Have I ruined my boat ?

[Dave-Fethiye]

Yesterday I sanded the hull of my 12m wooden boat. I am new to boat repair as this is my first boat.

Everything seemed to be going well - I used my grinder with the sanding disc attachment and a no. 50 sanding disc (well 10 of them).

It was only when I was putting on the primer coat that I realised that the surface is covered with flat "facets" rather than being a nice smooth convex shape. :(

I finished putting on the primer coat as I wanted it protected from the sun and heat ( here in fethiye, Turkey it is 48 C ).

So, I think that I have just discovered that there is more to sanding a boat that I thought !

Can this be "fixed" ? Should I hire someone to re-sand the boat to get back the nice shape - is that called fairing ?

I'd appreciate your comments and help, I am feeling a bit low !
Thanks.

[jehardiman]

Depending on the apparent "depth" of the flat spots you sanded in, you may or may not have significantly degraded the hull. You have ruined the smooth finish though and will need to re-fair the hull if you want a good smooth glossy surface. Many workboats though are never faired. BTW, the proper way to strip a smooth wooden hull is to use a chemical stripper or a heat gun and scraper followed by primer and a long board.

The way to re-fair the hull now without further damaging the hull is to lay on several thick high solid primer coats. Tint each one a different color. Get yourself a long board. This is a sanding board made out of a thin strip of flexible wood (say 75mm wide by 1200mm long x <5mm thick) with handles on both ends. Wrap long strips of fine sandpaper around the board. Using long strokes, fore and aft and at +/- 30-45 degrees, cut down the filler coats until the base coat shows on the high points. Once the whole hull is done, do it again (and maybe again) until the cut down is fairly even over the whole hull.

Remember the first rule about power tools, they just let you mess up a whole lot faster.

[timgoz]

Dave,

Sounds like you can salvage it but be prepared to spend 5 times or more longer than it took to flat spot it. As stated above, power tools can get you into trouble FAST.

I certainly do not envy the job ahead of you, especially with the extreme heat. Once done though, you'll have a reason to be very proud of her beautiful finish.

Welcome to the forum by the way. Take care & good fortune with your project.

Tim

[VKRUE]

Dave,
don't give up.

Jehardimen has given you good advice.

A good friend talked me into buying a nice Dewalt brand 4 1/2" grinder to remove the paint on my 17' hull... needless to say, after he demonstrated it's effectiveness - I opted to use stripper and eventually a heat gun and putty knife. I'll have to re-fair the small area where he applied the grinder.

Like Tim said, once the job is complete you'll be proud as a peacock :D

Welcome to the forum.

[Dave-Fethiye]

Thanks for the advice.
So it looks like I can repair the damage - it will just take time.

As I am keen to get the boat in the water, I have decided to finish the painting and then re-do the sanding the next time I take it out of the water. I am going to re-furb the interior next winter, so the sanding job can be done then. Bear in mind that I bought the boat on the hard standing - so I have yet to enjoy it being in the water - the boat will still look pretty good and at least its not something that is going to get worse !

[USCGRET/E8]

If you top coat it with a satin or semi-gloss, it might not be as noticable.

[Raggi_Thor]

A friend of mine did the same to his house 10 years ago. The paint is still very good :-) So it's probably cosmetic. But I understand that you want to fair the bat again. Good look, make a longboard.