Sprayed the foredeck, gun whales, insides hull walls hatches and boxes on the weekend.
Used the same ratios of material (eg intergrip) on the foredeck and gunwhales as I did with the hardtop roof and laid it on thick due to it being a higher traffic (use) area. I continued the protective coating half way around the bullnose of the gunwhale cap from the hardtop to the transom to protect it from eskys and dive gear that typically gets dragged up over the sides. i did the same on the bow sprit again because things tend to get dragged up over this area too
With the hull insides and boxes not being a high use area i only applied 2 coats and didnt add the intergrip
1st coat - thinned it down 25% to get it through a HVLP gun with 1.8mm tip, opened the paint flow right up and narrowed the fan, applied it till it started to run and then back rolled it to a slight texture finish with a small foam roller
2nd coat - was to give it a slight stipple finish to hide prep flaws and build the film thickness up slightly. I applied it will the Schutz gun from around 2ft away and reasonably quick passes.
With the below deck storage likely to have heavier things thrown in them I applied a 3rd coat with the shutz gun to build up the film thickness a little more.
Test fitting the drop down transom shelf and preping it to shoot the top with nonslip.
This was designed to hold four jerrys of either water or fuel when the engine is trimed down. It will provide an additional 80lt storage ontop of the 320lt main and 130lt sub tank. The plan is to also fit a bypass valve in the deck wash pickup with a length of hose. I will then be able to store 80lt of water on this shelf and fit a shower head to the deck wash output to have fresh water rinse on the transom.
I want to be able to do 5-10 day trips in the Kimberlys, like the below links, refilling the jerrys out of the fresh water waterfalls.the ability to have a shower will keep the missus happy.
Came up with another addition modification last night... With the big tides we get up here (Dampier archipelago & Monti islands 4-5.5m) and where I want to explore (Derby & Kimberlys 9.5-12m) you can find yourself sitting on the deck waiting for the water to come back in. To keep the boat upright when beached while waiting and possibly while we are sleeping I'm going to run some removable legs on the transom.
The legs will consist of heavier 60mm O.D 6mm wall tube with a 10mm base plate of say 200x200 or 250x250 and will slide into the bottom of the transom posts and held in place with a removable pin. The pin will be simple solid aluminium bar with a hole drilled in the end with a stainless wire rope looped through it and tethered off to an eyelet on the leg. In the event the leg is stuck and we have to ditch it we will be able to cut the wire loop and push the pin through (with a mallet if need be) to release it.
The aim for the boat is to be a trailable touring/exploring rig for up to four people, hence the changes to maximise usable deck space and accessibility;
Roof racks and full length shade - to store a small inflatable tender and light items like swags there is also a small frame and 150w solar panel to mount between the rear roof rack and rocket launcher. We opted for a canvas top to keep weight down and some days you actually want to be in the sun.
Transom shelf - storage to get gear off the deck whilst underway with the engine trimmed down. I can still trim up to navigate shallow water and will only need to fold the shelf up if the hull in going to be sitting on the ground
Dive ladder and transom pipework - I got the basic idea from the Mclay Premier HT range. It turns the transom into a usable space that you can actually fish off with the ladder being a leaning post. I can also step around the motor from one duck board to the other via the small triangle shapped steps infront of the live wells. this will be handy when fighting macky and other pelagics off the back of the boat and brings you out from under the shade to really work the rod. the other aim was to add a transom shower and give the wife a sense of security on the transom with the ladders up. when exploring the Kimberly you need to be mindful of freshwater crocs and Iive heard stories of crocs mounting the transom to get at the smell of scraps on the bait board
Storage boxes and kill tanks - These are simply to get stuff off the deck and potentially run small fuel bladders in the kill tanks to increase the range.
Bow ladder - To help the ladies get on and off, plus assist with tying off to bouys/moorings in bays in the Kimberly
Its all to hopefully accommodate up to 4 people (my wife and I plus a couple of friends) with a king swag on the deck and one up on the HT. Alternatively when we aren't going to be sheltered me and 2 mates will be able to comfortably swag on the deck, 3 could be a little cosy.
The big dream would be to do a 5 day trip to the Rowley Shoals (265km each way from Port Hedland) with 2 mates using a 210L plastic drum on the deck and a 100-120L bladder in each kill tank. This will depend on fuel burn with the new engine though. Previously on 4-5 day trips to the Monte Islands (100km each way) with 4 mates, we would take 320L in main tank (no sub tank then) and the 210L drum on the deck. Top the tank off when we got there, hoist the drum over the side into the drink and roll it up the beach. We would then fish for 3 days, then transfer the rest of the fuel for the trip home and get back to the ramp with around 90-100L. Im hoping to get around 1.5-1.3km per/L loaded, with it not being a really deep V hull at around 19' means it gets on the plane easily and is quite effecint.
Prepped and sprayed the transom area tonight and yesterday. Again I continued the finish half way around the edge of the each duck board (swim platform) to protect it. I also put a 50mm strip on each ladder step and base of the transom engine well. The reason for the finish in the transom engine well is I get into a bit of spearfishing and the first thing that usually comes off after a dive Is the weight belt and it normally ends up in the transom well while you unload the gun (if haven't already away from the boat) and pull your fins off. The old 2k paint held up pretty well but it made sense to spray the base with this material while I was at it.
I wanted a more grip in this area as it usually gets wet so I upped the intergrip slightly again and thinned the mixture a little aswell with some acetone. The idea was that with the thinned mixture it should flatten out more and expose the particles of the intergrip more, it did the trick perfectly. To build up a decent film thickness with the thinned mixture I sprayed 4 coats.
The reason for using acetone to thin instead of top coat thinners with this product is because acetone has a much quicker evap rate. I figured, in theory this would be ideal so that the sovents would gas off quicker stopping the textured finish from flattening out as you build the film thickness up with subsequent coats. Basically cure faster. Im not a painter or qualified tradesman just a weekend warrior (with a little experience) so im not sure if this is in fact what's happening on a chemical level but it seems to be working well.
Aim tomorrow is to shoot the deck then pull all the tape and paper for the big reveal...
Didnt manage to get the deck sprayed yesterday, simply ran out of light and I underestimated the amount of taping and masking. It will be sprayed today though.
Put the sprayed drop down shelf back in to see what it would look like and I'm happy with how it turned out. It will be secured in the upright position with one of those bungy cord loops. Also im tossing up between cutting some disks out of a small blue trailer roller or using a couple of domed black rubber bumpers of a Jeep Wrangler tail gate (left overfrom jeep project) mounted to the transom wall for the shelf to sit up against whilst not in use to stop any potential vibration.
Again I continued the finish around the exposed edges as they are bound to cope a knock every now and then
Took a shot of the transom from the deck looking back and im happy with how it looks and just trying to imagine the resprayed 3.3 Yamaha sitting there. If I could afford it I would love to hang a white Verado 300 or Suzuki 300 back there to really set it off., maybe one day....
High's - I got the deck sprayed and it looks great, I went with the same intergrip ratios as the gunwhales (5:1) but I accidently grabbed a box of black Raptor kit instead of tintable when I brought all the gear in Perth months ago. To make it work I diluted it 6lt of International Paints Interthane 990 in N14 white and about 500mls of the Polyurethane I sprayed on the hull sides. The end result was a colour I was a little unsure about at first but I think it turned out well. It was thinner in consistency than the material I sprayed on the gun whales, having less bedliner material in it, so I had to do more passes to build up the thickness. It was thick enough in consistency to get a good splatter effect off the gun though. It wont have the hardness rating as if it was straight bed liner material but it won't be an issue as I won't be throwing the type of things that you put in the back of a ute on the boat deck, the deck will always have carpet on it. The gun whales and foredeck will likely get more of a punishment being exposed and 2k Polyurethane i mixed in the raptor liner on the deck is still a hard finish regardless.
Low's - I noticed some contamination in the black on Thursday late arvo and decided to rush to quickly sand and spray it before the deck to avoid having to mask off the deck. I fubured it. It was getting late when I started but thought I had enough time to get it done and I've also never sprayed overhead before. I could'nt get the finish to flow/flatten on the underside of the HT and was getting orange peel. When spraying a vertical surface or down on a flat surface the paint will automatical flow/flatten through its own weight, was'nt happening overhead so I really thinned it down on the last coat and got runs and sags everywhere. Its fixable and I will sand it today and reshoot it.
I previously painted the underside of the hatches just to finish them off and am thinking a neat touch will be to get a couple stickers made up for the underside kill tank lids that feature a ruler and a PB table and the name of the boat for the underside of the front storage lid.
Next step will be upholstery, then electrics & fitout. I've been accumulating bits and pieces for about 12 months. The wife and I will drive to Perth a couple times a year to catchup with family (once you consider the cost of flights and renting a car its worth it) and we bring back stuff that we can otherwise buy in town and is bulky to be economical to buy online with freight. She will be glad to get the spare room back once all the gear is out of there.
Upholstery - I've already brought all the gear to get this done through Nolan UDA, who I believe ae Australia wide, and there is a local guy that works from home that will do the stitch work for me. Colours are blue vinyl, white fluted vinyl and edge white piping. I'm having the following done by the professional
- Front seat bases, backs and arm rests recovered (blue vinyl with white piping)
- 2x 1500x450x100mm and 1x 1200x100mm base cushions for the fold out seating (blue vinyl with white piping)
- 1x 900x350x100mm base cushion 700x200x50mm seat back for the spotting station (blue vinyl with white piping)
I will attempt the following myself
Carpet - I went with the non ribbed Autex Raider in slate, I looked at the more expensive floor coverings but couldn't justify the cost, not that they are not worth it but I wanted to spend the money else where, I also considered the more expensive carpets but when I had a looked at the specs (thickness and GSM rating) and feel under foot the Raider won and I previously had the ribbed reef version. It might sound fickle but you can notice standing on marine carpet on the deck all day. I went to the Mandurah Boat Show last year and had a sticky beak at the luxury motor yatchs where you had to take your shoes off. one of the first things I noticed, other then the prices on the leaflets, was how nice the carpet felt under foot. I looked at some carpet underlay but there was nothing on the market that wouldnt grow mold getting wet regularly. As an alternative I've brought 5mm blue closed cell foam that I will stick to the bottom of the carpet, I tested it in the Nolan UDA showroom and it's no motor yatch alternative but it was much nicer than the marine carpet alone. The surface of closed cell foam can be relatively easily marketed and torn so I will also glue something to the bottom of it so the deck grip dos'nt tear it up and create a breathable void between the foam and deck. Possibly either Heshan or shade cloth material. Im also going to run the carpet east/west with glued and taped joins instead of north/south so it will span hull side sheet to hull side sheet, why they don't make 2.5m wide marine carpet I have no idea.
Coaming pads and transom wall seat back - Im going to attempt to make coaming pads for the gun whale as per this link http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-...bolster.html#b . I can't get star board up here so I will use some marine ply and I am planning to put some verticle strips of blue vinyl in to break up the fluting. Im also going to make a seat back for the transom wall bench seat using the same method. Another tip I've read on another thread is to punch small s/s eyelets in the bottom edge of the coaming pads to let the foam breath.
The thicker 25mm closed cell eva foam is to
- insulate the kill tanks. I will just liquid nail the cut to length pieces to the back side of the walls.
- insulate the trans live bait tanks / hatches. I going to cut out some drop in panels that will turn these into insulated bins. based on there size they will each hold a carton of drinks so when the seats are folded out to create u shapped lounge area so people wont need to get up to get drinks out of the kill tanks
Mate from someone who has been a spray painter for 7 years, you are doing awesome, dont get down about the sags it happens to the best of us, and painting overheard is not something that would usually be taken on by someone with little experience, give yourself a pat on the back you're doing great
Cheers Cobbo1, I managed to get the first two coats on fine/flat(ish) everywhere bar the underside of the HT, and just thinned it to much on the final coat. It was getting late at around 5:00ish with the 2nd coat and started to have trouble seeing my wet line and started to rush only allowed 10-15min for flash off then got into the 3rd coat starting at the underside of the HT which is where I finished the 2nd coat. I had trouble trying to see the fan and making sure to not load up material on the vertical face of the 25mm square section on the underside. Knowing that it would run easily in this area. I then came into trouble where the inside wall of the HT meets the roof because I had alredy applied material there when I started and finished each pass on the roof so when I did my first pass at this overlap It just started to run.
Ive done some reading since and it seems 9/10 most single stage jobs require a cut and buff to get a good finish. I had considered knocking the top of the runs with a stanly blade then hitting it with 320, 1000, 1500, 2000 then cut and buff. Do you think that would be a good idea or it would he easier to just 320 it and reshoot? Considering the photos only show 50% of the runs. There is plenty of film thickness so I wont need to worry about thin paint or rubbing through. Im getting mixed opinions on the hotrod and resto forums with some saying sanding will take just as long as reshooting it.
Had the day off yesterday... the wife passed a comment that these days if its not boat related im not interested......... She is pretty patient so when she says something it's generally a fair call so I took her out for lunch and took the dogs to the beach.
I spent today getting the trailer going, giving it another coat of raptor liner (had two bottles left otherwise would'nt of bothered), and then fitting it off with the axles, rollers, wiring etc. Everything has been replaced including all bolts bar the axle beams/shafts, winch, and rollers and off course the frame. I thought long and hard about building my own aluminium trailer as per this link http://fishwrecked.com/forum/new-ali...-trailer-build with the idea being I could use my existing coupeling, draw bar, winch post and winch, axles, rims, tyres, brakes, lights and wiring. Then all I would need is the I beams, bunks, cross members, brackets, bolts and guards. I figured I could get it done for under $ 3.5-4k but came to the conclusion that there wasnt anything majorly wrong with my existing trailer its just needed some maintenance and new protective coating. With some of the launching I do, creeks and beach, plus plan to do, it also makes alot more sense to have the rollers. You can also break the back of trailer which I had to do once whilst retrieving off the deck the ground in a 9m tide in Broome's roebuck bay. The water was running out so fast it was ridiculous I would back the trailer up to the nose jump out to winch it up and then have to push the boat back further to keep water under neath it, then reverse back again. In the end we just let it run out and winch the boat of the deck.
An ali trailer would be nice and look the part but what I have is more purposeful for what I need. I did however opt for S/S where i could to limit future maintenance.
I haven't decided what to do with the black around the cab just yet. I don't have enough black to respray it and they only sell it in 5lt kits @ $150 when I will only need 2lt max. If I sand, cut and buff I will need to buy a few bits and pieces too and it may take longer but I was going to give the whole thing a light cut and buff when I finish anyway. I'll sleep on it
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