After much sanding to get a smooth surface, I turned to fairing. I used West 410 low density filler, plus some graphite for the fairing compound. This worked well, and was pretty easy to sand. Here, the lump where the garboard glass lapped onto the bottom is being faired, as well as the lapping of the garboard glass at the stem. |
After sanding the fairing compound, the plan was to put on one more coat of graphite epoxy, one coat of clear epoxy, and then paint. However, the coat of graphite epoxy, as you can see, had extreme orange peal. The epoxy looked nice and smooth when I rolled and tipped it, but after 30 minutes or so, it developed this ugly texture. I later did some experimenting, and determined that a small amount of cell-o-fill mixed in, at the rate of 1T per 4oz of epoxy, will take care of this. It seems to have something to do with laying the epoxy over epoxy that has graphite in it. So, yet another round of sanding with the long board! After doing that again, I wasn't about to risk another coat of epoxy, and I decided I didn't want to paint over the graphite epoxy. So, I made a decision to lay down some primer. |
Next, I cut and fit UHMW strips to the skeg bottoms, drilled pilot holes in the skegs, overdrilled these holes and filled with thickened epoxy, and then gave the skegs three coats of clear epoxy. Here the skegs are being glued in place. I put two screws through the hull into each skeg - one at each end - which I could reach from below (above?). These served to position the skegs while the epoxy cured. As you can see, I also applied pressure from above and clamps at the stern. Then large fillets were applied to really hold those skegs onto the hull. |
While skeg epoxy was curing, I crawled around under the boat applying fillets to the underside of the deck to plank and deck to carlin joints. And here you can see the bottom of one of my deck cleat backing plates. Access to some of these joints was a real pain, what with saw horses in the way. I did not put fillets between BH1 and BH2 - might have been able to reach them, but I probably would have hurt myself doing it. |
Here we are after 3 coats of primer. I used Interlux PrimeKote, which is a two-part product intended for use under two-part paints - I am using Interlux Perfection paint on the bottom of the hull, also a two-part product, for its durability. I used pretty close to two quarts of primer on the hull. It doesn't flow out very well, so the first two coats required a fair bit of sanding to remove the brush marks. So, on the third coat, I used the roller to do the tipping by floating the roller over the paint about as lightly as possible and still be touching the surface. The result was a light orange peel texture which was much easier to sand than brush strokes. The two-part products are pretty smelly, so you definately want to have the right safety equipment. I used a tyvek suit with a hood, full face respirator, gloves, and my usual bank of box fans to keep air moving. You don't want to have any skin exposed while applying this stuff, as it is a skin irritant. And you definately don't want to spray it. I finished sanding with 320 grit, and then started masking. |
Here we are after applying 3 coats of Perfection, about 8 oz per coat. I thinned it about 12-13% each coat. This paint took some practice to do well (not sure I am quite there yet, but better). It runs easily, and takes just the right touch to tip out the bubbles without leaving brush strokes. The 2nd coat was really hard to get right - I applied it one day after first coat, without sanding - so I literally could not see what I was applying. The only clue you have for coverage is the size and consistency of the bubbles. The result was some dry spots where I started and hadn't quite figured things out yet. I waited one more day and sanded lightly between 2nd and 3rd coats, and it was much easier to see the applied paint. But no matter what I tried, there is still tons of dust in every coat. Seems like you would have to take the boat to an auto paint shop where they can filter the air to avoid this. In a couple days, I will mask again and paint the topsides - they will be dark blue. |