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Old 12-16-2019, 06:11 AM
nyvoyager nyvoyager is offline
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More than a few months late with my reply - just saw your post.
Thanks for the answer of how long.
I'm giving serious consideration to painting my Pearson 30, that is once i get the rest sorted out.
Any assessment on how it has held of would be great.
Thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by sastanley View Post
Yes, I used Alexseal 442 primer as well..4 coats. I could probably done it with 2 if I had used the Alexseal 302 high-build primer first..but the number of total coats would probably be the same, 4 primer, 3 top coat, & 4 coats on the flag blue stripes.



I would have to guess, but I can provide some general information. I hauled the boat April 14 for bottom paint..A couple weeks into that project, I decided to get my rear-end in gear and do the hull too..so I started filling scratches and sanding on April 30, after doing the bottom prep. I launched on June 24, but I had the hull complete on our about June 20. That last weekend was bottom paint. There was a span of an entire week where I didn't do anything due to other commitments, or a day or two I skipped from heat/rain/lazy/waiting on paint to dry/shipping in more paint, etc..

Out of those 55-ish days, I probably worked on it 35-40 days...sometimes for an hour to do something easy like pop out the thru-hulls, or spread epoxy, and sometimes for 6 or 7 hours. I used some leave but was still doing my regular job during this time too. On really hot days, you sand the shady side of the boat, and go home drenched. Or, wait for it to cool off or the sun to move to the other side and go at it some more. On really nice days I took the whole day off and worked on the boat all day, or until my shoulders gave out. I got better about breaking the tasks into chunks as I went along..(i.e., you don't have to sand the entire boat in one shot just because you primed it yesterday..) However, you have a two day window to apply the next coat after you sand..so sometimes parts of the work were time driven. In between coats of paint, it was easy to see where I had/had not sanded for the next coat, so i could stop and restart later if I had a work meeting or darkness, etc.

The longest part of the process some days was getting motivated enough to haul the shop vac/sander/electric/respirator out of the boat via ladder every time I wanted to start work and setting that all up. Once I got going, I could sand one side in 60-75 minutes, or the whole boat in 2 1/2-ish hours..For sanding, I had an 8 foot board in between a couple of ladders, and that was about right, because the sandpaper usually quit cutting by that length, so I got fresh paper and moved the 'scaffolding'. When I got to the top-coat paint part, I lengthened the scaffolding to the entire side of the boat so I didn't have to stop and move ladders and lose the wet edge.

You always at least had to wait overnight to sand paint, but if I was ambitious enough I could get a coat per day on it...but, you would need to sand early, wash, dry, solvent wipe, tack cloth, mix paint & apply all in one day. Once, I did get two coats of primer on without sanding because I was inside the application window, but all top coats had to dry and be sanded to 400 grit in between. (600 grit on the stripes.)

So, there isn't a short answer, but if I guessed, maybe 125-130 hours? But there was a lot of moving ladders and equipment around, or washing the boat and waiting for it to dry before/after sanding (and taking beer/water/lunch breaks ) too. If you had nothing else to do, and did not need to stop (i.e., in a shelter), this could maybe be done in 12-15 days. You would need weather and discipline though..neither of which I am very good at controlling..

Once the boat was one color (a couple coats of primer) and I had sanded it smooth, I started getting motivated. I would go home all giddy after sanding the boat to 400 grit, even though it was dull and drab...but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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