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Thursday

With the required or at least prudent full-day waiting period before I could mask over the brand-new hull paint, there was little I could do beyond cleaning up the spray equipment, prepping boottop paint for the work ahead, and removing the masking tape I’d applied where the boottop would be.

I looked forward to having this image-changing part of the project behind me, and to getting back on board for the first time since I got ahead of myself and masked her up a few months earlier.

Total time billed on this job today:  .5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
25°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Possible wintery showers, then mainly sunny, high in the upper 30s

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Wednesday

After final preparations, I applied three coats of Alexseal wine red gloss topcoat (also called claret by other coatings manufacturers) to the hull.  The flash, and the harsh lighting in the shop, make the paint appear a little lighter than it actually is.

The job went swimmingly till the very end, as I was refilling my spray cup after doing the third coat on the first side of the boat, as is my habit, but this time somehow I managed to fumble the paint pot, spilling a good amount all over my paint prep table, spray gun, and the floor.  It looked like I’d just slaughtered a pig, though it was less dramatic after I’d cleaned up a bit.  The stain would remain for all my days as a reminder.

Total time billed on this job today:  3 hours

0600 Weather Report:
15°, cloudy.  About 3-4″ snow total yesterday, plus mixed sleet/freezing rain.  Forecast for the day:  clouds and showers (all types), highs in the 20s

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Tuesday

I spent the first part of the day sanding the new primer with 320 grit, by hand and machine as required.   Once the sanding was complete, I blew down, vacuumed, and solvent-washed the hull before cleaning up the rest of the shop by broom and water hose.

With her slab sides and sharpie-like hull sections, this boat had no challenging hull curvature to complicate the boottop layout, so to mask off for the eventual boot top I simply applied 2″ masking tape just above the line I’d masked earlier for the bottom.

I wrapped up the day with final hull preparations–another solvent wash, this time with the proprietary solvent from the coatings manufacturer–and paint and spray equipment preparations.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
Snow, about an inch on the ground, 17°.  Forecast for the day:  Snow, 4-7″ predicted, possibly mixing with or changing partially to freezing rain at some point.  Highs in the 20s.

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Monday

After final preparations, I spray-applied four coats of gray Alexseal epoxy finish primer on the hull.

Typically, I liked to use high-build primer first on the boats I worked on, and for a time I waffled on whether to use it here or not.  Most of the boats that passed through the shop benefited from this additional work, as with various repair work and aged, often checked and damaged, gelcoat, the heavier layer of primer not only helped ameliorate these surface conditions, but also gave me additional opportunity to fine-tune the surfaces before final primer coats.  I considered it part of the fairing and surfacing work, rather than part of the painting work.

With this original hull in such good condition overall, with minimal sanding and virtually no repair work or fairing required (other than the transom repair),  the finish primer was the coating that was most important to the eventual character of the gloss topcoats.  But I still wavered on the high-build, and  in fact I eventually decided to use it here simply as a matter of course, even though I’d originally determined not to.   Then, late on a Sunday afternoon during final preparations, I discovered to my dismay that I didn’t have enough of the reducer for the high-build primer on hand to do the job, which meant that I’d have to postpone my planned schedule in order to get it–a two-day delay.   With my feeling that it wasn’t an important step for this boat anyway, this discovery cemented the decision to simply go with finish primer as the first and only step before topcoats.

Total time billed on this job today:  4 hours

0600 Weather  Report:
16°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, windy, 25°

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Sunday

A few final details remained before I could apply the hull primer, so I finished up the prep work with some additional masking to cover the trailer and along the waterline, where I installed masking paper to protect the bottom and portions of the trailer from overspray.  Afterwards, I solvent-washed the hull and set up paint and spray equipment to be ready for the work ahead.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
Rain, snow, sleet, 32°.  Forecast for the day:  on and off rain and mixed precipitation, highs in the low 30s

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Tuesday

Once more, I sanded the transom repair as needed, eventually ending with hand and machine sanding with 120 grit to tie this area in with the rest of the hull.  I touched up a few other areas by hand as well, completing the basic hull prep.

Afterwards, I cleaned up the shop, blowing off the walls and other surfaces, vacuuming, sweeping, and washing the floor.  Just a little final prepwork lay between me and high-build primer.

Total time billed on this job today:  1 hour

0600 Weather Report:
25°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  clouds, rain late in the day.  High 44°

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Monday

After the usual water-wash, I sanded as needed the spots on the hull and, especially, the transom repair to smooth the epoxy fairing compound and, where required, to prepare for a second coat.  After cleaning up, I applied more fairing compound to portions of the transom to take care of low spots and some fine-tuning.

Total time billed on this job today:  .75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
30°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:  clouds and sun, breezy, around 40

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Sunday

Before beginning any other work, I took advantage of the cleanliness of the hull, and of the air in the shop, to mask off the waterline, the only area not yet masked to prepare for the primer later.  Sometime later, once I’d completed the sanding and repair work, I’d protect the bottom and trailer with additional masking against overspray, but that could wait for now.

Continuing work on the transom repair, I water-washed the new fiberglass, then lightly sanded the area as needed to remove rough edges and scuff the surface to prepare for the next steps.  After cleaning up, I applied a first coat of epoxy fairing compound, concentrating on smoothing in the repair with the adjacent surfaces and filling the texture of the fiberglass as required.

Meanwhile, I used some of the leftover epoxy to spot-fill a few minor dings and gouges here and there on the hull.

Total time billed on this job today:    .75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
20°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, breezy, 31°

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Saturday

The original gelcoat on the hull was badly oxidized and faded, but essentially in great condition otherwise, meaning my painting prepwork would be straightforward.  With the decks all masked off from the last work session, it didn’t take me long to get set up and ready to start sanding.

I sanded the hull twice–80 and 120 grits–with a 6″ finishing sander, scuffing the gelcoat and bringing it to the level of sanding required for high-build primer.  It didn’t take long, as gelcoat sands easily and the heavily-weathered surface made the process that much easier.  I sanded everywhere the tool would fit, which was most everywhere, but there were some areas that would require detail and hand-sanding.

Next,  I took care of some heavier-duty sanding at the transom, where the deck/hull joint had separated right in the motor well–a nearly universal condition on production outboards, it seemed.  Someone in the past had sort of caulked this joint, but with the outboard gone it was the perfect time to effect a more lasting repair.   To begin, I sanded away any loose material and old sealant, and ground the gelcoat on the deck edge and transom to prepare for fiberglass, while also rounding over the edge a bit to allow for fiberglass to lay cleanly.

After cleaning the area, I applied some epoxy thickened with silica to the seam, filling any voids and smoothing over the edge as needed.   While the fill was still pliable, I installed a 6″ and 4″ layer of biaxial fiberglass over the seam, forming a smooth and strong reinforcement to the joint.

While the transom began to cure, I went around the boat and hand-sanded as needed to take care of all the areas the sander couldn’t reach.  Afterwards, I cleaned up and solvent-washed the hull to prepare for the next steps, including some minor gouge filling and the continuing transom repair.

 

Total time billed on this job  today:  4.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
22°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny, 39°, chance of snow showers

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With the “pressures” of summer winding down, and the prospect of unscheduled weekends ahead, I began to prepare the boat for the next task ahead:  painting the hull.  I chose to get this out of the way first so that I could snuggle the boat into a corner of the shop for most of the winter, leaving room indoors for some other projects and storage of other things.  Once the hull paint was done, I’d have little need to access the boat from anywhere but inside, where the bulk of additional work would occur, so I could live without access all around.

To begin, I removed the winch and bow roller assembly from the trailer to open up access to the stem for masking and prep work.

After removing the tools I’d left on the boat after my last session, I prepared to mask off and cover the decks with plastic, the first step towards hull preparation.  The boat’s construction featured an outward hull flange and shoebox-type hull/deck joint, covered with and protected by an aluminum toerail.  With hull color on the underside of the outward flange, I’d need to paint that area; plus, the bow sections featured a raised bulwark that, on this boat, was hull color, so I’d need to mask off both the aluminum rails as well as the deck within, slightly complicating the masking and covering process.

There was a teak molding at the juncture between the hull and the outward flange; this molding, while noticeable while the boat was on the trailer, was not something that would be visible when the boat was in use, and rather than fuss with masking it and dealing with its appearance in some other way, I decided it would be fine to simply prep and paint it along with the hull.  In the areas at bow and stern where teak trim extended beyond this sheltered area, I’d treat the teak normally, with varnish.

I masked the lower edge of the aluminum toerail to protect it while working on the underside of the outward flange, then masked various teak trim bow and stern as needed to cover it before draping plastic sheeting over the deck and taping it to the decks and toerail as required, leaving exposed the bulwarks forward.

The outboard well at the transom featured some cracking (as per usual) in the seam between hull and deck moldings, and since I wanted to repair and lightly reinforce this joint I masked the plastic inside the transom, leaving the top and edge exposed.

Total Time Billed on This Job Today:  3.5 Hours