Hull Preparation and Painting
June, 2005
I admit I got off to a late start on the restoration this season. I've had allot of chores around the house I had to complete first before starting work on the boat. My son and I started on the boat around the first week of June. When we arrived at the boat yard everything at first glance looked normal. After we removed the tarp from the boat and did a closer inspection on the hull I noticed something new; very tiny gel coat blisters had formed at the center section of the hull just above the water line on both sides of the boat.
Tinny gel coat blisters appeared in a 3 square foot area on both sides of the hull above the water line after winter storage.
I'm guessing that what moisture that was left in the hull
finally escaped through the gel coat, if anybody has any other ideas please sign
into the guest book and let me know. I started cleaning the hull with acetone
and noticed that the acetone was pealing the paint off the hull. I had planned
on sanding the paint off the hull before priming and it didn't take much effort
to get it off. I used 60 grit to sand the blisters off right down to the
fiber glass. There where tinny holes in the fiberglass where the blisters where,
I will have to fair this area level with the rest of the hull. I have some
AwlGrip High Build that I plan on trying out, it is a two part epoxy base primer
that is normally sprayed on. My supplier said I may apply it with a fine nap
mohair roller. One coat dries to about 7 mils in thickness. I plan on applying 2
coats (one to two hours apart) of High Build and hopefully sanding it level with
the rest of the surface.
The Hi Build just made a mess on the surface. The paint is designed to be applied with a spray gun and not a roller. It went on uneven and didn't sand well. I wound up sanding it all off!
Hull after sanding out the gel coat blisters. (I now realize doing this was a big mistake please read below)
(June 2007, grinding down the surface of the hull shown above was a big mistake, I should have just sanded the blisters down flat to the surface and continued on as I describe below with multiple coats of Awl-Quick. It took me forever to reshape and fair the hull after doing what I did above. You should only strip down the hull like above if your are repairing hull damage.)
I have sanded most of the paint off of the hull using my 5 inch random orbital sander with 120 grit paper. I want to go over it a few more times using 150 grit and finally 220 grit. Before sanding I wash the hull off with clear water and wiped down the surface with acetone. The acetone cleans the surface and removes any oils or wax that may have come out of the fiberglass.
After sanding the hull using the 5 inch random orbital sander I started to notice small gouges caused by the hi speed spinning disk on the sander appearing on the hull surface I had trouble keeping the random orbital sander from bouncing off the hull surface while sanding. I carefully and gently completed the rough surface sanding and then switch over to my palm sander using 80 grit sand paper.
October, 2005
I have been using my palm sander to smooth down the hull applying awl-fair fairing compound with a 3 foot long fairing tool to fill in the dings and gouges and sanding with 80 grit then 150 grip paper. I hope to apply 2 coats of 545 epoxy primer before the weather turns cold to seal up the hull for the winter.
Repaired holes in transom using fiberglass and faired with AwlFair.
November 6, 2005
Primed Hull using AwlGrip 545 Primer
I wanted to apply a coat of epoxy 545 primer on the hill before the cold weather sets in. I applied a thick coat of the 545 primer using a short nap roller. I tried to tip it off but failed and decided to just roll it on seeing as I was going to sand most of it off later. I know now that I didn't add enough reducer (T0006) to the primer/converter 50/50 mix. It is late fall now and the humidity is very low. The primer flashes off from the hull very rapidity making it next to impossible to tip off during application.
The primer went on and with my wife Anne there to help me we where finished in about an hour. The primer dried to the touch very quickly and you could see an orange peel surface caused by not tipping off after rolling it on. But the hull looked good with the exception of some imperfections scattered around the hull that will require more fairing. The gray primer shows the imperfections more easily then the white primer would.
November 8, 2005
I went back to the boat today and started sanding down the primer on the hull in order to apply a second coat. The primer sanded beautifully, I used my palm sander with 150 grit paper, I was able to smooth out the orange peel and sanded many parts of the boat hull right down to the paint. The dimples and imperfections show up nicely while your sanding and I spent extra time sanding around them prepping the surface for the second coat.
After sanding I washed off the surface with water then wiped everything down with AwlGrip surface cleaner using the wash and wipe method. I mixed the 545 primer with D3001 converter and waited about 20 minutes for induction to take place. I then mixed in about 25 % by volume of T0006 reducer. The outside temperature was about 70 degrees and their was absolutely no humidity so I had to keep adding reducer. This time I was determined to tip off the primer. I placed a 2 1/2 inch corona brush in a small plastic container with about an 1/8 of an inch of reducer at the bottom of the cup. I rolled out about 3 square feet at a time of primer and then put the roller down and tipped it off using the corona brush. The primer was drying out fast and thickening up on the hull. so the small bit of reducer on the brush helped. When you tip off AwlGrip paint the paint levels out within a few minutes. The primer keeps the brush strokes etched in the paint until it dries. Even after it dries you can still see some brush strokes but the finish is much smoother then what you would get with just using a roller. Because the primer dries so quickly it is imposable to keep a wet edge unless you are painting with a partner, one rolling and the other right behind tipping. I plan on keeping this second coat in place until next spring. I will then sand it smooth, fair any deep imperfections with Awl Fair epoxy trowelable compound and applying a third coat of primer.
May 2007
As you can tell by the dates I didn't touch the Hull last year because I was too busy with other task, Mainly installing the engine and the application of the new bottom.
So this year I started out continuing to fair the bottom and re-sanding the hull. I had the boat shrink wrapped last autumn and the company I hired wrapped the hull of the boat all the way down to the water line. I didn't think much about it at the time but when I cut back the wrapping this spring the gel coat blisters where back this time all over the hull. I finally found a warning about shrink wrapping boats on the AwlGrip website: http://www.awlgrip.com/awlgrip_pages/application_guide_info.htm#18
Do not "shrink wrap" or tightly bind Awlgrip or Awlcraft
2000 Topcoat surfaces with plastic wrappings.
When tarping a boat for storage, the cover system should be ventilated to allow
the coating system to "breathe". Covers and tarps, whether synthetic or natural
fiber, should not be pulled tight to surfaces painted with Awlgrip or Awlcraft
2000 Topcoat. This condition can trap and hold moisture on the surface and may
result in loss of gloss, blistering, or delamination of the topcoat.
Caution should also be used to ensure that the tarp does not chafe against the
Awlgrip or Awlcraft 2000 Surface. Such chafing, especially when accompanied by
airborne dirt, can abrade the surface and cause premature loss of gloss.
I started out sanding and fairing the bottom of the boat paying particular attention to the water line where the new fiberglass meets with the upper hull. I faired and long boarded that section many times in order to achieve a match or blend between the two sections. As a result a lot of the primer above the water line was sanded away. With the newly formed gel coat blisters in mind I took my palm sander and 150 grit sand paper and started sanding down the hull. It took about 6 hours of careful sanding but when I was done the hull was smooth with few imperfections. Anything that looked of felt uneven was faired with System 3 fairing compound. Needless to say when I was done the hull looked a bit depressing.
I came back the next day and finished fairing and sanding any observed imperfections and then washed the hull using Simple Green thoroughly rinsing the entire surface top to bottom. Once it dried I cleaned it using Awlgrip surface prep T0008 washing it with one cloth and wiping it with another. I mixed one quart of Awl-Quick base with a quart of Awl-Quick converter. The converter is as thick as the base so I reduced it with 30% of T0031 brushing reducer. The temperature for May was high here in Maryland about 90 degrees so the mixture was flashing off quickly. I ended up rolling about 3 square feet at a time and then tipping it with a brush I kept soaking in about a 1/4 inch of reducer. Awl-Quick goes on thicker then 545 which is what it is suppose to do but doesn't level out any better then 545. Even when tipping there where still light brush marks left on the surface which should be easy to sand off. Awl-Quick is a sanding surfacer which if applied by brush is not quick, you still have to wait 12 hours before sanding. You should get 2 to 3 mils thickness per coat. What I want to do is one more coat of Awl-Quick and then seal it with a coat of 545 before applying the topcoat.
I'm now using a 5 inch palm sander attached by hose to my Fein vacuum with little or no dust flying through the air, it makes a big difference.
Brush marks after tipping, coverage of first coat of Awl-Quick primer.
I went back to the boatyard yesterday and started sanding down the awl-quick. I used my palm sander and 150 grit paper, I should have used 220 grit but I wanted to smooth out the entire surface once more and make sure the gelcoat blisters where filled in. It took me about 4 hours to complete the upper hull. The Awl-Quick product worked well as a sanding surfacer, the upper hull looks and feels very smooth however I did find a few more imperfections and once I finished sanding I faired them out. One more coat of Awl-Quick, seal it with 545 and hopefully I'm done with the priming.
Hull surface after sanding
June
I rolled on the second coat of Awl-Quick but this time I did NOT try tipping it off with a brush. The second coat covered the hull nicely but instead of brush marks I was left with roller marks, hopefully it will be easier to sand down. I've notice that the hull is starting to look good, smoother with even contours, hopefully all of the time fairing and prepping has paid off. Time will tell, that first coat of paint will definitely let me know if all of my prep work was done right. (I'll post some more pictures later)
3 coats of Awl-Quick and 1 coat of 545 primer
I went with an extra coat of Awl-Quick, three coats really improved the look of the upper hull. I applied the third coat with a roller, each coat consisted of both 1 quart of base and one quart of converter so after 3 coats I have applied 1 and 1/2 gallons of Awl-Quick to the hull surface. I sanded down the 2nd and 3rd coats with 220 grit paper and hand sanded the bow and upper hull. Each time it took me about 5 hours to sand the entire upper hull. The surface is now completely smooth with no imperfections. I wish I had used Awl-Quick on the deck, I've learned the hard way that the paint only covers the primer, so you have to make sure all of your prep work is done so that your surface is completely smooth before you even think of paint and that's where I went wrong with the deck. I now think of paint as the finish coat only!
I have since applied the first coat of Awlgrip 545 primer to the hall surface and sanded it down with 320 grit paper. 545 primer comes as a two part system. I'm using a white base and mixing it with D3001 converter. The base is very thick but the converter is thin almost like water. When you mix the two you get a creamy consistency that you can thin out with brushing reducer. I reduce it 10 to 15 percent only to have enough paint to finish the entire hull. I started by wiping down the hull with Awlgrip T0008 cleaner using the wash and wipe method recommended by Awlgrip. I then applied the primer with an ArrowWorthy 3/16 inch mohair nap roller which doesn't leave a deep nap pattern in the paint making it easier to sand. I sanded it down the next day with 320 grit which took me close to 6 hours, I used about 50-3M hookit gold film dust free disks to sand the entire upper hull. One more coat of primer and the hull is hopefully ready for paint!
Final coat of primer, ready for sanding.
I finished the sanding of the 7th coat of primer(2 coats of 545 gray primer, 3 coats of Awl Quick and 2 more coats of 545 white primer) I took the picture below when I was half way done with one side. The hull is just about ready for paint. It took about 6 hours to sand with 320 grit, there are a few light spots that I have to re-apply primer to before applying the first coat of Awlgrip topcoat. I'm going to have the boat moved to a cleaner part of the yard and re-blocked. I plan on building a staging platform around the boat before applying the topcoat.
Sanding down the primer using 320 grit paper took over 6 hours to complete but left the hull very smooth!
July 2nd 2007
First application of Awlgrip paint applied today
It was a perfect day for painting a boat, no wind, temperature in the high 70's and I was finishing up a 4 day stretch of time-off where I was able to catch up with work on the boat. One of the things I had to do was paint the deck again (see deck painting) and go over the light areas that didn't cover well on the hull with more primer and sanding. I had allot of fairing, sanding and re-priming around the entire gunwale of the boat which wasn't hard but a bit tedious. As I've been saying all along the deck was my learning curve on this project. I wasn't going to put a drop of topcoat on the hull until I was completely satisfied with all of the prep work and the prep work was key.
I was able to talk my wife Anne into coming down to the boat with me to help out with the painting. I had scheduled for the boat to be moved and re blocked to a cleaner part of the yard. When we got there the yard workers where having a busy morning so I put Anne to work on the deck removing tape while I finished sanding down some areas that still had primer on and then cleaning and wiping down the hull with Awlgrip surface cleaner. We finally got the boat moved after lunch, I setup a table right behind the boat, got all of my paint supplies laid out and started mixing paint. I wasn't too worried about this first coat of paint knowing I was going to sand it down anyway, I also didn't build any staging platforms around the boat. Most of the hard work is done and working with a second person (one rolling while the other is tipping) eases the progress. My first problem was how much paint should I mix, I didn't want to stop in the middle of the job to re-mix paint and then wait 20 minutes for paint induction to take effect. I also tried to judge the amount of paint I should mix by the amount of primer I used on each coat that I applied and that was a full 70 ounces. Knowing that the paint spreads out thinner I mixed up 16 ounces of Awlgrip brushing converter to 32 ounces of Awlgrip urethane oyster white topcoat paint and thinned it out with brushing reducer T0031 to about 56 ounces. I was way off, we only used about 30 ounces of paint mix, I probably could have painted the deck including the non skid areas and hull with that amount of paint.
The actual application of paint mix went extremely smooth, there was no stress trying to keep a wet edge like I had painting the deck, working with another person rolling while I was tipping kept the work flow moving along smoothly. We started off on the bottom of the boat under the transom. Unless I had another crew painting on the other side there was no way I would be able to keep a wet edge all the way around the boat so I hid my paint line under the boat. We moved along the starboard side of the hull with Anne rolling on the paint with a 3/16 inch nap roller, while she walked back to the table to put more paint on her roller I tipped off the paint with a 3 inch wide badger hair brush. There was no rushing, I told my wife we could go as slow as we like as long as we kept the paint edge wet. We moved along with a step ladder and soon developed a rhythm. This had to be one of the easiest jobs so far on the rebuild and the results where beautiful. The paint started leveling in minutes and stayed wet enough to re tip runs and sags for at least 8 minutes. While Anne was rolling on paint I was going back over areas looking for these runs and sags. I had to re-add reducer about ever 15 minutes, you could tell when the brush stopped gliding over the paint and started dragging it was time to splash in a bit more T0031. We painted the entire hull inside an hour and as you can see the first coat covered very well with some areas still showing through. My wife Anne said it all when she commented as we where painting that " we turned an ugly ducking into a beautiful swan". I will return next week to sand it down using my palm sander and 400 grit 3M gold paper and hand sand the gunwale with 320 grit 3M gold, hopefully I'll have time to get a second coat of paint on. My goal is hopefully to apply 3 coats of topcoat and be done with it!
My beautiful wife Anne showing off her work
First coat is complete, hopefully 2 more to go!
2nd coat of Awlgrip
The second coat went badly, It was a hot humid day and right after we started painting the wind picked up to almost a gust. I went back the next day and sanded down the hull with 400 grit paper and prepped the boat for another day of painting.
September 1st 2007 3rd coat of Paint
My wife and I waited for the weather report to be cool temperatures with no wind. By the time we started to paint yesterday the temperature was about 78 degrees with not even a breeze. We did everything the same but after Anne rolled on the paint I started spreading it out using my 3 inch badger hair brush in a horizontal direction keeping the paint as thin as possible on the surface. Once I finished a section I tipped it off north to south. My wife Anne who still has a keen set of eyes pointed out runs and sags. Because it was a cool day and we where using more reducer this time we had more time to go back and fix problems. But when we made the turn at the bow we didn't look back and a run formed at the cutout for the starboard running light. We also had some faint dark areas showing through so even though this third coat looked great (we got allot of positive comments from people at the boat yard) I'm going to hopefully give it one more coat but this time I ordered some 500 grit 3M gold disk paper to use when I sand down the surface.
Third coat of paint looks fantastic except I have two runs in the paint.
4th and Final Coat of Hull Paint
Sanding down the 3rd coat of paint with 500 grit 3M Gold disk
The weather report for the weekend looked good so my plan was to apply the 4th and final coat of Awlgrip Oyster White to the hull and finally be done with painting. I arrived at the boat Saturday morning and started sanding down the hull using 500 grit Gold disk paper. By this time there where hardly any imperfections I had to worry about only a few runs and dark spots showing through the paint. The 500 grit took the shinny finish down quickly without removing too much paint. The sanding took about 3 hours and left the hull very smooth. I finished by rinsing down the entire boat with water and wiping it down with cotton rags. Once the paint dust was off of the surface I could inspect it for any areas I may have missed and re-sand those spots.
My wife and I arrived late morning on Sunday. It was a cool morning and I didn't want to start painting until the temperature was well into the seventies. As it was the temperature didn't get much above 72 degrees which presented a entirely different dynamic to the paint job we did. I've found that Awlgrip paint has different characteristics depending on temperature humidity and air movement. The cooler temperature yesterday with little to no humidity made the paint flow differently, it went on the surface looking very wet after tipping it off, a big surprise at first but soon it leveled out and tightened up looking fantastic. Throughout the painting once again we had to keep adding reducer to keep the paint flowing and leveling out. I do have one or two imperfections that I will buff out later but on the whole my wife and I are very happy with the look.
I suggest that if you decide to paint your boat with Awlgrip obtain the Awlgrip Application Guide and read it because with Awlgrip you can't stray too far off the reservation and expect good results. The company is very specific about mixes and procedures, which from time to time I didn't follow and wound up having to do the job again.
Final coat of hull paint!
September 23,
