old boat..new owner..needs tlc..might as well start a thread about it and its A4

[Administrator]

going thru the process of painting our boat. we were in the awlgrip group. but then the boatworks today guy on youtube just showed the new alexseal holy ****, that stuff is impressive nice job, well done. you have inspired me to give it a whirl now

Here's the Youtube video, I think. Lots of useful tips.

[YOUTUBE]QtD0wvNAjD0[/YOUTUBE]

Bill

[sastanley]

Shawn:

I figured that was a spray job by the folks at SCM.

Amazing result! Way to go!

Bill

Roll and tip....3 coats on the grey, 4 coats on the stripes. Took the boat out today!
The A-4 ran flawlessly, by the way!

Not sure what my wife was doing on the bow but she was having fun! I was just rolling up the flag as we worked our way to the slip so I didn't mess that up.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Not sure what my wife was doing on the bow but she was having fun!

Modern day figurehead.

TRUE GRIT

[thatch]

"She's a Beaut"
Tom

[Wisakedjack]

Shawn, did you use a primer and if thats the case which one? Or did you just paint over the old paint? Thanks.

[Boat]

Here's the Youtube video, I think. Lots of useful tips.

[YOUTUBE]QtD0wvNAjD0[/YOUTUBE]

Bill

thats the one, love that guys channel

[nyvoyager]

Now that is impressive!
If i may ask - how many hours in the prep and paint?

[sastanley]

Shawn, did you use a primer and if thats the case which one? Or did you just paint over the old paint? Thanks.

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.

Now that is impressive!
If i may ask - how many hours in the prep and paint?

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.

[sastanley]

Thread bump - A-4 running great.

We have actually been sailing some this summer. These pics are from August 2019 taken by some friends on a powerboat. I need to invest in new sails I guess..the mainsail is now 10 years old and pretty deep (ex-sail loft employee so I am a bit critical), and the genoa is even worse..probably gonna look for a furler for the next headsail...hanks don't always make things convenient.

[zellerj]

Did you raise your boot stripe? Mine is right at the waterline and gets a little hairy. If I ever paint my hull I will probably raise it a few inches.

[sastanley]

zellerj,
Sorry, I am a month late. Yes, I did raise the water line, about 1.75", for the same reason. Mine would get especially dirty along the waterline under the cockpit, because we store sails and junk in the quarterberth & port sail locker. I had already moved up the bottom paint to the bottom of the boot stripe, because from years of scrubbing growth, that one inch of original gelcoat stripe between the boot & bottom paint was mostly gone, and I was getting into the blue-ish layer of whatever was underneath.

I know that boot stripes changed over the run, but my boat originally had:
- top of the bottom paint
- one inch gelcoat stripe
- 3.75" boot stripe (at beam looking straight on..wider at the ends)


I divided the waterline into mostly evenly spaced stations and measured/marked the original boot stripe width about every 12-16" or so..that meant about 20-22 stations. With the dramatic changes in boot stripe width under the transom, the stations grew closer as the curve got more dramatic (8"+ at the rudder). I wrote the boot stripe width into the sanded bottom paint with a sharpie, because I saw no reason to re-create that from scratch.

I used the bottom of the old boot stripe and ran 2" tape, using the bottom edge of it as a guide and painted the boat, effectively moving everything up 1" from factory waterline location. The hull paint stopped at the old boot stripe bottom.

When it came time to re-create the boot stripe, I left a .94" gap (tape width) like the original, starting at the bottom of the old boot stripe, and, since I liked the look of a double boot stripe, I added a .75" (3M Fine Line) grey stripe and a .94" blue top stripe on top of the original. That taping job took an entire day all by itself. I probably should have taken a break, I can see in the pictures that the port side boot stripe towards the stern is not straight, probably due to fatigue and lack of concentration since I started at stbd aft and worked around.

So, I guess by the end of the day, I moved it all up 1.94".

[thatch]

Paint question

Hi Shawn, Again, great paint work. After seeing your work, I contacted Alexseal requesting their color charts and subsequently asked "which white would be right for my '78 C-30?". Since they didn't have the answer and since there are about four near matches, can I ask which one you chose?. It would appear that "T 9130 Off White" closely matches my factory gel coat.
Tom

[sastanley]

Tom, I actually painted the boat, T7152, Pearl Grey..Laura wanted to mix it up a little bit from standard Catalina 'white', but I didn't want it too obscenely dark, for several reasons (every scuff, hot, flaws, etc.)

I am wondering if maybe the T9129 Stark White might have just enough yellow in it for Catalina white. My boat was always so chalky and crazed since I owned it, I just kept it clean with ON/OFF Hull Cleaner and bleach and never bothered to wax it to make the inevitable paint job easier by not having to strip.

I have done some deck work in T9134 Snow White, and it is VERY white! I like that nice white for the smooth deck/cabin areas. For the non-skid (mine is a bit beige) I plan to do in a lighter shade of grey from the pearl, maybe Matterhorn, so it is not hot in the summer, but compliments the hull color.

The picture below has the 442 primer above the rub rail..anytime I had some left over, I painted between the stanchions and rub rail, to save me a little trouble later on..it is not shiny, but rather matte, and is a slight off white, to give perspective to the hull color. And although this is a terrible perspective, the white where the windows are on the cabin are the Snow White T9134 discussed earlier, but applied 5 years ago with no buffing or waxing since (lazy!! )...also keep in mind, this is a cell phone pic from a floating boat.

https://www.alexseal.com/resources/color-selection/topcoat

[thatch]

Shawn, Thanks for your input. Since my hull sides and transom are still in "acceptable" condition, my aim was to match that color as closely as possible. I actually spent the better part of an hour in the cockpit and on the fore-deck with four of the "white" color chips from the Alexseal chart trying to make a "best match" decision. In reality, I probably should tape those chips on the sides and re-evaluate things from varying sun angles. Even though the weather in So. Cal. is pretty good year round, I'll be waiting until springtime before doing any painting, which will give me plenty of time to confuse things even more.
Have a great Holiday Season, Tom

[sastanley]

Tom, I actually really liked the color of the 302 High build primer, which is what the seats and stuff in the cockpit are now..however, it is not UV tolerant, nor a sealing primer, like the 442 primer. I often printed out and took the TDS to bed for evening reading and Laura always looked at me funny. "Just trying to do all this in the correct mix ratio, weather conditions, and order so when you sit your tail on the boat, you don't get old gelcoat chalk butt, baby.."