Lots More Primer | Ready For Gloss!

It's been four weeks since the last post and during that time I have done nothing but apply and sand coat upon coat of primer.

I initially applied three coats of grey and five coats of white primer, sanding the final coats with a P220 grit, ready for gloss.

But as hard as I tried to convince myself that the finish was good enough, in my heart I knew it wasn't.

Both grey and white coverage was still slightly patchy, with some areas less opaque than the rest.

I thought that the gloss would probably cover this up, but I wasn't sure and remembered being caught out by this before, so more primer was applied.

In all seven coats of white and five coats of grey were applied before I achieved an even colouration across the hull.

I found that it was best to pull the masking tape before sanding with the P220 grit, feathering the edges flat at the same time. This eliminates any 'step' between the coloured areas, leaving a flat surface for the gloss.

After some experimentation I found the paint behaved best when thinned by 10% with the stipulated Epifanes thinners.

I took lots of photos, but there is no discernible difference between most of them, so all I need to post here is the outcome.

This is the view from the side, taped up ready for the first coat of white gloss.

And here is the transom, also ready for gloss.

A lot of work and some frustration, but it's done now and as we all know a good finish is totally dependent on good preparation.

So bring on the next phase!

Grey Primer | First Coat

The first coat of grey primer went on really well. It's much more dense and opaque than the white primer, and flows out nicely to cure flat.

This is the first coat on the transom.

And here is the starboard side view.

She is starting to look like a boat again!

Painting | Tools of Choice

I have by now had plenty of practice at painting a boat, much of it unsuccessful! But I thought it might be worth recording what I have learned thus far regarding tools.

Brushes for tipping out are crucial for obtaining a good finish. Here are my two current favourites.

The wide brush from ANZA on the left is specifically designed for tipping out and was recommended to me by a paint vendor. It's OK, but I get better results from the smaller one on the right, from Crown.

Both are premium quality synthetic brushes, which seems to be the way to go.

A top quality roller sleeve is essential for rolling paint. This is what I am now using.

The concave black foam sleeves are from ROTA, and are very good.

I recently discovered that I should be using a broad stirrer to stir my paint, rather than a cane. This is what I am now using.

It certainly makes it easier!

Pouring paint from a large can has always been a challenge and I invariably make a mess, so I have devised a disposable scoop made from a card mixing cup to transfer paint from the can. This is it.

With practice it's mess free!

And lastly but not least, I have been using trial and error to find the optimum percentage for thinning Epifanes paint.

I started by just guessing - that didn't work. Then I tried plastic syringes - they don't like the thinners and fall apart.

Finally I purchased a glass measuring cylinder. This is it.

It measures up to 100 ml in 1 ml increments, and is perfect for getting precise doses of thinners. Love it!

Grey Primer | Taping Up & Masking Off

When the white primer was more or less finished I taped up and masked off for the grey primer.

Here is what it looked like.

I rather enjoy doing this but I find it really difficult to get a perfectly fair curve with the tape, particularly on the vertical sides.

This is a close up of the boot top.

You can just make out 'wobbles' in the tape edges. It doesn't matter for the primer but I have to improve this for the gloss.

And here is the transom, ready for grey paint.

Looking good!

White Primer | Pulling Tape & Feathered Edges

When the white primer had fully cured I sanded it with P220 and pulled the masking tape. 

This is what it looked like.

This is the transom.

It is so much easier to paint both sides and the transom at the same time.

However, I got a surprise when pulling the blue masking tape. The tape pulled off a piece of fibreglass cloth, like this.

Exploration with a knife revealed that an old patch had clearly failed to bond properly, and had failed.

Oh dear. I sanded off the loose material, leaving this.

I will have to apply another patch or simply seal the substrate properly with clear resin.

Then I carefully feathered the edges of the primer with a P220 grit to remove the 'step' and make it flush with the substrate.

This is what it looked like.

Next is grey primer. Hooray!

White Primer | Sanding & More Primer

When the third coat of white primer was cured I sanded it with P220 grit to see what it looked like.

Here I am sanding the starboard bottom panel.

And this is the same panel after sanding.

It wasn't too bad but clearly needed more primer, so I applied two more coats.

This is the final coat on the starboard side.

That should do the trick!

New Paint | Test Piece

Mindful of the horror of the original paint blistering when it got wet, I finished a test piece and put it outside on the trailer to see how the weather affected it.

This is the upper drop board.

Like the centreboard, it received three coats of primer which was sanded with a P220 grit. Then five coats of gloss, wet sanded P400 between coats.

It has been out in the sun and rain for a couple of weeks and it looks great. I think this is going to work.

White Primer | Application

Excitement was running high when I broke out the white primer!

Epifanes recommend that the primer be thinned from 5 to 10%, depending on the conditions and the experience of the painter.

I rather over did it. Here is the first coat on the starboard side.

You can see how patchy it is. And here is the result of adding too much thinners - curtains on the keel nose.

And again at the rear of the keel.

Yuk.

I then tried 5% thinners, and found that the paint dragged. So I tried 10% and that seemed to work well.

This is the third coat on the port side.

Looking good!

White Primer | Taping Up & Masking Off

After installing the centreboard I put the boat back onto the sawhorses at the stern because it was so much more stable than the dolly, and at a good working height for painting.

Then I used 19mm 3M vinyl lining tape to mask up for the white primer.

Here is the view from starboard.

That drill bench is always in the way!

And here is the view of the transom.

I have covered the varnished area with polythene sheeting to prevent staining.

Primer is next!

Fibreglass Patches

I had noticed at some point a couple of patches of bare wood which I had missed when repairing the damage caused by sanding through fibreglass cloth when stripping the bottom.

So I made patches and 'glassed them in place. Here is one on the keel.

And here is the other one on the bow.

They were sanded and feather edged, ready for paint. We're getting there!

Centreboard | Reinstallation

I left the repainted centreboard in the house for a couple of days to fully cure before reinstallation. Here it is, in company with the upper drop board.

I then considered how to carry out the reinstallation and immediately found I had a problem.

I had previously raised the stern of the boat onto a pair of sawhorses when levelling the keel for marking up the waterline, so it was no longer moveable on its wheeled dollies.

And where it was situated - right beneath the garage door frame - meant there was insufficient headroom to get the board back into its case.

So it had to go back onto the stern dolly so I could move it. Here I am using a pair of bottle jacks - one on each side - to raise the hull so I could withdraw the sawhorses. The dolly is already in place with blocks to take the weight of the hull when it is lowered.

In this pic the hull is partly lowered onto the dolly by removing some of the wooden blocks.

And here the hull is back on the dolly and moveable once more.

I moved the boat so I had headroom to insert the centreboard and connected the pendant. Here it is knotted inside the hole in the board.

Having tried and failed to cut rope with knives, I purchased a hot knife. It works brilliantly. Here it is.

It will be invaluable when I get to fitting out again.

Here is the centreboard, attached via the pendant and ready to be installed.

This is one job that you really can't do single handed, so Mrs Boatbuilder was drafted in to pass the board up to me perched on top of the hull.

And here it is reinstalled, with a temporary rod through the pivot hole and held up out of the case by a wooden dowel. This makes it easy to manoeuvre the board into position to accept the pivot rod.

Next I pushed the temporary rod through the keel and inserted the new pivot pin, tapping it into place.

The pin was then sealed permanently in place with thickened epoxy resin, retained in the hole by a pair of plastic cards and a clamp. like this.

That's it! Next job is painting the hull again.

Reeving The Centreboard Pendant

As in the last post, I reinstalled the centreboard pendant between painting things and waiting for them to dry.

I made a small loop in the end of a length of garden wire and threaded it into the centreboard case and through the pendant sheave. I taped the pendant to the end of the wire.

Then I made a small hook in the end of a piece of stiff wire and used it to  hook up the loop and pull the garden wire and the pendant through the sheave and out the bottom of the case.

Like this.

Here are the hook and eye.

Then I pushed the pendant through a piece of padding and knotted to it prevent it falling into case.

Now it's ready for the centreboard!

Tabernacle & Companionway Slide | Stripping & Priming

In between other activities and waiting for paint to dry, I stripped and primed the tabernacle and the companionway slide.

Here I am stripping the tabernacle with a scraper, a stainless steel scourer and some paint stripper.

Here I am stripping the companionway slide.

The scourer is very effective.

I washed them both and put them outside to dry, like this.

I sanded both to a P220 grit and applied three coats of primer. Here is the slide.

And here is the tabernacle.

It feels like we are moving slowly, but it is progressing as quickly as it can.

Centreboard & Upper Drop Board | Painting

I started to prepare the centreboard for paint and found that one side had a rough surface.

It was not obvious why this might be, but such mysteries are normal in this build.

I stripped that side again, to make sure no paint or residual stripper remained. Like this.

I washed and dried it. Still rough. So I sanded it and applied two coats of clear resin to seal the surface. Here is the board after two coats.

When cured I sanded both sides through to P220, ready for paint.

Three coats of primer were then applied to the centreboard and the upper drop board. Here is the centreboard.

I rolled it on with a foam roller and tipped out with a high quality synthetic brush. It looked good, and dried very smooth with few brush marks.

The first coat of gloss dried with tiny bubbles, so I asked the vendor what the problem was. He said I was injecting air into the paint with the roller, and to make sure I rolled out the air before applying the paint, and to use a special tipping out brush.

I sanded the board to a a P220 finish. As here.

And then I reapplied the paint. It was a lot better.

Various Epifanes tutorials said to apply at least three coats of gloss, so I went for five and wet sanded with a P400 grit between coats.

I started using the rubber sanding block which I had used before with wet and dry, but soon found that I obtained a better finish without the block, like this.

Here are the centreboard and upper drop board after five coats.

Nice and shiny but I can still see residual brush marks. This was a learning exercise, so I will keep trying.

Here they are inside the house where they will stay for a few days, so I can be sure they are fully cured before deploying them.

The next activity is to reinstall the centreboard. Hopefully for the last time!