Painting logistics

[bhartley]

I am ready to prime Miranda's (my CD Typhoon) deck and cockpit. I've faired and sanded until I can't take it any more! I am using Interlux's Pre-Kote primer for single part paints.

Any suggestions on how best to do the final preparation? Any guidance on the fiberglass solvent wipe down? I have no standing headroom on the deck and just barely headroom in the cockpit. I have access with a ladder and 6' of staging which isn't very moveable.

When priming, should I start with the cabin top first and the move to the stemhead and work aft down one side and then the other? I have to paint my way out of the cockpit so I'll have to leave a small path to escape down the ladder.

Any shared experience would help. I can't bear the thought of making a mistake and having to sand it all back off again!

Thanks,

Bly

[Figment]

If you're working singlehanded, I don't think you're going to be able to keep a wet edge over the whole boat. You might want to think about where you want to leave a hard edge, and tackle the thing in stages.

Think of the primer application as a dress-rehearsal for the actual paint application. Try one strategy with the first coat, learn from it, adapt for the second coat, and so on.

My one caveat with the pre-kote and brightsides is to choose your weather window carefully. I need to repaint much of my cabinhouse because the weather was too hot when I applied it. The paint skinned-over too quickly, trapping curing vapors within.

Sing it with me....... Tiiiiiiiiiinyyyyyyy bubbles..... on my booooooat.... look so crappyyyyyyy...... well at least the thing flooooooats....

[grampianman]

Hello Bly,
It seems you are under a cover what with no standing headroom on deck, etc. My first, probably unnecessary, bit of advice is be careful of the fumes from the paints. I used Petit Paints primer under very open conditions and if I got too close to the paint, boy, good times!
I'll offer my experience which was... I did a dry run. I literally picked up a roller and mimed my way through the process as I did not want to back myself into a corner. I ended up painting cabin-top first, then over to my portside, moving from the cockpit toward the bow. Then, from the bow toward the cockpit on the starboard side. The sides of the cabin were done as I was doing the side-deck. Fairly straight forward. The cockpit with it's multiple planes was more difficult, which I had not considered. I started at the stern and painted side-deck, seat-back, seat, cockpit side, cockpit floor and over to the other side in the reverse order. Picture the painter in the middle of the cockpit and painting from that position toward the stern. My escape route was over the starboard side. I found as I was painting myself out of the cockpit over the starboard side I got into some awkward angles and so left parts of the cockpit unpainted. After having that experience, I found the easier way was to work from the front of the cockpit/back of the cabin toward the stern with my escape route directly over the stern. I was then left with no real awkward shapes to conted with. You can also read about my mistake in the project part of the forum and my experience with Petit primer. I will be going on my boat tomorrow and scrape all of the paint off of the cabin and cockpit. I did not read and comprehend the instructions on the can of primer. I used acetone and clean rags to wipe down the raw epoxy and sanded gel coat.

Good luck,
Cheers,
Ian
Wing & a Prayer, Grampian 23

[Jason K]

Sing it with me....... Tiiiiiiiiiinyyyyyyy bubbles..... on my booooooat.... look so crappyyyyyyy...... well at least the thing flooooooats....

You must have borrowed Britton's repirator. I've been singing your song though, and I just can't carry the tune through flooooooooooooats. My voice cracks around the fifth "o." I was asked to leave the coffeeshop.

Any guidance on the fiberglass solvent wipe down?

I'm sure you know to use the Interlux product. For my prep, I washed the whole boat (inside and out) to get rid of all the dust. That took all day. I then wiped the prepped surfaces down with regular acetone. It's remarkable how much cleaning needs to be done, and the Interlux wash is too expensive to use for the first wipe down. I followed the acetone with the Interlux and painted almost immediately.

When I painted the skid sections, it was August and I could not get the brush strokes to lie down to save my life with the primer. The Brightsides was much easier to tip out. So, don't get frustrated if your primer doesn't go on perfect. You have to sand it anyway (you didn't think you were done sanding did you? :) ).

When priming, should I start with the cabin top first and the move to the stemhead and work aft down one side and then the other? I have to paint my way out of the cockpit so I'll have to leave a small path to escape down the ladder.

I did the cabin top first then started at the starboard bow and worked my way aft to the poop deck. I then painted the cockpit, starting at the well and working up to where the coamings are mounted. From there, I worked up the port side and did the final bit sitting on the dock (I did it in my slip).

Just plan everything out carefully. Know what you'll put where as you paint around the boat. You want to move quickly. Have two brishes ready to go for tipping out and a rag in your pocket for drips.

Also, I painted and primed my skid and non-skid sections separately to avoid taping over fresh primer and to leave the faint pattern of the original molded non-skid visible as a guide. Take your time with the taping. It is far and away the most difficult part of the job (after sanding) and will dictate the quality of the end result. Of course, use good tape and will conform to the slight curves and have a utility knife handy for cutting the sharper radii.

Here's a link that outlines the "skid" application. It's thin on details, but there may be something on there that you'll find helpful.
http://www.triton218.com/Projects/Skid_App.html

Good louck and take photos!

[bhartley]

Thanks guys! Huge help especially Jason's info & site since its specific the the Interlux products I'm using.

We're due for terrible thunderstorms tonight through mid-morning. Sunday-Tuesday is predicted to be sunny, clear, light breeze and a high of 70. Sounds as close to perfect as I can get.

I'm going to start the final cleaning tomorrow morning as soon as the rain stops. Hopefully I'll be posting a positive report on Sunday night.

Bly

[bhartley]

The first coat of primer went on reasonably well this afternoon. It wasn't a total transformation, but she does look a lot better!



There were a couple of unanticipated problems. Most important, I hadn't planned out where I was going to put the paint tray while I worked. At one point I had the tray too far to reach and had to scramble back to the cockpit and up the other side. Next coat, I'll make sure I keep a path to the scaffolding clear up on the bow to avoid the problem.

A problem none of you guys had thought of was umm... uhh... limiting fluids before starting. No porta-pottie on board. I didn't dare stop and I was pretty miserable by the end!

I find it hard to believe that I will now have to sand most of it off! Maybe its just a racket to sell more primer???

I will probably skip a second coat of primer on the non-skid areas for now to make it easier to get a quality job on the foredeck in particular. The areas have a very well defined ridge around each section.

Thanks for all of the advice. I might have just spent the next 3 months fairing and sanding waiting for the nerve to prime.

Bly

[Jason K]

Looks great! The hard part is over now. This project will move forward at light-speed compared to the slow and tedious efforts of fairing and sanding.

The primer sands very easily, so long as you give it enough time to harden up. It took, for me, a FULL 24 hours. Any sooner and I would just gum up the sandpaper.

The painting gets easier as you go along and you figure out the best way to paint your way around the boat (and the best places to put the tray).

One thing to look for since the first primer coat is on - If you have any surfaces that are markedly out of fair, they'll show up prominently now that the primer homogenizes the deck. Fair it now (if there are any parts that need it) while it's still painless.

[Figment]

The first coat of primer went on reasonably well this afternoon. It wasn't a total transformation......

Aw, horse hockey! Having just primed my topsides a few days ago, I can say with absolute certainty that it is completely transformitive!!!

Ditto everything Justin said.

(edited to remove asinine expletive)

[Tim]

Unlike many paint systems, Interlux actually recommends that the final coating of Pre-Kote primer be thin enough to be translucent after sanding--so more than one coat is rarely necessary, unless you had to sand so much that you burned through the primer in many areas.

Just something to keep in mind--and something that might actually save you some work, too!

[Tim]

Aw, horses**t!

Profanity with stars replacing letters is exactly the same as typing the real word in the first place.

This language is unnecessary and unwanted here--I'd appreciate if this could be avoided in the future. Thanks!

[Jason K]

Unlike many paint systems, Interlux actually recommends that the final coating of Pre-Kote primer be thin enough to be translucent after sanding--so more than one coat is rarely necessary, unless you had to sand so much that you burned through the primer in many areas.

Just something to keep in mind--and something that might actually save you some work, too!

Now you tell me! :)

After sanding my first coat I did burn through the primer in a couple of spots and I could still see the multi-colored results of my repair and fairing efforts. Plus, I was having a heckuva time with brush marks, so I put a couple more coats on.

I think part of it was apprehension over the final application of Brightsides; I wanted (and needed) the practice.

[bhartley]

The directions say 1-2 coats depending on surface condition... Not exactly sure how that goes. I'm going for two since it will make me feel like I didn't cut corners. It also says it "hides well" and I don't know how that can be if you sand it to translucent!

It's an adventure if nothing else!