Blackrock 24 (Build)

Well it has been a little chilly here too - 5 deg C max one day maybe 2 on another so say 37 deg F mmm perfect epoxy coating temperature......

Fortunately I can get enough temp in the w/shop right side of 10 deg C which is the critical point for most paints and epoxies.

 

-5 C here this morning. The lowest setting on my garage thermostat is 45 F (7.2222222222222222222222222 C ) so the shop never gets below that. I usually put it between 55-60F for doing normal stuff. Even my slow epoxy kicks over night at those temps, but the finishes/paints want even more. I don't seem to have keeping a wetted edge at these temps though. Silver linings, right?

==========================================================

I didn't like coat number two on my boot stripe. Apparently, I knocked a bunch of stuff loose from my tipping brush while cleaning it and so it was leaving all kinds of debris in the paint on this coat. I just kept rolling and tipping knowing there was another coat yet to do. I gave the brush a good amount of whacking and vacuuming to make it serviceable again. I don't do this often enough to keep my skills fresh. It always feels like learning curve with these projects. I did a heavy sand on C #2 and took care of a bunch of other sins, too. I felt like I was getting the hang of it again on this coat (#3). I was fearing a fourth to get this right, but it all worked out. Good uniform coverage. Nicely tipped. Not too much debris/dust. I've accepted the fact that my finishes aren't going to be perfect. I shoot for something better than a 50/50 finish. i.e. Looks good at 50 feet and 50 MPH. (an old hot rodders term) I'm hoping for a 20/10 finish. Keep the magnifying glasses away!

Paul, SS, did you see my comments/questions regarding 2 part v. single part primers a couple of posts back?

 

Personally I'd keep her all 2K then you know what you have all the way through. It is a lot more durable than the one pack stuff. More expensive up front but you tend to get the cost back in the fact that it requires less repainting once done, a few touch ups rather than complete coats a few years down the line. Temperature set off is the same for both types on the whole.

If your foam rollers are disintegrating it may be old foam as it does degenerate with UV. I'd just change the foam roller or get fresh stock or a different brand. I tend to buy the cheapest fresh ones I can find as they are one time use, but if thay are at all 'yellowed' avoid them. Again personal but I can't get as good a finish with the flecky emulsion rollers at all.

 

I guess I need to get a smaller graduated container. Maybe even a glass measuring cup for mixing smaller quantities of the two part stuff. That's my biggest concern is being able to mix the right amount and not end up with wastage (word?). And pouring the glop from the can for smaller amounts. But, I'm just crying because I'm doing a learning curve again and it makes my head hurt.

On the up side, I've been pouring the part B in to the mixing measuring container first because it set the quantity for the part A and there is more room for error with the Part A then there is for the Part B. The side benefit is that as the Part A glops into the Part B, the A part immerses in the B and the B flows up the container in a level fashion to indirectly indicate the volume of Part A that has been put into the container. If the A doesn't immerse completely, a little shake or tap od the container will settle the components for a good volume indication. Hope that all makes sense to everyone.

 

I guess I need to get a smaller graduated container. Maybe even a glass measuring cup for mixing smaller quantities of the two part stuff. That's my biggest concern is being able to mix the right amount and not end up with wastage (word?). Not to mention, pouring the glop from the can for smaller amounts. But, I'm just crying because I'm doing a learning curve again and it makes my head hurt.

On the up side, I've been pouring the part B in to the mixing measuring container first because it sets the quantity for the part A and there is more room for error with the Part A than there is for the Part B. The side benefit is that as the Part A glops into the Part B, the A part immerses in the B and the B flows up the container in a level fashion to indirectly indicate the volume of Part A that has been put into the container. If the A doesn't immerse completely, a little shake or tap of the container will settle the components for a good volume indication. Hope that all makes sense to everyone.

My rollers, for the primer anyways, are all new, but super cheap. They are a thin grey foam and I think the components in the epoxy attack the binders that keep the foam attached to the inner cardboard tube. I've seen it happen with my regular epoxy, but not quite so rapidly as with the epoxy primer. I think they are about $1.00 a piece USD and I only plan to use them once. For my paint, so far, I use the smaller (1" dia.) foam rollers. I don't clean these either. If I'm painting over a course of several days, I will double bag them in plastic Ziploc bags, squeeze all of the air out and throw them in the freezer. The next day, I will pull them out and let them get to room temp before removing them from the bags. It's nice because they are all primed/loaded with paint and ready for action. Cleaning them would be a real pain and costly. I use them until the paint is suspect and then I throw them away. Cleaning solvents are way to costly any more. Even with oil prices falling, I don't anticipate solvents and thinners to drop in price. Heavy sigh.

 

The rollers I'm using are white and yes about 1" diameter, but a bit cheaper which is unusual for he UK!. In the old days of brushing we used to put the brushes in acetone in a large sweet jar after varnishing with 2k varnish. Kept for ages, you'd just get the brush out, flick off the acetone and start using again. I doubt the roller foam would like that.... and confess to not even trying it, but it might be worth a try.

 

A little bit of progress. Cool temperatures really slow the finish process. I really get impatient watching paint dry. I'm hoping few a few days that I can work continuously and knock out most of the items on the "short list".

The current short list is:

Finish the epoxy primer inside the C/B box and minor transom areas.
Lay out paint scheme at the sheer. (This may wait until after roll-over so it can be combined with deck painting, but will define areas for varnish.)
Bottom paint the bottom and C/B box.
Varnish topsides below sheer paint.


It's a fairly short list, but may take another month at my current pace. I have turned my thoughts towards roll-over and the cradle fixture. I would like to be able rock(roll) the cradle side-to-side, even as far as 90 degrees, to aid in topside and interior construction. I've estimated the VCG to be about a foot above the hull bottom at this stage and with an eight foot beam, to get an effortless roll, an arc from the VCG will put the hull up about three feet. The question is, "Is it worth the build effort to have a rocking jig or is it best to just dive in with the construction and just deal with the fixed jig?" A somewhat rhetorical question. I bit of fixturing is required for roll-over and if this can be utilized during further construction, then it's a win/win situation.

Anyway, here is the latest.

 

Well, bit by bit by bit. Progress is in baby steps right now. And a whole lot of sanding.

The centerboard box is all primered now. I mixed the remaining two-part primer coated the inside corners of the box and recoated areas that got a little thin from sanding everything smooth. The primer will have to wait a week before final sanding and bottom paint.

I've hit the topsides with the sander and laid out the sheer for paint. The sheer strip has been primered. I opted to go with single part primer here as I had some on had and the budget is still reeling from the holidays. Some unplanned furnace repairs are in the mix also. Maybe in the next day or two I'll get some more paint on.

The transom was still needing some epoxy coats in places, so that has also been happening.

I have about convinced myself to build a hull rolling fixture that will hold the boat until completion. I'll post more on that later if it comes to being.

 

A view with my wide angle lens.

 

Hi LP,

Would you mind saying the brand of paint you are using? Are you happy with it?

Thanks

It looks great!

Pat

 

Anti foul doesnt like to dry out. Recoating requires an RO sanding and still produces a thick antifoul buildup with jackstand marks after a few years.

If I was going to do a part time in the water boat I would use one of the copper loaded epoxies. Coppercoat is one brand. They mature into a pleasing greenish colour.

Seems to last for years with only a scotchbright wash to free up a fresh layer of copper.

 

Thanks for the praises, Pat. For the colored paint, I'm using using Interlux Brightsides single-part. I've used it for years. It rolls and tips pretty well and I get a finish that is suitable for my needs. I've thought about trying other products, but availability and colors available on hand at the marine store always send me right to Brightsides. The grey primer is a two part epoxy primer with West Marine labeling. Most likely a Petit product. Hideous stuff to work with. Stinks to high heaven and clogs yous sand paper horribly. Once past that it's probably a great and durable product. The varnish will be Petit 2015 to build coats and for UV protection followed by a coat of Captains Varnish 1015 with its flow abilities. 1015 lies down with a brush exceptionally.

 

Most of thec eplies that I received lend me to believe that the anti fouling coat was unnecessary due to limited exosure periods of my vessel. Not to diregard group wisdom, I selected a copper based ablative product that is supposedly formulated for trailered boats. At the very worsed, I figure it will be the easiest to remove marine growth that doesn't come off through the planned ablative action. I like the idea of the copper epoxy, but there didn't seem to be consensus on it's performance.

 

I put the second coat of off white on the sheer stripe a couple of days ago and pulled the tape. My fear was that I had made it too broad. Once I get the central colored field painted, I believe it will look less wide. My hull sides are fairly slab-sided (firm bilges and garage door width) so I'm trying to distract the eye with things to look at. I think it is working.

I had set out yesterday to mask off for the colored field in the sheer strip, but also wanted to let the base color take more of a set before applying masking tape to it. Creative masking will let me use the same piece of tape for the color field and the varnish line below the with stripe. 2" tape will give me a 2" white line, about 4" of central colored field and a 2" white stripe above. The white field tapers at the ends, but the white stripes will be of constant width so the central color field will be where the taper shows. Part of the masking for this whole operation will be in place until the varnish on the hull sides is complete so I want the underlying paint to be as solid as possible before taping over it.

All of that being said, I set out to sand on the transom yesterday to hopefully get it to where paint and varnish can be applied. It had had some epoxy "dimples" in it that I was filling with multiple coats in those locations. It was quite messy looking and I wondered if I shouldn't have tried to work it differently. I single coat with plastic sheeting might have made for a cleaner job. Anyway, I lots of runs to sand out to make everything smooth and fair. I argued with this for a couple of hours with some success, but the filler applications still had a slight greenness to them that made them argue with my sand paper so I tossed it in and searched fore a less formidable combatant.

It had been a week or more since I did the touch up on the primer on the lower hull so I loaded my sanding block with some fresh 80 grit. Promising, but I needed increase my level of attack. The 2-part epoxy primer is thick and goes on with a lot of stipple from the roller so there is a lot "texture" to be dealt with. I grabbed my sanding block that accepts 3"x21" sanding belts and put a 36 gritter on it. This was a risky proposition. If I sanded too heavy with this tool of assault, I'd cut right through the primer and be in a really BAD place (physically AND emotionally). Almost ne pressure was used and the aggressive grit did it's work cutting through the stipple and not cutting too deeply elsewhere. 80 grit and sanding followed and was finished off with an orbital, also with 80 grit. This went smoothly as I work section after section down the hull. 80% was done and the next 20% is waiting. This will work out nice as I'll be able to do the bottom coat before putting the final coats on where the drip might fall. Yesterday was ultimately productive so I need to stop messing around here and keep the ball rolling.

A quick look at the unmasked sheer stripe.

 

Visually, to make the freeboard appear lower, a light boat is given a dark cove stripe. This is much more difficult to do with a dark hull and a light cove stripe or sheer stake. In your case to offer some visual complexity to the hull's relatively flat sides, a rub rail boarding the stripe will help a good bit, providing some architectural detail for the eye to be drawn to. She's going to look great and you can make changes, if this seems a big enough issue, once she upright.