I tipped out one patch with a foam brush, and the other with a bristle brush, to see which gave the best results.
Sunday 19 December 2021
Hull Bottom Panels | It's All Coming Off!
I tipped out one patch with a foam brush, and the other with a bristle brush, to see which gave the best results.
Hull Bottom Panels | More Primer & First Gloss
Thursday 25 November 2021
Primer | First Coat & Rework
With the waterline now correctly in place it was time to apply paint. This was truly a momentous step in progress!
The primer undercoat for the bottom is white, and that would be the first paint to be applied.
A previously opened can was reopened and was found to have gone off, so a litre of expensive paint went to waste.
A second can was opened and the first coat was applied to the hull bottom, centreboard, drop boards and rudder.
This is what the hull looked like.
It was pretty patchy, unsurprisingly.
A second and a third coat were applied which covered really well but there were still very visible brush marks after the third coat.
There should not have been any because I was using the recommended technique of 'rolling and tipping' which entails applying paint with a roller and then tipping it out with a quality paintbrush to remove the air bubbles and brush strokes.
There were no air bubbles but the finish was not good enough for a top coat.
So I looked at a few 'how to paint primer' videos on the internet and realised that that I had done two things wrong.
I had not thinned the primer to allow it to flow freely, and I been applying paint from the wet edge outwards instead of in the other direction.
Thus the paint was too thick and the brush dragged on the wet edge.
So.. back to square one. I would clearly need to repaint the bottom of the hull.
I wasn't too disheartened because I treated this as a learning exercise on a part of the boat which no one would see, so it was OK to mess up.
Accordingly I sanded the bottom panels to beautifully smooth P120 finish. They looked like this.
It was as expected very patchy and would need to be repainted.
I had run out of white primer, having used two litres to get thus far.
This was a Friday evening of course and it would be the middle of next week before more paint would arrive, so things are at a temporary impasse.
Time for a G&T.
Waterline | Marking Up - Twice!
I initially bought the cheapest I could find, reasoning that I didn't need a quality instrument for such a small job.
I pencilled in marks at short intervals and joined them with a straight edge to get a nice, fair, flowing waterline.
Levelling The Hull - Again!
I had previously only used a short level to do this, and sure enough the much longer level showed that the hull was not level fore and aft.
Bowsprit & Mast | Pivot Holes
I would soon be varnishing the spars so pivot holes in the mast and bowsprit needed to be drilled.
First I set the bowsprit in place to mark up the hole, as here.
Then I set the bowsprit up on the pillar drill and clamped it in place, like this.
A spirit level ensured that the bowsprit was level and that the hole would be exactly perpendicular. Like this.
Here is the drilled hole.
I found that the drill did not have sufficient depth of travel to drill all the way through, so it had to be drilled from both sides. All went well.
The mast was next.
Here the mast is set up in the same way as the bowsprit, checked with a spirit level.
Lastly here is the drilled mast hole, again drilled accurately from both sides.
That was fun!
Keel | Pivot Hole
That looks OK, but when I drilled through and out the other side this is what it looked like from port.
Then I filled the hole with thickened epoxy and clamped a couple of plastic cards in place to retain the mixture. Like this.
Centreboard | Pivot & Pendant Holes
I filled this hole with thickened epoxy. A bolt wrapped in tape and passed through the board kept the epoxy in place, as here.
Hull Exterior | Clear Coating & Sanding
A lot of sanding was required to get the hull to a suitable condition for paint.
The manual states that we could easily spend a day sanding the hull. I 'easily' spent several days on the requisite three clear coats of resin.
This is the part sanded hull after its second clear coat.
I am using the Rotex 90 sander with a medium-soft head in finish-sand mode. It works really well on curved surfaces.
This the hull after its third and final clear coat.
This is what it looked like after final sanding to P80 grit.
The bits of blue tape mark where a small ding needs to be patched or faired. There were very few.
And while I was at it I sanded the rub rails and rounded them over with a rasp and some sandpaper. As here.
They are looking nice!
Hull Exterior | Bubbles & Patches
When I sanded the fibre glassed hull I discovered that there were a number of tiny air bubbles on the side panels only.
They looked like this, with a rule for comparison.
I wasn't sure if this was a problem or not, so asked the vendor for advice.
They said that the bubbles were tiny and I should sand them out and coat them with epoxy.
I decided to grind them out and use fairing compound to get a flat surface before applying more epoxy. I used a small burr in the drill, like this.
This is what the ground out bubbles looked like when filled.
Here they are after sanding and a second coat of epoxy.
I also managed to sand through the fibreglass on the hull in one or two places, so I applied patches to them, like this one on a puzzle joint.
I made the patches oversized to allow plenty of room for feathered edges and to provide strength.
We're getting there, slowly but surely!
Hull Exterior | Transom Fibreglass
I decided to make a pattern for the fibreglass panel on the transom. Here I am cutting out the panel from the pattern.
Once again the stuffed chicken doorstops had their role to play.
This is the panel on the transom, held in place with tape.
A second clear coat was applied to the hull, as here.
And lastly the transom received its first clear coat, wetting out the fibreglass. Like this.
Looking good!