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CDMA
04-27-2000, 11:06 PM
Well folks toommorow is the day to shoot the primer. I know I have dissappeared from the board a lot during the last month but I am ready to prime. It has bee way too much hand sanding but it really will loke nice. I have stripped off all the old paint and every single nick, ding and crack was ground out. West System was used to fill everything and painstakingly faired out. It really looks nice. So if all goes well tommorow we shoot. I will keep you all posted. Hope for 60 degrees plus.

Chris

Harbormaster I feel a technical article coming on.

GeneD
04-28-2000, 06:09 AM
Chris,
Just a few tid bits for the rest of us, huh?
What kind of primer are you using?
What kind of surface prep are you doing prior to painting.
Have you decided on your final coat paint and if so, what is it?
Stripes?

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GeneD
007
Melbourne, Florida

Forrest
04-28-2000, 10:31 AM
I don't envy you! I have been working on my '79 Hornet II off and on for the last six months, stripping paint, repairing damage caused by leaving the paint remover on too long, as well as filling holes, dings, old repair jobs. Just when you think you have everything faired nicely, you find something else. A few weeks ago, I shot the boat with Awlgrip 545 gray epoxy primer. Hay! I looked pretty good. But now it can see a couple of places that I thought were faired well, but . . . Anyway, I blocked the entire primer job down with 220 grit and seemed to smooth out the minor repair dips. Last Sunday, I shot the hull sides with four coats of Awlgrip Vivid Red topcoat. Wow! It came out nice. Flowed out great, no trash, all done. . . but as I walked around the boat giving it a good "once over" I notice a little sander dip that I missed - Dad-gum-it! Well, I'm going to live with it, and besides you have to be right up on it, looking at a certain angle to see it. At that point I walked back around the boat again . . . and what this? Oh @#$%! A big old beetle had landed in the wet Awlgrip and started to dig and tear at the paint trying to get free. It was right in the middle of the port side of the boat, too. What next? Well, I plucked the beetle out of the paint but the damage was already done. There was no way that I was going to sand the whole paint job down and re-shoot it. Besides, there wasn't enough paint left to re-shoot and it takes at least two weeks and a wad of cash to get more. By now, its starting to get late in the day (I guess by now you figured that I'm painting outside - not in a paint booth). To make a long story short, I let the final coat flash-off for 30 minutes and applied three more coats to the damaged area allowing it to flash between coats. A couple of days later I returned to my mother's house where I do my paint work in south Georgia to see what could be done to repair the beetle damage short of a patch job or an entire re-shoot. Oh, it was ugly! I started with a 320 grit wet on a rubber sanding-block and worked my way up to 1500 wet, then rotary-power buffed with 3M Machine Foam Pad Polish for Dark Colors . . . and you know what? You can't tell that there was any problem at all now. In fact, the Awlgrip is extremely shiny and deep, but where I buffed it, well you need sunglasses to look at. I think when I'm done with painting the entire boat, I'll block the whole thing with 1500 wet and then buff if out.

After the beetle damage repair, I shot the 12" wide Vivid Red stripe. Thank you, no bugs in the paint this time. Awlgrip Insignia White is next for the deck and cockpit. This is going to be the biggest challenge on this Donzi since there so much area that I cannot reach standing on the ground or scaffolding. I figured that I am going the have to paint it in sections since I am going to have to get inside of the boat to paint the floor and bulkheads under the dash and other places that I cannot reach. At least there is a seam where the front liner meets the deck/floor-liner.

If I had to do this all over again, I think that after shooting Awlgrip 545 primer, I would come back with Awlgrip High-Build or Ultra Build primer, block it down smooth, the reshoot it again with Awlgrip 545 primer and go for there. That process would get out any an all imperfections - but man, that's a lot of work since you have to sand between every cured coat of each different product! Good luck with your paint job and above all, do it safely. Get plenty of fresh air if you are shooting any linear polyurethane paint and use a brand new respirator or cartridges every timeyou paint another boat. A positive-flow fresh air system is even better.

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Forrest

[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 04-28-2000).]

BERTRAM BOY
04-28-2000, 11:04 AM
Forrest,
I always enjoy reading your 20 page dissertations.
BERTRAM BOY

CDMA
04-28-2000, 02:17 PM
Gene and the gang,

The surface prep was as following. All was sanded down with a bolk and worked out. From there I went around and ground out every ding, gouge and stress crack. They were filled with West System Epoxy with various strength fillers. If it was a surface scratch I used 410 microlight if it was a stress crack I used 406 Cilica. I know the cilica was a little over kill but I feel the added strength is worth the extra effort in sanding out. Aslo for all areas bellow the waterline I used the cilica. the boat really was in terrible shape there were dozens of holes and just random damage. So that was all taken care of. Some serious repairs were taken care of also with West system and glass in the battery bow as well as the rotten rear seat. After all the repairs the whole boat was blocked with 220 on a block and failed with a longboard. It really is nice. The fellow who is very talented and is helping me with the paint has been very happy with the Glasurit products. He uses them extensively in the shop he has and likes their durability as well as gloss retention. We just finished spraying his 21 whaler with it and it does look good. So for that reason I am using that whole product line. The high fill primer will get three coats and then be blocked out after that there was custom paint matched to the original gelcoat that will be sprayed on and then buffed out. We will see. the weather does not look like it will cooperate tonight so we are going to hold off. The boat will be yellow with the original black stripes in the correct position.

Chris

BTW I can not say enough about the whole west system line. Expensive yes but even on a student budget I would not cut any corners.

RichF
04-28-2000, 04:55 PM
Chris:
Good luck!! I hope we get some nice weather this weekend !! http://206.150.187.82/ubb/biggrin.gif http://206.150.187.82/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Rich mailto:fngrht@aol.comfngrht@aol.com</A>

http://www.corvetteforum.net/classics/richf/d.jpg

[This message has been edited by RichF (edited 04-28-2000).]

[This message has been edited by RichF (edited 04-28-2000).]

PaulO
04-28-2000, 10:20 PM
Well, I too have sprayed the old Donzi. Actually, I sprayed the transom ( since I repowered with an Alpha) and the topsides/interior ( since I had to move the steering starboard). I took the opportunity to re-build the dash, filling in the original big guage hole and finally cutting new seperate holes for new guages (I used your pattern Gene!). Now I have a speedo and a trim guage!. I sprayed my nut-busting project with Imron and compatible primers/fillers. As Chris has done, I got my jobber to match my original yellow. I spent many years in the auto body industry and I must say that I have ended up with the worst combination of a trained eye and lack of patience for this work. I am tired of sanding!! I ended up with little more dust than I would have liked due to the difficulty in reaching all the areas. I actually had to paint myself into a corner in the interior and then carefully climb out and continue all the while trying to maintain a wet edge. Hitting my head on one of the rafters in my short garage released a storm of dust at the most inoportune moment. Oh, Well. It actually looks good anyway. When I get around to wet sanding and rubbing, I am sure I can eliminate any dust. My neighbors have been over and love it. When it is your own job, you see every flaw.
Paul

RichF
04-29-2000, 10:06 PM
Hey Paul,
Will I even recognize the boat when I see it ??? http://206.150.187.82/ubb/biggrin.gif http://206.150.187.82/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Rich mailto:fngrht@aol.comfngrht@aol.com</A>

http://www.corvetteforum.net/classics/richf/d.jpg

[This message has been edited by RichF (edited 04-29-2000).]

CDMA
04-29-2000, 10:15 PM
Well it was a no go but that is ok maybe next weekend. I did get my trailer torched apart. Hmm maybe that should be yellow too....

Chris