Sunday, September 27, 2009

I've been making some visual progress over the last few weeks. This weekend was not exception. I put on the "last" coat of paint mid week. For this coat I tested my Dry Roll method and it really worked out well, except for a couple dry spots. I was getting close to done and in my haste missed a few spots on the starboard side.
No worries, I just gave it a little rub down with the 220 grit and rolled on the real final coat. I had one small dry spot on the port side too. I taped off around it, rolled on a light coat and let the dry for a few minutes. When I removed the tape you could see the patch a little bit. A few minutes later the paint was only lighty tacky so I was able to tamp down the edge and it blended right in. An hour later and you couldn't see any evidence.


While that was drying I started installing the windows on the port side. I picked up some butyl tape from Poulsbo RV. This stuff is great! After bedding deck hardware with goo-in-a-tube I swear by this stuff. It's sort of like silly putty. It comes in a 30 foot roll and Poulsbo RV sells 1/8" or 1/4" thick by 1' wide for just under $10.
I used the thicker tape for the 1st layer, but needed a little more goo so I ended up splitting some in half and putting a second layer on. This worked out well. Once I started tightening the screws inside plenty of butyl oozed out. Then I used a handy little tool the guy at the RV store gave me to scrape off the excess. Each window went really quick.





I was able to get all 8 port lights in, in a few hours.

I'm really happy with the progress this weekend; the boat is really looking nice. Now that I've really got the hang of rolling and Not tipping I'm going to go ahead and roll on a finish coat of black too. That might take a while, we're out of town next weekend.















Oh yeah, made some progress on the buffing too. Here's a before and after.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

one more coat

Over the last few days I’ve put what was to be the final coat of paint on the cabin area where the port lights go. The plan is to get them in before the rains return. So far the weather looks great this weekend.
However, I’m knocking the last coat down, I’m not happy with it.

I’ve been using the roll and tip method and while it is nice and shinny from 10 feet away, up close, say 5 feet, you can see the streaks left by the tipping. Even when I used thinner. However, I experimented with strictly rolling on the cabin top and it turned out much better. I’d rather have a slight orange peel than streaks. What I did to roll is work in small areas, say 2 sqft at most. Load up the roller with paint and roll it out until you need to reload with paint, but then go back over everything you just rolled, lightly once or twice to smooth out any of the little bubbles that were left. I don’t find that this takes off any of the paint you applied. Oh, and I’m using a ultra smooth surface foam nap.
So, the area around the ports has been sanded with 220 and depending on how busy I am at work, I’ll roll on the final, final coat in the next evening or two. On Saturday morning I’m going to run down to a RV store and pick up some of the grey butyl tape to seal the ports. Ya! No more rain in the boat!
At the same time I’ve been focusing on the area around the ports, I’ve also been working on the deck so I can mount the genoa tracks and stop water from coming in there too.

Now since I’m having good results with the rolling on the decks and cabin, I’m strongly considering sanding the last coat on the hull with 220 and applying a finish coat with the roller only there too. I’m about 60% sure that will happen. I’ll know for sure after I roll the cabin sides.
I’ll try to snap some pictures in the next day or so. I’ve forgotten the camera the last couple days.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

most people's opinions are not based on reality...

Eric and I were chatting about boats on Sunday. Eric is working on re-rigging his boat and it sounds like he’s strongly considering using synthetic rigging like Dynex or Spectra.
http://www.dynexdux.com/
http://www.precourt.ca/
Since I’m still so far away from rigging, I’ll just watch what he does and go from there. But this looks intriguing.
We also spoke about thru-hulls and proper installation.
He tossed out the idea of Marelon,

I’ve been reading on line about it. Lots of opinions to say the least. And as Eric would say, most people's opinions are not based on reality...
It is ABYC certified. I’m going to call my insurance co and ask if they have any issues with it. If it’s good enough to be ABYC compliant and my insurance company won’t have any issues, well then I’d say it is a viable option.
Seeing as there are a lot of low quality “bronze” out there it might be nice to use Marelon. At least you know what you’re getting. I read (on the internet, so it must be true) that Hinckley uses Marelon.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Looking sharp

Well the boat finally has some paint on the hull, and I have to say, its looking pretty nice!
On Friday night I used the random orbital to sand the Easypoxy undercoat (primer) with 220 grit. If I were doing this again, I’d roll and tip the primer. I just rolled it and spent a little more time sanding to get the primer nice and smooth. But oh well, now I know.

The next morning I pick Thomas up and we went about doing a little bit of finish sanding along the cove strip and the edges at the bow and stern. We washed the hull real good wit plain old water and let that dry, then taped off the waterline. We put some paint in the tray and started painting. Thomas was armed with the 6” roller with a smooth surface foam nap. I had a 3” china bristle brush. We both had short saw horses to stand on, and used one of the taller ones to keep the paint tray within reach. Then it was just the basic roll and tip painting, however I did come up with a few tips. Have more than one brush available. By the time we finished one side of the boat the brush was starting to leave some light streaks from the paint that was setting up on the brush itself. Also, don’t let the roller get too far ahead of the tipper, if you can tip immediately after rolling the paint is still really wet. In the 80 degree sun the paint starts to get tacky really quick.


This is how the boat looked when Thomas and I were finished with the 1st coat. The actual painting went pretty quick, and hour tops.

The next morning I got down to the yard early and started lightly sanding the cured paint with 220 again. There were some vertical lines from the tipping that were visible from 5 feet or so. I used the orbital to hit the whole boat, and then used 220 on a backing pad to hand sand a few more spots. Then more washing with the hose and a quick trip to the head before Eric was to arrive. Eric owns a Big 32 foot gaff rig cutter and had painted above his waterline last October. We spent some time catching up, and then went to work. I picked up a second brush for today, but I accidently grabbed a synthetic one rather than the china bristle, but this turned out to be a good thing. This brush just felt a lot lighter than the china bristle. So we started on the starboard side because it was in the shade. I figured we’d add thinner as we went and moved into the sun. I had the thinner, but did not use any on Saturday, in hindsight I think the thinner would have helped the paint lay down smoother. Anyways, back to Sunday. Eric rolled and I again tipped. I really liked the synthetic brush, it floated a lot better than the China and felt smooth in my hand. However, there was no visual benefit, I could not see a difference. We added a cap full of thinner half way through the shaded side. By the time we got to the bow we had come up with a system, rather than the roller rolling out a 12-24” section and me tipping, Eric would roll out 6-8” and I’d tip immediately, then he’d roll out another 6-8 inches. This system kept the wet edge much better, but again, I can’t say that it laid the paint any smoother. Again the painting went really quick. I’m happy with how it turned out. I have one small dry spot and a couple finger prints to touch up, but luckily they are pretty close together and I can just blend in the whole area.


Still having a lot of day left I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a 6” bench grinder and some buffing wheels. I’m buffing out all the hardware before it goes back on. So far I’m only having so-so results with the aluminum, but the stainless is coming out like a mirror!
I went back down to the Yard last night after work and put another coat on the cabin sides. I want to get the windows in soon so I don’t have to keep tarping the boat every time it rains. I’m going to get one more coat on tonight, and then I can work on cleaning up the aluminum window frames on the buffer. I’ve read some good things about 3m’s aluminum marine restorer. I might pick some up and see what happens.

So far I’m very happy with the outcomes. I can’t wait to get the waterline and cove strip finished. I’m really digging the black and white. I find it really classy, Ace does too!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Primed

Last night Ace and I went down to the yard and I was able to roll on a coat of primer to the hull above the water line. Working solo it only took 3 hours, not bad. Even though the primer is white, the hull is looking smooth. So far I think all those hours with the long board paid off.

Ace isn’t much help down at the yard. He’s learning the word yuk, he found all sorts of stuff to put in his mouth, used sanding discs are a favorite!

Tonight we’ll head down and use the random orbital with 220 grit on the primer and then wash the hull in preparation for painting tomorrow.

The weather this weekend is looking great. It’ll be nice to put this task behind me.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

This has little to do with boats.

We need a name for the dog and want to use something nautical.

Much to my surprise, there is a good list of names online,
http://www.better-living-ideas.com/nautical-pet-names.html

We like Ketch, Pilot, Clipper, Bear, Echo and Ace. We came up with Ace in the car, it had more to do with his one descended testicle but don’t tell anyone, he might get upset.

Any thoughts?

Paint prep

This weekend was pretty crumby weather wise and so we bagged our camping trip and adopted a dog instead. This little guy comes home tomorrow. I hope he doesn’t get seasick.

There was a small break in the rain yesterday so I got down to the boat and faired in the filler at the bow. So, now I’m done!
I’m gathering materials tomorrow, I’m going to go with a primer coat. The Pettit Easypoxy http://www.pettitpaint.com/ can be applied without a primer, but I still have some fine scratches from the long board. I could just sand again with a finer grit, but I don’t want to. Also I think I’m getting too worried about these little marks. I spent some time inspecting other boats in the yard and even the ones that look great from 5 feet still have blemishes once you get real close. Either way, a coat of primer, and then some love with the 220 grit either on the orbital or long board and I’ll be ready to roll and tip the paint, This Weekend!!!
I’ll be sure to take pictures along the way. It’s really optimistic to be done by Sunday night but I’m trying. Alai is heading out of town Thursday morning, so the dog and I are going to pull a couple of long nights and try to prime the boat Thursday and block it Friday.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I thought I was done

Last night I got down to the boat to fair in the last couple nicks in the hull. I thought I was done and was getting ready to celebrate when I remembered I still needed to address the point of the bow.

There was a superficial crack in the gel coat that ran vertical along the bow that needed some attention. I used the dremel to widen the crack, used the unthickend West epoxy to wet out the gouge, then mixed in some 407 filler and spread that into the gouge.

So, as of last night I'm almost done.

I should be able to fair in last nights epoxy tonight and then I can celebrate! It's been a long sore couple of weeks.

Over the weekend I was able to make some good progress on the sanding, as well as get a coat of paint on the cabin house and decks. I'm hoping to get another couple of coats on the cabin house this week so I can install the windows to keep rain out. Every few days I have to run down to the boat and put the tarps on. It'll be nice not stressing over tarping for weather and messing up fresh paint.

Almost there!