Barbie Car Blaster

[JaveStack]

New member, gotten a lot of great info from this forum already, much appreciated to have a source of knowledge. My father got a one owner square nose superjet 650 in great running condition for $300, and he is cleaning it up with a new black and white livery… this development made me jealous. We both have Mazda Miatas, and I figured it’d be great fun to tow tiny skis to the launch together and hit some light surf or river riding.

Soooo about a week ago I came home with this:

A running but very poorly maintained 1995 B1 with a 701 reading 150/150 compression. Dirty, barely any bolts properly tightened, full of potential… and I paid WAY too much for it. Day 2, ski was completely apart in my shop.

 

[JaveStack]

Paid $2600 and it is basically stock other than fuel primer, oil injection delete, and 3-4 layers of nasty paint. Cue the music and the black lung.

 

[JaveStack]

I started by using aqua-strip and plastic sheeting to help loosen up the rough candy apple red automotive paint. On the top side. Took about 4 applications before I got it clean enough to hand sand to the original gel coat.

Got the mats off first, oscillating cutter with a flat blade worked wonders:


Then I started stripping:


Many applications later (ignore the gloss, just rinsed):


Then I flipped it, and repeated… but with stronger stripper this time. The bottom paint was looking gnarly.

 

[JaveStack]

I did get all the nooks and crannies sanded out after that last picture, but I don't have a still photo of it.

 

[JaveStack]

Good news on the bottom paint, it reacted really well to the “high octane” kleen strip aircraft stripper. This stuff isn’t near as good as it used to be, but a two hour soak over two applications got me down to gel coat when coupled with the turbo nozzle on my pressure washer.




I was very happy with these results. The next step is to fiberglass any imperfections in the hull bottom, then flip it back over and reinforce the engine bay sides. Once the glass work is all done, I’m going to sand it all with 120 and gel coat the entire ski (except for the SMC hood/cowl parts which are going to need different prep to hold gel coat, if they can at all.)

That’s where I am so far! Considering getting a pipe, but with all the gel coat supplies, missing hardware, seat cover, mats, stripper, mid shaft rebuild…. I’m running way over budget and can’t afford the cost of the Riva and Coffman pipes I see on eBay right now. Goal is to get it really well rebuilt to a high standard of care and then maybe spend on the pricier modifications later. I got a new metal pump shoe and intake grate just due to the damage I found on mine, so those should represent some benefits from what I have read.

 

[Batteryman]

Wow you make quick work! Looking good so far.

 

[Quinc]

Check the for sale section here and the fb pages for exhausts.

 

[Batteryman]

What metal pump shoe and intake grate did you go with?

 

[JaveStack]

What metal pump shoe and intake grate did you go with?

I got the push industries ones. The shoe was well reviewed for fit and the intake grate is apparently a copy of an older but well regarded design that is NLA?

 

[JaveStack]

I finished all of the bottom side repairs and fairing today, had a few decent gouges and one hole that the paint removal exposed. All fixed with chopped mat and/or Formula 27. Flat and smooth to the touch front to back now, very pleased with it. I already rolled the hull on its side so I don’t have a picture. About to start the reinforcement of the engine bay sides. Plan for a sheet of 17oz biax on each side in the pattern in blue below, filling the bond line with Formula 27 first to avoid air bubbles/voids.
Once that’s cured I will flip it and do the same on the opposite side. Once the engine bay is done, I’m going to execute any full/patch operations on the top side. Plan is to have all fiberglass work done by Monday morning and lay gel coat on the bottom side on Monday.

 

[JaveStack]

Whenever I have down time during curing etc, I am planning my livery. My main goal is for people to see a 90’s car pulling a 90’s ski. I don’t want it to look modern or “new” at all, and I can’t stand the color red, so OEM is out. I’d consider the blurple but I really don’t want to struggle through matching that. Given all that, I have three options I am considering.

1. 1992 OEM Superjet Livery, but redone for the wave blaster.


2. Jazz Solo Cup based Livery


3. Something unique that pulls inspiration from the “flashback” wrap:



All would use a white gel coat as a base color, which I am thinking would simplify repairs in the future as I could avoid some struggles with color matching. It also helps me avoid decision paralysis on top side color, lol!

 

[JaveStack]

I'm really leaning towards a recreation of the superjet livery, if I can mange to get the curves and everything correct... I've gotten started with the template file and I am getting close to something that i like.


Going to keep working on it but I think it is moving the right direction.

 

[JaveStack]

I spent some time staring at the hull, and realized that the bond line is the only straight reference line. If I do the triangles in that orientation, they will never appear "level" to anything. So I inverted the design for below the bond line. The straight top edge will follow the bond line now.

Cowl is next...

 

[JaveStack]

Okay I lied now I think I have this section down. Didn't like the flow.

 

[JaveStack]

Okay I think this is it:

Obviously flat lay doesnt show it perfectly, but I have a template to get the curvature correction reasonably close.

 

[JaveStack]

I revised the graphics again today while the port side engine bay reinforcement is curing. I'm getting close to a final version, and I will have my local graphic shop print and cut it.

 

[JaveStack]

I figured since I had all of the fiberglass in the engine bay, sanded, and clean, I might as well give it a layer of gel coat to keep it nice and bright looking. Would be a shame for the rest of the ski to be bright white and the engine bay still be brown and dingy.

 

[JaveStack]

With the engine bay paint curing, I flipped the hull and prepped the “paint booth”. Filtered box fan for clean air in, filtered box fan to pull air out. (I do also wear a respirator pretty much anytime I am in this room during this project.)


I ran my Amazon 2mm nozzle HVLP with both a water/oil seperator and a desiccant dryer. Quite a silly looking stack.

And then I laid down two 20oz coats and one 35oz coat. Cleaned the gun and dryed the desiccant in the oven between coats. (20min). First two coats were plain gel with 8% styrene and 2% MEKP. Final coat was waxed gel with 6% styrene and 2% MEKP, laid on quite a bit slower and thicker.


Now it is curing out and I will fill a couple little pocks I missed when I was fairing, then it’s a WHOLE lot of guiding, cutting, and polishing.

 

[JaveStack]

I have been told that keeping the bottom orange peel will help with grip. I am planning to keep the bottom orange peel and cut the vertical sides to gloss finish so they take decals properly. Feedback on this approach would be beneficial.

 

[JaveStack]

gel coat is down on the top side. Gun clogged in the first coat, but once I corrected that things went pretty well.



Pull back the masking and the hull is all white! Feels like a big milestone.


I’m estimating I have about 27 hours of labor remaining before it can hit the water.