Painting the Hull, Part 1

Painting the hull bottom and side panels is quite an arduous chore, with many noxious fumes, but at least I am a "trailer sailor" so I don't have to apply anti-fouling paint to the bottom.

Bottom Primer Coat

In the above picture, the primer has been applied to the hull bottom.  That coat will be sanded and two more primer coats applied.

Side Panels Painted, Water Line Masked

 A few steps later, the first two coats of paint have been applied to the side panels.  You can also see that the bottom primer has been sanded, in some places back down to the epoxy.  That is because I am using a "high-build" primer to fill in any low spots or pinholes.  The primer has been sanded completely off the high spots.   You can also see a line of yellow masking tape at the water line.  After the bottom is painted, that tape will be removed and the water line painted the same blue as the side panels.

Hull Bottom, First Coat

 I have masked the side panels with fine-line tape and "tape and drape" and painted the first coat on the bottom.  This paint cannot be sprayed unless you have a special ventilation system.  I used the "roll and tip" method, i.e., the paint is rolled on, followed by the tip of a paint brush to "tip off" any bubbles and roller texture marks.

Hull Bottom and Side Panels

All three coats of the bottom paint are on, and the masking on the water line and side panels has been removed.  You may be able to see some marks in the blue paint that were caused by the draping plastic.  That is not a problem though because I am planning to add a third coat.  I have to wait a couple weeks for the bottom paint to cure before I put any masking tape on it though.  At that time I will also mask off the water line and paint it at the same time as the side panels.  I decided not to exactly copy the prototype model and used a lighter blue paint.  I think the dark blue would look better though now that I have painted it.  When it comes time to repaint I will probably use the darker blue.

Hull Bottom Closer

This is a closer shot of the bottom after the roll and tip painting.  It looks really good here, but of course this is only a photograph and there are imperfections, many of which I will be able to rub out.  It won't look as good as a sprayed finish, but I am not going to be embarrassed by it at all.  You can also see the "unmasked" water line better in this shot.  I will paint the water line with a brush, but I may spray the side panels.  (A different type of paint which is OK for amateurs to spray is used on the side panels.)

Fiberglassing Hull Bottom and Side Panels, Installing Rubstrips

I started fiberglassing the hull bottom at 1 a.m. so it would be as cool as possible in the garage.  Didn't finish the first coat of epoxy until around 5:30, by which time I was totally exhausted.

It is best to epoxy the hull bottom and side panels all during the same session to get the best chemical bonding between the bottom and side panels.  The bottom is covered with two sheets of fiberglass cloth that overlap in the middle of the hull and over the keel.  I laid both these two sheets in place (sorry, no pictures), then laid the overlapping sheet back so I could epoxy the first sheet in place.  After applying epoxy to the first sheet, I then tried to lay the overlapping sheet back over it, but had great difficulty getting it laid out properly because the lower sheet was very sticky.  I worked on this a very long time and got it the best I could, but I still had some ripples which will have to be sanded off and patched after the epoxy cures.  At that point I decided it would be impossible to add the side panels and get them aligned properly without help.  I wasn't going to go looking for help at 5:30 a.m., so decided to wait and do the side panels after the bottom was cured and sanded.

Below is the bottom epoxied, and sanded where the side panels will be glued.  I have taped the over 15'-long side panels in place with an approximately 6" overlap.  After I have enough epoxy on the side panels I can then cut the overlap to 3" and remove the taped section.  (Trying to remove the tape from the fiberglass cloth itself would be a huge mess and probably mis-align the cloth.)

Hull Bottom Epoxied, Side Panels Fiberglass Taped in Place

Here the side panels have been epoxied in place.  I still ended up with a few ripples, which, again, will have to be sanded out and patched.

Hull Bottom and Side Panels Epoxied

Side Panels and Bottom Sanded, Rubstrips Started

In the above shot you can see that the entire bottom and side panels have had their initial sanding.  I am also adding rubstrips to the bow and keel noseblock, the two areas most likely to run into underwater debris.  At this point I have glued on two layers of dynel cloth with epoxy.

The next step is to add a layer of epoxy thickened with graphite. The graphite will make the surface extra strong and slippery.  That, along with the dynel cloth should do a very good job of protecting those two areas.  In the below shots, I have added the next layer of epoxy mixed with graphite.

Bow Rubstrup with Graphite/Epoxy Layer

Noseblock Rubstrip with Graphite/Epoxy Layer

I will do quite a bit of sanding and smoothing on the rubstrips.  I don't want to sand into the cloth, though, so any deep indentations will be filled later with fairing compound.