my work

Ive started painting the super structure

The interior of the super structure is painted and once again Ive discovered the hard way just how big a boat this is.

To begin, I am changing the paint schedule. After speaking with a commercial boat yard, they have me convinced to  only prime the interior of the super structure. The interior metal will get covered with closed cell spray foam then the liner will go over that. There is nothing such as UV or physical abuse that is going to break the primer down, so a top coat of paint is really not needed. I gave the interior a thorough blasting and applied three coats of epoxy primer.

Because I  have to weld the super structure to the hull, I taped off the the bottom edge of the metal so I will not have to grind away the primer later. Having the prime being burnt off by the welding is not only nasty, it can lead to the  primer gas mixing with the weld shielding gas and cause a defect in the weld. Porosity of the weld would be one example of a defect of this nature. Taping the joint is a heck of a lot faster and easier vs grinding.

Because paint over spray is not an issue with the interior, I decided to do this area first. Acting on the advice of some experienced paint people, I have taken a different approach to painting this part of the boat vs the hull. When I painted the hull, I blasted then primed, then started doing my fairing and filler work. The paint guys talked me into blasting the joints I want to do filler work, applying the filler, then blasting the rest of the metal then priming. Doing the work in this order will save me time as I will avoid some scuffing. This order of work will save me the most time on the roof. I  have a few areas I want to do some filler work on so I blasted those areas clean, and applied some filler. The filler work Im doing on the roof is more for function than for aesthetics. Ill sand those areas smooth, blast the rest of the roof, apply two coats of primer, and within the 72 hour chemical bond able time limit, Ill top coat the roof. No scuffing will be needed, and the more reliable chemical connection between primer and top coat is achieved.

The sides of the super structure is the area that everyone is going to see. For the sides, Im blasting all the joints and welds I want to fill over, then Im applying filler. Ill sand the filler smooth, blast the rest of the sides clean, and two coats of epoxy primer. While the primer is still hot, Ill apply two coats of sand able high build primer and long board that coat smooth. I know Ill be doing some more filler work on top of the high build, but thats  to be expected to get a nice finish. Once Im good with the high build surface ( my version of good is different than a professional body mans version). Ill spray another coat of primer to seal the high build, then top coat with my off white Acrylic Urethane. At this point the paint will be finished, and the list will be that much smaller.

Ill be posting updates as I work through the roof and sides.

The move to the launch site continues to get pushed back further. October seems doable, but early November seems more realistic. Once the paint work is finished, there is still work to be done here in the shop that will make the launch site assembly go faster. There is really no reason to slow things down by getting in a hurry. This is a big ass ed job, for one man to do by himself, and the time it takes is going to be the time it takes. I can only hope that the crap weather holds off until I have her dried in at the launch site, but Ive worked my whole life out in crap weather, so Im not to worried about me. I just dont want to compromises any work on the boat nor cost myself extra money.

Ill have the roof blasted and primed this weekend, and if all goes well, well have a off white roof to look at come Monday evening or Tuesday morning.




Cheers