Keel Fillets | Applying Primer

Part way through re-fairing the keel fillets I read the technical data for the fairing compound and discovered that I had to seal the fairing compound with the prescribed Hempel primer, which has to be used in conjunction with a specific Hempel thinners for brush cleaning.

Having previously suffered grievously from not obeying the paint manufacturer's instructions on which thinners to use I immediately ordered the two part Hempel primer and its thinners buddy.

Here they are.

This cosmetic enhancement is turning out to be quite expensive and time consuming, but what the heck ... I want it to be nice.

Two coats of the primer were applied, as in this pic.

It covered very well, and looks tough.

Then I pulled the tape and feathered the edges again, like this.

Here is another view from the rear.

That looks much better!

Bottom, Sides & Transom | Masking For White Primer

With the boot top stripe marked in it was time to tape and mask up for paint.

The build manual tells us to to paint the whole bottom white and then to paint the blue boot top strip on top of the white.

The blue and white sides and bottom continue onto the transom to form stripes around its edges, which I call the transom 'frame'. The manual appears to show that this was done separately to the sides and bottom.

I followed the manual's instructions to the letter and was never really happy with the outcome.

It was difficult and time consuming and resulted in significant 'steps' between sections of colour.

So I decided to paint all the white and blue sections separately and in one go.

This is the hull taped up for white paint, seen from the side.

And here is the view from the port quarter.

You can see that I can paint the bottom, both sides and the transom frame at the same time.

 Which I think is a much better idea.

I guess we will find out when I do it ..

Waterline & Boot Top | Levelling & Marking Up

This might be a long post but marking up the waterline and boot top stripe entailed a lot of work and was great fun, so it's worth giving a good description.

The first task was to ensure that the hull was perfectly level, along and across the keel.

When I made the dollies to support the boat upside down I inadvertently made the rear one far too low, so the boat needed to be jacked up quite a lot at the stern to temporarily make it level for the marking up.

I taped a long spirit level to the keel, like this.

I did something similar across the transom, as here.

I wanted to be as accurate as possible, because a difference of just a couple of millimetres would be amplified along or across the hull and would doubtless be noticeable.

I purchased a second bottle jack so I could safely raise both corners at the stern at the same time until the spirit levels showed that the boat was level.

This is the port quarter, jacked up and resting on wedges.

The hull was now level, and marking up began.

The first time I did this I worked out where the waterline should cross the chine at the front of the boat. It is at a point directly below the forward side of the front portlight.

Here the laser level is being used to mark this spot.

This is the laser level itself. It is an excellent tool.

Here the laser level is indicating the location of the waterline along the length of the starboard side.

The waterline was marked up by making pencil marks a short distance apart along the laser line and then joining them up with a rule to get a nice, fair line.

The waterline crosses the chine 154 cm from the stem, as here.

If this measures the same on both sides, you know it's level. It did.

This is the laser level in use across the transom.

I had also previously worked out that the boot top stripe should be 38 mm wide midway along the sides. So the laser level was then used to mark in the top edge of the stripe, like this.

This line was then pencilled on in the same way as the waterline.

That was fun!

Various Parts | Applying White Primer

The tabernacle, drop boards, companionway slide and centreboard had been treated to two coats of clear resin and sanded smooth ready for paint.

This is the centreboard after its first coat of white primer.

Pretty patchy, as expected. I did consider leaving the centreboard unpainted, but in the end I thought it looked too ugly ... so painted it was!

Here are the tabernacle and drop boards after three coats.

Four coats in all were applied and the parts set aside to await gloss.

Keel Fillets | Refinishing

When I originally made the fillets for the keel it didn't go very well and I was never happy with the way they looked. 

They were lumpy and uneven, and even though no one would ever really notice unless they looked carefully, I had decided that I would take the opportunity of having the boat upside down again to refinish the fillets.

Purely cosmetic, but I was keen to do it!

So, I purchased plenty of fairing compound. This is what I have been using throughout the build.

It's Hempel Profair two part fairing compound, for use above and below the waterline. It's easy to apply and sand, and you can lay it on thickly if necessary.

I taped up the keel so I would get a nice straight fillet and laid down the first coat, like this.

I made a filleting tool when making the original fillets with thickened epoxy resin, so I cleaned it up and reused it. This is it.

It worked pretty well and was a great deal easier than working with epoxy resin, but it still left some drag marks. As you can see here.

It didn't matter, since the intention was to sand the fillets to an even profile.

A second coat was applied and shaped with a P80 grit. This is what it now looked like.

Lastly I feather edged the new fillets with a P80 grit and sanded them smooth with P150, ready for paint. As here.

Much better!

Centreboard Case | Sanding Inside

When I remade the holes for the centreboard pivot pin in the keel some resin squeezed out inside the case.

So it needed to be made smooth again. It's not easy to sand inside a narrow slot, so I made a special sanding block by stapling some grit to a stick of plywood. This is it.

That worked well, using a small light to see inside the slot. As here.

Nice and flat again!

More Resin Clear Coating

More resin was required to strengthen and waterproof various parts, so a second coat was applied to the drop boards, rudder cheeks, and the tabernacle. Like this.

And then the companionway slide.

And while the resin was flowing I sanded the rub rails and applied their first coat. As here.

We're getting there, slowly but surely!