Restoring a mirror

Hello All, been reading this forum for a while and now need to ask a question.

I bought a not so great Mirror recently and now need to make it good. I've always wanted one, I'm not a racer (yet) but wanted a mirror to learn to sail and potter around.

Now the boat I bought does sail but needs work, its not rotten its just very tatty. This is my plan.

1. Remove all the fittings
2. Strip all the old paint and varnish off with a heat gun.
3. Sand the whole of the boat.

My question is what then?

Shall I just re-paint and re-varnish it? or while I have the opportunity should I do more. I seen epoxies mentioned but don't understand them. Should I renew all the tapes?

What I really need is an idiots guide to restoring a Mirror to make it last another 20 years.




I have a
- a Land Rover
- a TVR
And now....
- a Mirror Dinghy

All British and all liable to fall to pieces

But all 3 repairable. Look at the tapes when stripped and decide.
for info on epoxy www.west-system.co.uk . There are of course other makes

I had the same problem some years ago with an old 1973 mirror. Usual tatty/black spots/loads of paint and a general mess. This boat is now in great condition and sails locally it is often mistaken for a new plastic hull. How?
Strip every ounce of paint off, indoors, you must get hull dry. I attacked aggresively with a blow torch and blackened most of the ply inside and out. With 60/80 grit I attacked the hull again inside and out with a sander. All tape off,everything including tape and old brass screws out and in the bin. Not much boat left after that lot, but it was 6 KG lighter.So here comes the majic trick.
Like wallpapering a wall. Cover the hull with 1 layer of epoxy cloth
REN 210 cloth is ideal.Use SP 106 or similar for resin fill. You butt the cloth down the keel to make an easy job even easier.So you sheath the entire outside hull in epoxy resin and cloth. A new hull on an old one!
For the messy inside, paint bare wood with EPU (2 pack epoxy paint) Then epoxy top coat. Easy if you do some reading about sheathing with epoxy from the net.There are many good sites try WEST RESIN site for advice.It is fun but do your homework on correct temps and follow health and saftey advice. I was often asked if the hull was wood or plastic? Both I replied, a woodstic hull!

G. McGILL.

I'm not convinced by the above method. It is impossible to tell what is happening under the cloth. It works very well for new ply, but it is impossible to be sure all the rot is gone from old ply, and it will spread under the cloth till one day it all goes horribly wrong. It is also, I believe, against Mirror class rules?
Better by far is to use decent boat paints, making sure you start with a primer. That may sound obvious, but undercoat doesn't stick to wood that well, and missing the primer (either the normal stuff, univeral clear primer, or G4 pond seal) isn't a good plan. At the end, it is unlikely that your boat will be mistaken fro plastic, but if you wanted that you could have bought a plastic boat?

Unfortunately from the perspective of racing, sheathing a mirror contravens 1.1.4 of the class rules.

Stripping and drying out of the hull is essential followed by the removal and replacement of any suspect tape\timber. Turn the boat upside down and heat the hull from inside with a convection heater. Then coat with SP300 epoxy which is very very thin, this will soak into the timber and stabilise it. Once this solvent based epoxy has cured (10days a 16-20deg C) retape and coat with West (105/205). This will give you a good basis for repainting and varnishing and will give you a long lasting finish. Repeat for the inside. Hope this help! Note it will cost you initially but will pay for itself in the long run.

Good luck

Set fire to it, and save yourself a load of work and buy somthing newer. There are lots on offer.

X

Edited by - d hughes on 27 January 2007 20:48:11

hughes - he can't you divvy, it's too wet!

james r

I'm in a similar situation as well...

I've got the boat back to bare wood, and its also bone dry

The question I have is what to do next.

Was originally thinking of SP300 inside then International Yacht Paint varnish. Struggling to get the Interdeck non-slip removed from the forward cubby area

On the outside I was going to use SP106 epoxy resin as there are quite a few scraps and dents on the hull.

Obvious questions -

1) Once I've epoxied the outside what steps and paint should I use for the hull. Was thinking about International's Topside. Its unclear whether it needs a primer and undercoat if its going onto an epoxy coat.

2) Is just using SP300 inside and SP106 outside a sensible approach for cost effective protection?

3) Are there any obvious differences between West 105 and SP106 apart from the extra £10 or so West charge?



Ta

Huxley



Edited by - huxley on 28 January 2007 22:43:24

Burn her! Never.....

If I'd wanted an easy life, I'd buy a something plastic and fantastic like a Laser, trade the Land Rover for something reliable like a Toyota and go live in Canada or Belgium

So the matches and petrol can stay holstered for the moment.

I am formulating a cunning plan for this and by the end of it aim to have a mint boat on a budget. I will however document the restoration as it seems to be a common question. (I did search before I asked, nothing is comprehensive)

My cunning plan so far.

1. Remove all fixings
2. Strip back to bare wood and sand
3. Coat hull with Epoxy (haven't decided which one yet, anybody have any ideas how much is needed?)
4. Coat inside as step 3.
5. Varnish inside (not sure which is best varnish or how much either)
6. Paint Hull nice crisp white (not sure which paint either)
7. Win boating concours event (New to Mirror sailing I believe)
8. Never sail boat for fear of getting <insert approproiate> (wet, dirty, smashed, scuttled)




I have a
- a Land Rover
- a TVR
And now....
- a Mirror Dinghy

All British and all liable to fall to pieces

Having just used SP300 for the first time I have to say I am impressed by its ability to soak into nice dry wood. This means it 'wicks' or leeches into the areas a standard epoxy wouldn't reach. Can't really use it for bonding tapes but builds like varnish and is really easy to sand down. Use 6 or 7 coats for coating. It has a high VOC content, but a litre of the stuff only adds about 300gms before flatting off. Also you can mix it and providing you seal the container it stays usable for hours whilst you are building coats and getting some fresh air!

West 105 or Sp106 are great but unless you have very warm garage they don't 'wick' quite as well and can be a right pain to rub down as they develop a bit of a greasy bloom. They also go of real fast in a warm environment. This bloom can be washed off with soap and water, be ready to use LOTS of production paper to flat. For the bottom of the boat you should only need about 2kg and a tub of fairlight, most of which will be rubbed off.

The easiest finish is with marine 2pack primer (1-1.5ltr) then topcoat (1ltr) on the bottom, rock hard and lasts well, roller, flat and polish. I use car 2k because it's nicer and easier to use. Varnish International Crystal 2k or Ultravar 2000 really good (1.5ltr+).

Hope this helps

I never updated this thread but boat rebuilt and Sailing

Here's a picture form 2007 when it was finished, I forgot the jib sail.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... =508986574

I have a
- a Land Rover
And now....
- a Mirror Dinghy

Both British and both in need of constant repair

Tiger6791

It is great to have an update on your efforts, but how about a little more detail.
What epoxy did you use and how easy was it to use?
Did you find any rot?
Were the tape joints OK or did you repair/replace?
What paint and varnish did you use and were you pleased with the results?

And finally how is your sailing getting on?

Roger Clark
59725

Where has the TVR gone?

Paul

Baby arrived - TVR went

Details of what I did,

In the end I decided to repair as best I could without spending a fortune.

The hull was sanded back to wood / primer. It needed a new transom as it was rotten (got from trident) and some holes repairing, nothing bigger than a couple of inches. It also needed a new keel (thing at the back, underneath) I made this using the old one as a pattern. The holes were made good with glass fibre aluminium mesh and resin just standard car stuff.

I then sanded the whole hull with wet and dry till it was very smooth, applied primer, undercoat, sanded again and then a top coat. All International stuff. The inside I just sanded and varnished it was all pretty sound. Put an inspection cover in each tank and renewed the cleats.

The Gaff had split so this was glued, screwed and re varnished.

Bought some new ropes and she looks very handsome now.

I have a
- a Land Rover
And now....
- a Mirror Dinghy

Both British and both in need of constant repair

Nice to know I'm not the only loony who feels Land Rovers and Mirrors go together rather well. Having said that if my Mirror had as many holes as my 109 it would have sunk long ago...

Cheers
Luke