Lackey Sailing | steadfast

Wednesday

With 45 hours’ cure time on the hull, now I could proceed to mask off the fresh green paint so I could finish up the boottop. To begin, I applied a narrow strip of solvent-resistant vinyl fine-line tape along the top edge of the boottop area; this tape would help create a crisp paint transition and avoid tape bleed-through between the colors. Afterwards, I masked over the vinyl with regular masking tape.

I draped the entire hull in sheet plastic, securing it at the caprails and elsewhere as needed. Along the bottom edge, where I’d be spraying later, I applied masking paper as additional protection against overspray and because the plastic alone, being non-absorbent, might allow paint to run and drip onto the boottop below. At the bow, I made up the difference between the 3′ wide plastic sheeting and the top of the boottop with additional paper, masking everything thoroughly.

After a final solvent wash and tack-off, I spray applied four coats of Alexseal snow white gloss topcoat to the boottop area.

Total time billed on this job today: 5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Cloudy, 32°. Forecast for the day: clouds, advancing showers and rain, 40s

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Tuesday

Now that the topside paint was complete, I could remove the paper and masking from the lower edge, also known as the top of the boottop, so that I could later access this area for its own painting soon. I also removed the masking tape from the rubrail and forward deadlights, simply because I could and it was less I’d need to remove later. However, I left all the upper masking and plastic covering alone for now.

Beyond this, there was little else to do for the moment on this project, as I had to give the fresh paint additional cure time before I could overmask to continue work on the boottop.

Total time billed on this job today: 1.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 22°. partly clear. Forecast for the day: Sun, 50, windy.

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Monday

After final preparations, I spray-applied three coats of Alexseal jade mist green gloss topcoat to the hull.

Total time billed on this job today: 3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 28°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 30s

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Friday

Now that the hull was primed, sanded, and clean, my next step was to strike and mark a new boottop. Moving the staging out of the way for the moment, I made new marks at stem and stern 3″ above the waterline I’d marked and masked earlier; this would be the visual height of the new boottop, and the same as the one I’d removed from the hull as it came to me. As before, I used a small level and straightedge to transfer up the 3″ height at stem and stern. Once I had the reference marks, I set up my horizontal string beams again and leveled them at the proper height both bow and stern.

In my usual way, I used a taut string to mark the top of the new boottop at this height, along both sides of the hull.

Once I had all the marks on each side, before removing the horizontal beam at the bow I made a new pencil mark a further 1-1/2″ up from the top of the new boottop so I could have a reference point to create a sheered boottop at the bow, which I’d lay out shortly.

Afterwards, I removed the beams and masked off the top of the new boottop (i.e. the bottom edge of the new topsides paint), following the marks I made and fairing by eye as needed.

At the bow, I chose to create a slightly sheered boottop, where the top edge curved upwards towards the stem. To my eye, this treatment is required in most cases, not to create some sort of wacky funhouse-curvy version of a stripe, but rather to subtly enhance appearance by eliminating the trope l’oeil that occurs as bows grow higher and the hull angles in towards the waterline; this creates the impression that the striping becomes narrower. A nice curve leading to a wider stripe at the stem reduces this and looks appropriate in its own right when coupled with a bold sheerline and utter height of the bows on this boat.

In any event, I made a mark nine feet aft from the stem on each side, an point I chose arbitrarily and simply because to my eye it looked like the right place to begin the sheering based on the shape of the hull. From here, working entirely by eye, I masked off a new, higher line that gently faired into the existing tape line at the 9′ mark, then curved gently up to the new mark on the stem, which was 1-1/2″ higher than the “straight” stripe I’d masked off before.

Finally, I applied masking paper beneath the new tape to cover the eventual boottop area and protect it from overspray when I sprayed the topsides later.

I reset the staging and went around the hull closely, fine-tuning a few areas with fine sandpaper where the original sanding had missed (some areas only appear once the original sanding dust is removed). Then, after spot-cleaning the dust from these areas, I focused once more on the shop itself and washed again the staging and floor to remove final dust and get things as clean as possible. Afterwards, I completed the final solvent wash, this time with the fancy solvent supplied by the paint manufacturer for this purpose. I set up additional task lighting through the shop to highlight the hull and help during the topcoating process, as the only way to keep track of the spraying is with as much light as possible over the hull. I prepared some of my equipment and paint and looked forward to spraying the topcoats next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 4.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 32°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny and breezy, 40°

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Thursday

Finish primer goes on smoothly and beautifully, but still requires sanding to prepare for the gloss topcoats, so once more I sanded the hull, this time with 320 grit paper by machine and hand as necessary.

Afterwards, I went through the normal routine of blowing off the boat and walls, vacuuming, washdown, and an initial solvent wash for the hull to prepare for the final preparation steps, including striking and marking a new boottop. I had to leave the shop for the afternoon, so I’d finish up next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 4.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 32°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: clouds, showers and rain, maybe some snow

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Wednesday

After final preparations, I applied four coats of Alexseal finish primer to the hull.

Total time billed on this job today: 4.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 32°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: becoming sunny, 40s

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Tuesday

I spent the morning sanding the fresh high build primer on the hull, this time with 220 grit on a vibrating finishing sander.

Once I’d smoothed the entire hull, I cleaned up the shop and vacuumed and solvent-washed the hull so I could inspect it closely for any minor repairs required before continuing.

Inevitably, minor dings and surface flaws came to light at this point, and as I went I marked the areas requiring attention with little flags of tape. Then, I returned with a putty knife and applied quick-drying fine filler as needed to smooth the minor divots. Once the fairing compound had cured, I hand-sanded to complete the repairs.

With that complete, I spent the remainder of the day on final cleanup duty, with additional vacuuming, rinsing off the staging and shop floor, and a final solvent wash and tack-off for the hull to complete preparations for finish primer next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 24°, clear. Forecast for the day: sun and clouds, 40

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Monday

After final preparations, I spray-applied three coats of Alexseal high-build epoxy primer to the hull.

Total time billed on this job today: 4 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 20°, clear. Forecast for the day: some sun, becoming cloudy, light snow late in the day, 30s

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Friday

I’d temporarily removed the staging earlier for better access to the waterline, so to continue I reset it, using two pair of shorter supports in the center sections to avoid the need to climb over the taller ones. I’d had two of these on hand before, but had assembled two additional ones over the past couple days to round out my set. With the staging back in place, I could do another wipe down off the entire hull as a pre-cleaning before the final high-build primer preparation steps. Afterwards, I washed down the staging and floor to settle any remaining dust.

During the remainder of the day, I completed various other preparations, including preparing paint and spray equipment and setting up additional lighting in the shop, before finishing up with a last solvent wash for the hull, this time with the paint system’s proprietary solvent.

Total time billed on this job today: 4.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 34°, snow/sleet/rain squall. Forecast for the day: sunny, but temperature falling through the day to the teens

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Thursday

To begin, I sanded the areas I’d coated/filled with epoxy earlier, removing excess and sanding the repairs smooth. I was pleased to find that the gouge on the stem came out well with only one application; the small pockmarks on the midships hull on each side filled satisfactorily with the one coat as well, and in any event these areas wouldn’t impact the topside painting process as they were below the waterline. There’d be an opportunity for any final minor filling later, after high-build primer.

After cleaning up from the minor sanding, and happy with the overall condition of the hull at this point, I turned to the final masking chores. In addition to minor repairs to existing tape, this included masking off the edges of the bulwark woodwork that I’d left open before, as well as the large rubrails on both sides. At the bow and stern, I added masking paper above the caprails for extra protection and to avoid the problem of paint flaking off the plastic during the three-step painting process to come. Various through hull fittings piercing the topsides had been painted previously, and I planned t prime and paint them this time as well, so I balled up masking tape and filled the through hull openings to prevent overspray and dust from getting into the fittings and hoses within.

Reviewing my notes from early in the project, I measured and remarked the original/actual waterline marks, starting at the bow. This measurement was for the actual observed scum line, which was indicative of the true floating position of the boat. With this as a generous guideline (I always erred on the higher rather than lower side for the base measurements), I made a new mark 2-1/2″ higher than the first, choosing this as a good height for the new top-of-antifouling line, which would not only look good but also keep the new topside paint well clear of the water to avoid fouling and damage to the paint from constant immersion. The new mark was 2-1/2″ higher in a truly vertical (i.e. visual) manner, not measured along the hull itself. I used a small level and straightedge (held perpendicular to the level at the appropriate measurement) to move the reference mark up the appropriate visual height, as shown in one of the photos below (which photo I took for illustration only, so ignore the fact that the level bubble is off as I only intended to show the basic process and couldn’t accurately hold everything while taking a photo). Finally, I set up a horizontal beam across the stem at the correct height, which I’d use to strike the lines down the sides of the hull.

Afterwards, I repeated the process at the stern.

With a line strung taut between the fore and aft beams (and the boat already level from side to side, as you may recall), I struck the new waterline, or, more specifically, the bottom edge of the new topsides finish. My analog, visual process ensured an accurate and straight line as I drew the string closer to the hull in increments, taping it in place to prevent movement and making a series of tick marks on the hull to demark the new straight, planar line: first from amidships to the bow, then to the stern, and on both sides of the boat. Remember that I removed the existing bottom paint well below the original lines, so this immediate visual reference caused a skewed perspective of things that had me double-checking my measurements and original photos carefully to ensure the new line was where it should be.

With the marks made on both sides of the hull, I masked off the new line (the top edge of the tape is the one that matters here), then applied masking paper beneath to protect the bottom from overspray.