Posted by Allen McClung (amcclung@…>)
Now I’ve looked at all the photos and see that the blue was “before”
the final red. I like that too. How many hours do you think you have
in the job? I recently bought another Freedom with a friend and am
thinking about painting it.
— In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Allen McClung” <amcclung@…>
wrote:
Okay, I see them now. Sometimes I get confused by all the sites we
have/used to have and check into all the time, i.e. the larger
Freedom’s site. Nice work, Clark. I like the dark color on the
bottom.
— In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Clark Myers” <cdmyers1@> wrote:
Hey Allen,
Silly me, telling you where the photo albums are. I just
reviewed
the
photos you posted back in 2005. Thats a good looking boat you
got
there!
Clark Myers
Teke’s Pride
Hull #345
Posted by Clark Myers (cdmyers1@…>)
Allen,
Prep work is key to a good finish.
Prep time will depend upon the condition of the hull to begin with. My job was fairly straight forward, as the hull had never been painted above the waterline. The following steps should be taken before you begin:
-
Clean the surface thoroughly using soap and water and then again with a solvent.
-
Inspect the hull for damage and using a sharpie in a contrasting color to the gel coat, mark/circle any areas needing repair.
-
Lightly sand areas to be repaired using 220 grit paper
-
Remove all sanding residue with solvent and clean, lint free rags.
-
Mix epoxy putty according to the manufacture's directions (I had good luck with Marine-Tex) and using a plastic putty knife fill all areas to be repaired.
-
Let epoxy cure overnight.
-
Using 220 grit paper and a palm sander sand the entire area to be painted. This step took me about 8 hours and I strongly recommend using a dust mask because I didn't and every time I blew my nose for the next 2 days the tissue turned blue.
-
Completely clean the hull of all sanding residue as in step 4 above. This will take about 4 hours and a lot of clean rags.
-
Mask your waterline and you are ready to proceed to painting.
I did all of this over two weekends in an attempt to save my back. If you are doing this outside, as I was, make sure to clean your work surface with solvent at the start of each new day to remove any overnight dust and dirt.
Painting
I used Interlux products for Teke’s Pride. I do NOT recommend using the “roll and tip” method described in the Interlux painting guide nor did I have much success using a brush only. Here is why. . .
§ You have just spent two to four days making your hull smooth as glass and you do not want to now add roller dimples or brush strokes to your hull surface. You will need to sand out any imperfections or they will show in your finish coat. The darker the finish then the more obvious the blemish will be!
§ If you insist upon trying the “roll and tip” for your self, I cannot stress enough how important it is to use two people.
§ If you go with brush only, I still recommend using two people and two brushes. One person to paint, changing brushes every 20 minutes, and one person to keep the brushes clean.
§ Using either of these two methods on a Freedom 21 will take about 4 to 5 hours and about 1 quart of paint per coat.
Buy or rent a siphon cup paint sprayer! You will add a couple of hours to your prep time for masking off the areas not to be painted, but your paint per coat and your painting time will be cut in half. I learned all this through trial and error as I tried to use “roll and tip” solo for the first primer coat and the “brush only” for my second primer coat. I did not know whether the cry, spit or cuss after seeing the results and having to try and sand them back smooth.
If you follow my advice you will spend a couple of hours with a 330 grit wet sanding sponge between coats instead of days with your palm sander trying to fix things. Your final steps will be to remove any overspray haze by hand sanding the painted areas using 1500 grit automotive wet sanding paper wrapped around a stiff sponge. Then a final wipe down with solvent.
So to make a long story short, it took me close to 100 hours to prep and paint Teke’s Pride. Now that I know what I am doing I could probably cut 30 to 40 hours off of that.
Clark Myers
Hull #345
Teke’s Pride
— In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Allen McClung” <amcclung@…> wrote:>> Now I’ve looked at all the photos and see that the blue was “before” > the final red. I like that too. How many hours do you think you have > in the job? I recently bought another Freedom with a friend and am > thinking about painting it.> > > — In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Allen McClung” amcclung@ > wrote:> >> > Okay, I see them now. Sometimes I get confused by all the sites we > > have/used to have and check into all the time, i.e. the larger > > Freedom’s site. Nice work, Clark. I like the dark color on the > bottom.> > > > > > — In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Clark Myers” <cdmyers1@> wrote:> > >> > > Hey Allen,> > > > > > Silly me, telling you where the photo albums are. I just > reviewed > > the > > > photos you posted back in 2005. Thats a good looking boat you > got > > > there!> > > > > > Clark Myers> > > Teke’s Pride> > > Hull #345> > >> >>