Rescote Repairs

[webrake4bricabrac]

Does anyone have any experience of working with Rescote (or a similar product)? My forum search didn't come up with much.

For the uninitiated, Rescote is a plastic surfaced ply – claimed to be lightweight, flexible, non-crazing and waterproof. Apparently it was reasonably common for bondwood vans

My 1959 Coronet has Rescote sides and an aluminium roof. Although most of my Rescote surfaces are in good condition, I do have three horizontal cracks (around 300mm long and 5mm wide), that were probably caused by one or two low speed collisions over the years.

With reference to the photo below, I am currently using masking tape to cover them (blue on left and silver under number plate).



I could replace the entire curved lower panel, but I would like to know if there is a simpler local repair method (possibly even as a short term solution). Note the van is double skinned.

Following this repair, could I paint the affected region and blend into the surrounding Rescote? I realise I may not achieve an invisible result.

If I wanted to paint the entire van, does anyone know if it is possible to lightly sand and paint over the “plastic” surface, or would I need to sand back to bare timber? The original painted stripe is still intact.

Has anyone found a similar product that could be used to replace the damaged Rescote panels?

[cobber]

G'day bricabrac freak,

Can't understand why the search engine failed you....although it does have a mind of it's own sometimes.

Have a look at this thread of seashells (don't go back to page 4.. she was having delusions then : and have a look at at this page of Al's thread when he discovers Bote Cote

They will probably be along soon with some first hand experience.

In the early years before we realised what Rescote was all about some of the early restorers took all the plastic coating off....which wasn't such a bad thing because under the Rescote was Reswood....that was a pretty good wood preservative on it's own.

Have fun

Cobber.

[seeshell]

Hi Webreak

I can't say enough about bote-cote. You can get it online, or depending on where you are located, you can get it from sailing supply shops.

In your case, I would sand back around the areas of concern to wood with regular sand paper, non the non-clogging kind which has silicone on it. Once you have sanded it DO NOT test the smoothness of your job with your hands - they're oily and the product will not stick to an oily surface.

Get some of the bote-cote resin and filler and a couple of foam brushes online or from your supplier.

Since the damage isn't huge, rough up the edges of the damage with sandpaper (see if you can't get the paper into the cracks to give it a bit of treatment!) and make up some bote-cote resin (only make up as much as you might use for this job - easy to do since it's one to one mixing). Whet along all the cracks to seal the edges of the damage and lap a bit onto the wood surrounding it.

Put some of the bote-cote powder to the rest of your resin to make up the bog, and apply it into the cracks. Leave to set (depending on the weather could be up to a day). When it's try sand it back with plain sandpaper (moving down to a fine grit) - make sure it isn't non clogging paper.

When you're ready to paint, just give the surface a light sand and you're ready to go - anything sticks to the repaired surface.

The stuff sticks like the proverbial as hard as the hobs, and it's waterproof. No trouble sticking to the "red tinged wood" we have - which may or may not be rescote, but surely hated paint.

Best of luck with your repairs!
Seeshell