Finally Paint

April 10, 2015  Hours spent building to date:  904

At the end of the day I was really beat after another session sanding up and down all over the boat, but at last it was done.  But I said to myself, “I said the primer was going on this week, and it’s going on.”  So I opened a Thimble Islands American Ale, turned on the music (usual mix of Patsy Cline, Tommy Dorsey and Ozzy Osbourne), mixed up some Interlux Epoxy Primekote and brushed a small strip onto the keel.

The hull was glassed on February 28, 148 hours ago, and I am at least two weeks behind where I thought I was going to be.  If I had scheduled the trailer for this week, I’d have been in real trouble with a lot of midnight painting.  Why did it take so long (other than a week at Longboat Key)?

Here’s what it took to get the Tardis ready for paint:

1.  I work in 5 foot by 4 foot strips, the same dimensions as the Xylone fabric.  There are about 24 on the boat — that’s 480 square feet right there, folks.

2.  For each strip here’s the fairing procedure:

–  Sand with 40 grit on rotary sander to get rid of worst bumps and sags.

–  Sand with 80 grit on rotary sander to take out runs, drips and bring surface down to glass.

–  Sand with 80 grit on  random orbit sander to ready surface for QuickFair compound.

–  “Screed” QuickFair as per previous post.

–  Sand with 80 grit on rotary sander.

–  Re-apply QuickFair in missed spots, low spots, etc.

–  Sand with 80 grit on random orbit sander.

3.  The same procedure applies to the chine and keel, but three applications of QuickFair on the chine to try to alleviate waves.  The keel is really tough because while you are doing it you hang onto the boat with your knees.

4.  Once all this is done, wash the boat down with a 3M scrungie and water.

5.  Sand whole boat with 120 grit on random orbit sander.

6.  Wipe down whole boat down with 2333N brushing liquid.

We’ll see what the hull looks like when primed, but the small area I did is “good enough plus” at first glance.

Totally faired out, ready for paint.

Bow faired.

Stern perspective. Portion of chine that will be underwater looks great.

Starboard side faired. Exposed portion of chine is a little shaky, but we’ll see what paint does.

My right thumb. Lump on right side is where it hit the trigger guard on the sander for 148 hours.