Hello everybody,
Due to an outbreak of acne on the bottom of my 26X and the attack of the Zebra Mussels I bit the bullet and decided to seal and paint the Hull. The big question I have is should I apply the interlux 2000E from black stripe to black stripe and the antifouling paint from waterline to water line or do both just from the water line?
I bought 4 gallons of Interlux 2000E (2 grey and 2 White) for a good 4 coats and 1 gallon of Black Micron CSC. I was going to buy 4 quarts of micron 2 red and 2 black to have an indicator coat but the price difference was $200. One gallon can was $240 +tax and a quart can was $98 +tax. The Scots in me made an appearance
I now have to make a cradle for my boat. I will post pictures of my progress on the cradle and the hull.
My X was done with barrier coat and anti-fouling to about an inch below the black stripe. This turns out to be a couple of inches above the waterline. I have seen several done this same way.
Sctodd
I just finished this wonderful job and took mine to the boot stripe. I tend to run with a heavy load and when ballasted my boot strip is ~2 inches above the water. The boot stripe proved a great reference for my masking tape and now that it's all done it looks great.
I used 3 gallons of interlux and got 5 good coats on my hull. I had to buy an additional quart for the areas where the jackstands were in place. I Chose to buy my micron by the quart (6 total) so I could apply an indicator coat (blue) and a outer coat (black). All said and done I spent 600 on paint. If you are buying your paint from WM they will match their online competitors price, including tax. It might be worth your money to exchange the gallon of micron for quarts. Also, I used every bit of the 6 quarts, your gallon might not be enough.
The interlux tech reps are great, I got to know each of them. This was my first bottom job and I wanted to do everything by the book.
I did not construct a cradle but used cinder blocks and 2x4's for jackstands. I can send you pics if you want.
Good luck and send me a PM if you have any questions
I painted my hull up to within 2" of the bootstripe because after being in the water without paint for a year, I could see the line at which algae slime, and oil other boats collected while it was in the berth. Now with black bottom paint covering that area, such gunk no longer shows. I no longer intend to keep my boat in the water, as it's just gotten too expensive here, but I know a couple of days on the water will collect that gunk on the hull again if it dodn't have the paint up above the waterline, and closer to the bootstripe.
Thank you for your help.
I have another question about the paint. How long will it keep if the can is closed properly? I am thinking of buying a gallon of Blue, as it is only $45 dollars more than 2 quarts, and i figure I will have a quart or two left of both blue and black.
Also the instructions for prepping the bottom calls for 80 grit this seems too course. Is 80 correct or should I use 120? my first time painting gelcoat.
80 grit is what you should use on the barrier coat. The epoxy paint needs a coarse surface to cling to. Don't worry though, the paint will smooth itself out pretty good.
I think it is a good opportunity to look at the fiberglass really closely.. we found a number of "problem spots" that needed attention before putting the barrier coat on. We used the $19 HF 5" random orbital sander and several Dewalt variable speed random orbital sanders. They all worked well.. but if you HAVE to do a lot of sanding - I think the Dewalt really earned it's spot. My opinion - so YMMV.
Also for spots getting a lot of wear - we put additional Epoxy Barrier Coat on. Any wear spot just seemed to need some additional attention.
We had not been in a real rush - and fond the stripper was highly sensitive to temperature. Checking the instructions and info on the web site helped us figure out when to do the work. We started in Dec (warm days) and backed off to March/April to finish up the stripping/sanding.
Nice to see updates on bottom painting and prepping since I am seriously considering doing mine in a couple weeks.
For the most part I see and have heard that most people use the cleaner and solvent to remove the wax from the hull before applying the epoxy barrier coats. While discussing my plans last weekend among a couple others one of them suggested I use a pressure steam cleaner to remove the old wax, this would melt and remove the wax cheaper and easier. Has anyone considered this idea or done it? I am not even sure what this pressure steamer looks like, I was just going to go to an equipment rental outlet and ask for one. Comments???
Last night I completed construction of the supports for my boat. I quess calling it a cradle was the wrong term as I built the supports with 4 X 4's and 2 X 4's.
then I will us a couple of hydralic jacks to raise the boat off the trailer and support them with 6 Ton Jack stands. I am using 6 ton stands as they will hold the boat at 27" off the ground. should be high enough. I will take pics and post them later. The admiral was out last night and had the digital camera.
Last night I washed the hull and scraped the Zebra mussels out of the centerboard locker i found that it is very narrow. so my next question is does anyone know how to sand this cavity so epoxy and paint will hold?
When the rain stops I will wash the hull with interlux 202 prior to sanding. Stupid Rain
sctodd wrote:
I bought 4 gallons of Interlux 2000E (2 grey and 2 White) for a good 4 coats and 1 gallon of Black Micron CSC. I was going to buy 4 quarts of micron 2 red and 2 black to have an indicator coat but the price difference was $200. One gallon can was $240 +tax and a quart can was $98 +tax. The Scots in me made an appearance
So could I mimic a scot and use food color or something in the second half of the gallon can, or maybe mix half the gallon in another container with some coloring? What could I use for coloring?
OK I sound cheap, big deal!
Nightsailor
I have tried to PM you regarding the pics of my boat (before and after) but for some reason my messages are not going through. I do not have an online photo account so if you want to see the pics you will have to pm me with your private email addy. I am laid up due to surprise knee surgery so I have more time on my hands than I care to think about
Sctodd
I had to sand my centerboard trunk by hand, sand paper tied to a long handle and a lot of elbow grease. The water line does not extend to the top of the trunk but I figured it could not hurt to go all the way. I also used the epoxy and anti fouling on my centerboard also.
Terry
If your hull is bare and still in good shape then you can use the solvent from interlux as a prep prior to the epoxy. If it has any paint on it it must be sanded. The solvent was ~40 bucks and one quart was enough for my entire hull. Use gloves, this stuff is harsh. Wipe on, wipe off. Seems easier and more likely to get the mold wax off than steam cleaning, although steam pressure washers are fun to use
Just FYI...PM's will sit in your "outbox" until the person you sent it to opens his messages. So it will look like it is not sending but really it is just sitting there waiting to be read by the addressee.
And have you tried photobucket.com? Very easy to use and very easy to get pics in your posts.
Hope you knee doesn't keep you off the St. John's for very long.
Scottie wrote:The site below has some interesting reading on the topic of blisters.
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/ Before digging into your bottoms you might want to check this link out. Check out the hull blisters link on right side of page
you might want to check this link out. Check out the hull blisters link on right side of page