Wednesday
After final preparations, I applied three coats of Alexseal off-white gloss topcoat to the deck areas and boottop.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.25 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
50°, mostly clear. Forecast for the day: sun, possible showers, high 70s.
Tuesday
I spent the morning sanding the deck and hull with 320 grit paper, by machine and hand as needed. I sanded away the light gray coat, which worked fairly well, but I thought the experiment was only a marginal success, as I felt that I needed to sand more than necessary inn some areas, since the wet-on-wet coat tended to incorporate itself into the layers beneath rather than staying on top. Not a real surprise, and still, it made for an easy gauge of sanding progress.
After sanding, I cleaned up the boat and shop with blow gun, vacuum, and broom, and solvent-washed the surfaces to accept tape.
The boottop would be the same color as the smooth areas of the deck, and since I could reach all these areas at the same time, I went ahead and struck and masked a new boottop 1-1/2″ above the already-masked waterline.
On deck, I masked off borders around the cockpit coamings, cockpit opening, and mast partners, the only areas to receive glossy paint on deck. Then, I completed the masking for topcoats by covering the remainder of the deck and hull in masking paper to protect against overspray.
Total time billed on this job today: 8 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
45°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 80s.
Sunday
Fresh back from vacation, I got right to work on the finish primer coats. After final preparations and paint mixing, I spray-applied three coats of epoxy-based white primer on both hull and deck. The process was pretty fast since I could do the hull and deck at the same time without any further setup or equipment changes.
Afterwards, I mixed some gray primer and, mixing it in with the remnants of white, created a light gray color that I used as a very light 4th coat—really a guide coat to make sanding easier. While the spotty gray primer didn’t look as nice as the smooth white coats beneath, it’d make it a lot easier to gauge my sanding progress later: once I sanded off the gray, the surface should be smooth and ready for topcoats.
Total time billed on this job today: 4 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
55°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 80s
Thursday
The fine fairing material required a light sanding to remove the excess, which I took care of now. This also effected a final smoothing of all surfaces. Pleased with the overall condition of the substate now–pretty decent considering what poor condition the boat appeared at the beginning–I deemed the surface prep complete, and thoroughly cleaned the boat and shop–blowdown, vacuum, solvent wash, sweep, floor wash, and a final solvent wash with proprietary solvent.
Later, I prepared the product and spray equipment for the finish primer, which would be the next step.
Meanwhile I experimented with a custom mix for the hull color, something different that I hoped would suit the boat. I made up three separate batches, varying the ratio as needed to come up with a somewhat different color for this project and matching a sample I strove to reproduce. Alas, constant reader, I must leave you in the dark about the final color–all the better to pique your interest as we near that stage of the project.
Total time billed on this job today: 3.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
62°, clouds and sun. Forecast for the day: clouds and sun, showers and thundershowers in the afternoon, high in the upper 80s.
Wednesday
I spent the morning sanding the new primer with 220 grit paper on a vibrating finishing sander and by hand as needed. The overall effect of the primer was good, and it would provide a consistent surface for the finish primer later. With sanding complete, I vacuumed and solvent washed the surfaces to prepare for the next step.
Along with the earlier rounds of fairing filler that I’d applied to help ameliorate the heavy crazing on the hull and deck surfaces, the high build primer was a further means of additional filling of small cracks, but inevitably the primer also highlighted various areas that required some additional work–this being one of the intended purposes of this primer step. Mixing up a batch of fine epoxy fairing compound, I went around the boat and filled any visible crazing and cracking, along with pinholes and porosity in the laminate or previous rounds of fairing material. This photo shows the type of minor crazing and pinholes I addressed at this stage, highlighted here by the fine filler:
With gelcoat crazing so widespread over the original boat, it was no surprise to cover a good bit of the boat with the fine filler, particularly portions of the hull where the crazing had been the worst, but this additional step would help provide the desired substrate for finish primer and topcoat later.
Total time billed on this job today: 4.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
60°, sunny. Forecast for the day: sunny, high 80s/low 90s
Tuesday
After final preparations, I spray-applied three coats of epoxy high-build primer to the hull and deck areas. The small size of the boat allowed me to do both hull and deck concurrently, so the elapsed chore went a bit faster as a result. I left the primer to cure the rest of the day and overnight.
Total time billed on this job today: 3.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
65°, foggy. Forecast for the day: fog lifting, sunny, high around 90
Wednesday
The second round of fairing filler was ready for sanding, so that was my first task. Since the area was looking good, I took it through 120 grit, completing the sanding in this area and matching the other deck areas, which were ready for high-build primer.
After cleaning up the boat with vacuum and initial solvent wash, I covered the interior of the boat with plastic sheeting to protect it from overspray.
Later, I washed down the shop floor to still the dust and remove other debris, and finished up the basic prep work by preparing primer and spray equipment, and a final solvent wash with the paint system’s proprietary solvent designed for the purpose. With other commitments, it’d be a couple days before I could spray the primer, but everything was ready to go with minimal final preparations.
Total time billed on this job today: 3 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
50°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, low 80s
Tuesday
Back after a relaxing vacation, I picked up where I left off: continuing work on the reinforcement around the mast step. The first coat of fairing compound awaited my attention, and now I sanded the area as needed to smooth and bring it down to proper contours, inasmuch as possible. After cleaning up, I applied a second coat as required, filling the few voids and bringing the area to what I hoped would be final specifications before primer.
The small size of the job and the elapsed time between rounds of fairing compound meant a fair bit of required down time at this stage, but with an eye towards high-build primer soon, I masked off the boat below the waterline, mainly to protect the trailer from overspray.
Total time billed on this job today: 1.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
Mostly clear, 60°. Forecast for the day: sun and clouds, 70s.
Friday
Salty’s next project phase–rigging, sails, and, if all went well, sea trials–started now with her pickup early in the morning. She was headed for the waterfront and a boatyard there, where others would continue with the final phases of the project before her owner arrived for trials and to bring the boat home on his new trailer. I’d not be involved in this portion of the project, as I was unavailable during the proposed timeframe, but was on hand to see her departure.
Friday
After a quick sanding just to remove any sharp edges and scuff the surface–followed by the usual cleanup–I applied a coat of epoxy fairing compound to the mast partners area and surrounding deck, the first of probably two or three coats required to bring the area fair and smooth.
I also touched up a few places on the starboard cockpit seat.
Total time billed on this job today: 0.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
45°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 70s