60_12.jpg
Day 3/4, can't remember which. The transom wood has been replaced. Thanks to the info about the transom bolt, this has been left off. I thought it may have been there to prevent the motor going past vertical, but it went in the evergrowing bin! The deck has been completely stripped back to gel coat & the boat is now hull up. Theres only minor damage to the hull, the worst being where the trailer keel rollers had seized. New rollers & stainless fittings are on ordered & should be here in the next few days. Given about a week the hull should be in white 2K primer ready for a good few coats of the new Ford Frozen White. Still unsure about the deck colour, maybe red but will throw that one open to the rest of the family.

On a completely different subject, I've been back on what my wife calls "That bl**dy eBay" again. I've just picked up a 16' boat, Yamaha 55hp & trailer for £102.00. The previous owner didn't know the name of the maker or the model. It has the wrong screen fitted & the sellers photo isn't the best, but maybe someone can help me identify it? I just thought that for the money it would be worth buying for the trailer & motor alone. The motor has (allegedly) had a carb rebuild, new impeller & head gasket.
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$T2eC16N,!zoE9s5nd73zBRc!V(S98Q~~60_12.jpg
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by Rapier »

Fasten bra straps and remove dentures...

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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by haventaclue »

An itchy mouse finger :hilarious: :hilarious: I have one and it's got me in a lot of bother :( :hilarious:
no matter how bad it is,it can always get worse,I'm an optimist

totalbeginner
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by totalbeginner »

Another week of hard work & it's nearly ready for paint (NOT). Having got to the point of deciding that the finish was good enough to lose any small scratches with 2K primer I blew everything off & wiped it over with a damp cloth (saving the tack cloths till later). Then having looked at the boat I decided that I should go over the fine scratches with acrylic stopper, after all it's my boat & getting it 100% right is a matter of pride.

Once again it was rubbed down, this is it, the last of the scratches will cover with primer. But, maybe, just maybe I should have another look to make sure that the last of the minor scratches will disappear in the primer.... Bugger! I've still missed a few scratches, out with the stopper again (must look into bulk prices). Decision made, I'll settle for 99%. Temporary shelter is in place so I can prime the boat & it should be in the oven for the topcoat the following week.

Time for some retail therapy, the itchy finger's been at it again :giggle: I only had two cleats on the boat so rather than source more originals I've ordered new one's all round, good old armchair shopping (ebay) :hilarious: Getting carried away now; Oooh, lights, expensive seats, steering wheel, new trim, marine radio, ski's, new outboard, hang on, this is almost as expensive as a divorce :lol:

Time to crack on & rub down the stopper yet again.
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IMAG0125.jpg
You can't polish a turd, but you can sprinkle glitter on it.

totalbeginner
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Re: Yet another broom Gemini?

Post by totalbeginner »

This was gonna be so easy, then we went to Spain & the wife got knocked over by a vehicle being driven on the pavement which meant a couple of days in hospital followed by an air ambulance home & a few weeks recovery as she had sustained some kidney damage. Then I got let down by a 'mate' of 30 plus years who's paint oven suddenly became very busy? Then of course there was the weather, the Mondeo needed 4 new injectors (That hurt) the caravan needed a new interior (According to the wife) then the washer/dryer fell apart. Then I finally got back on the boat. 5 litre's of Ford Frozen White and the hull is at last in paint and it's back on the trailer. Time to start the repairs to the hull and get that painted. :wot:
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A bit dusty, but I don't think it looks too bad.
A bit dusty, but I don't think it looks too bad.
Ready to flat & polish.
Ready to flat & polish.
You can't polish a turd, but you can sprinkle glitter on it.

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