Paint/weather do's and dont's

#0, Paint/weather do's and dont's
Posted by Yellowfin1 on Dec-30-03 at 08:09 AM

Tis the season to do boatwork fa la la la la....
Just got finished watching ship-shape on TV.
The lower unit still OOC on Tenacious, and I thought it would be a good time to re-paint the boot stripe around the fly bridge. Easy right? Not! With the short days upon us, there just isn't much time to do all the preps such as sanding, masking off the area and wiping it down with acetone. Here's how it went.
Watched the weax forecast and it looked good for a couple days (no rain). Started as soon as the dew dried up (9:30 AM). Taped the line as close to the existing boot stripe as possible and papered the windows and rest of fly bridge to prevent overspray from getting all over (finished at 1200). Then sanded the old stripe flat with 120 grit. A previous owner had obviously done the stripe with a brush as there were sloppy brush marks throughout the whole stripe. Wiped the whole thing with acetone. Mixed the paint/thinner and practiced on a piece of wood. Oh oh, here comes the wind, OK try it anyway. Spray the stripe and it doesn't look like the overspray is too bad. It's now 1:30 and some high clouds and wind are coming in. Great. Not enough time to try the second coat and allow it to dry before the evening moisture sets in. There's always tomorrow. Next AM, awoke to the boat being totally wet from the dew and you guessed it, not only didn't the paint cure correctly it bubbled from the moisture and to top it off, my masking job was ruined too. Wait for it to dry, taped it all back up, then sanded it down and tried another coat. OK did all that, and it just didn't look good enough. Frustrated, I ripped down the tape ans I had to work the next day and wouldn't be able to get it right for a couple days. A couple days later I taped it all up again, feathered the stripe with 220 grit then tried one of those small fine rollers vice the sprayer. The roller worked well and of course doesn't produce any overspray. Got done rolling out the stripe around noon and the weax cooperated. Looks OK, at least better than when I started but, it really needs another sanding and one more coat of paint to be really good. Do's and dont's (lessons learned).
Dont's
- Use a sprayer unless you have an enclosed area with no wind.
- Use regular masking tape for the fine line
- Try to do a big job by yourself in one day (in the winter).
- Do the paint job outdoors if the humidity is forecasted to be high.

Do
- Know what the weather is going to be like.
- If possible paint the boat indoors
- Use the 3M fineline tape ($15 per roll).
- Have someone help you tape off the area and sand so that you can get the first coat on early in the day to allow more drying time (if outdoors).
- Apply multiple coats (at least 3) and sand in between coats.

Hope this helps somebody and saves some headaches. The guy on ship-shape makes it look too easy but, he's obviously got a bunch of worker bees taping and sanding for him and he's painting in Florida.


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#1, RE: Paint/weather do's and dont's
Posted by Wizard on Dec-30-03 at 08:27 AM
In response to message #0

Good advise. That is one of the things on my two-page list of projects I plan to do on my boat. I hate winter. Days are too short. Humidity too high and too cold. Heh, complaining about winter in San Diego is funny to most of the country.
Glenn
The Reel One
26' Billfisher.


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#2, RE: Paint/weather do's and dont's
Posted by Yellowfin1 on Dec-30-03 at 11:16 AM
In response to message #1

Glenn,
Ya tell me about it.
I've seen your recent posts about your fishing experiences. Man you are really charging with the new boat. Way to go! I hope to be back on the water with the boat fully ready for upcoming season by the end of March. Good luck with the list.

Later,


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#3, RE: Paint/weather do's and dont's
Posted by Nomad on Dec-30-03 at 11:29 AM
In response to message #2

Scott -
March is a long time to be off the water! Let me know if you want to wet a line before then and we can go rock codding on the Nomad.

Is the masking tape you are recommending the blue tape by 3M?

Charlie