I am buying a Bass Boat that needs some work….

1.) Needs carpet – anyone every re-done a bass boat? How hard is it to install…?

2.) Clear coat BUFF OUT!!!!! needs some help. TX boat that needs a serious Buff and Shine – anyone ever used a product that takes out the oxidation and does some sort of job getting it to look better.

3.) Re-Chrome rims – trailer rims have some rust and need some work.

Let me know what you guys have done –

This is going to be for a boat that I am leaving up in Canada to use 4-6 times a year. Sick of trailering mine and would save me about $750 in fuel costs per year. Just in trailering gas.

Dog

I redid the carpet on my last Ranger. It goes pretty smooth since the different compartments are all done separately. The key is getting enough carpet, being patient and cutting pieces just a bit bigger rather than trying to hit the exact size. You can always trim back, you can’t add.

I had the same boat detailed way out in Brainerd and they did a great job, but it cost a couple of hundred bucks. I was selling the boat and it made a difference.

Can’t help you with carpet, that’d be work that I’d hire out.

Re buffing the gel coat, here’s what I do on my Wellcraft.

1. If you don’t have one already, get a variable speed polisher. I got one at Harbor Freight, if you use one of their 20% off coupons, I think mine was $25. Totally worth it and in fact, I don’t think there’s any effective way to do it by hand.

2. The oxidation is part of the gel coat, so it isn’t like the paint on a car. To polish out oxidation, you are removing a thin layer of the gelcoat. Therefore, start with the least aggressive polishing compound and only move to more aggressive if you have to.

I only use McGuires marine compounds. Fleet sells them. My suggestion is:

– Start with a #45 polish on an area like the transom that doesn’t show much. Follow all instructions to apply compound and to buff. BE SURE TO USE THE RECOMMENDED BUFFER SPEED!

– Keep the buffer moving. Up/down, side/side. Don’t pause and don’t apply too much pressure. Let the product do the work.

– Use a very bright light to check the results. If the #45 doesn’t remove all the oxidation and the finish isn’t bright, move to the #49. When you find the right compound, you’ll know.

– Stay away from the sides of the boat until you you know what you’re doing and get your compound selection right. It takes a little practice, so do the transom or lie down underneath and do the hull first.

– After it’s all buffed out, you still need to wax it or it will quickly re-oxidize. Yes, it’s a PITA. No one ever said boat maintainance was easy or fun.

Grouse

Not necessarily a bass boat but did a re-floor, re-carpet job on my 17 ft crestliner. Turned out so nice, my neighbor now is paying me to do his. Its an easy but time consuming job. Put 20 oz. in my boat that i ordered online for 285.00. Spendy but far better than anything u get at the chain stores. Helpful hint that I learned afterwards is to order carpet length based on your boat length plus 10 ft. I used 28 ft on my 17fter. Many bassboats have precut carpet packages online but i can’t speak on their quality.

I redid the carpet on my bass boat and I thought it was a pain.

The worst part is getting the old carpet out. I can’t remember which solvent worked the best but they were cheap eough that I was able to try a few. I think Acetone was probably the best.

Once that was done, the rest wasn’t so bad. If you can get the old stuff out clean enough, you can use it as a template for the new carpet. I bought my carpet at Menards, they said it was the same stuff as in Lund boats and it has held up well (probably have around 10 years on it by now).

If I did it again, on this boat, I would do a spray liner and be done with it.

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As far as the oxidation, 3M has some of the best marine stuff out there. Expensive but it works.

#1 isn’t too bad to do. For 4-6 times a year, skip 2 and 3 and use the extra time and $$ on the fishing!

-Rev

three of us did a ranger years ago with the carpeting in one afternoon.. the big key was to take each piece off whole and then use it as a template to cut a replacement piece. we had one piece at the end that the cut was against the grain, other then that, the boat was perfect. as for the rims. why bother? how many fish can you catch with rims? I would spend more time redoing the bearings and just sand the rims so they don’t leak.. other then that, I wouldn’t spend the money on them. use the money on electronics or better batteries. much more return for your money.. jmho..

I can do the buffing, I use to detail cars as a job. If you buy the compound and polish Ill do it for a case of beer.

And imo for the wheels sand them down yourself and use some 5$ wheel paint from an auto part store. Powder coating will run around 160$ for both wheels.

Bass boat central had a really good boat restoration forum, and I suspect they still do,

I don’t go there anymore since he got banned lol only forum in over 10 years I’ve been on the Internet forums i’ve ever been banned from, not even a warning, I still don’t know what I did…. Heck the only only time I ever got a warning before (which was total [censored] was on fm, but they are a bunch of douche bags too, so it didn’t really bother me any.)

3M MARINE RESTORER & WAX for heavily Oxidized Finishes.
I used this on the hull of my Dynatrac fish & ski. Took the oxidation right out with a bit of elbow grease.
I was confident using a buffer(this product you can do either hand or machine) so I did the black sparkly top. OH Boy! I made it worst. I think I took the clear coat off because it is duller now and not glossy like it use to be. Obviously I didn’t know what I was doing.
Id suggest hand application first then go further if need be.

When I get around to it and this may be what you may have to do is wet sand with a super fine grit then reapply clearcoat.