A Quick Update

It's getting to cold to continue wetsanding the hull. I still have the starboard side to sand, buff and polish; the port side needs to be polished.

Next projects:

1) Removing the bottom paint, I'm doing this the hard way...with a scrapper. No matter how cold it gets I can still get the job done.

2) Finish fairing the hull liner, prime and paint. I'll see if a heater can bring the internal temperature of the boat high enough to paint. If not I'll have to wait until spring.

3) Rebuild the rudder

4) Finish the wood work

5) Cushions to be recovered

Polishing the Port Side Hull

The below pictures show the result of cutting and buffing. The port side has been wet sanded with 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 sandpaper using a hand block. The hull was then machine buffed with a cut and then a final polish (using appropriate pads).

So we can assume 2 things:
1) Wow, a cut and buffed paint job looks beautiful!
2) Damn Jason, your ability to spray a quality coat of paint sucks!

Cutting (sanding) the port side

Today I wetsanded the port side with 800, this removed the orange peel and overspray. I then followed up with sanding at 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit.


These pictures are the result:

The following pictures are the aft quarter after I cut with the buffing compound. This isn't the final stage I still have to compund again with a final compound.

In this last picture the flash shows the swirl mark of the cutting compund, the final coumpund will remove these swirls.

The Hull Paint....NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

It pains me to say this but the my spray job on the hull isn't up to my standards. I didn't get any sags or runs but I have orange peel to some degree everywhere and overspray in some areas.

So what's next....





Well I've researched "cutting and buffing" or call it "colour sanding". Here are a couple of websites describing the process:

http://www.autobodystore.com/rsw.shtml

http://www.repairnation.com/paint_n_bodywork/buffing/wetsand&buffing2.htm



This is the benefit of Awlcraft over Awlgrip and that's it's ability to be buffed and polished. I figure if your going to race your boat your going to need a paint that can be touched up. With my experience with Awlgrip is you get a tough, beautiful finish but your screwed if you damage it!



So these are pictures of my first attempt at cutting and polishing:



The Transom (took about 1.5 hours to get this result)


This Finish is like a mirror...the kind of result you would expect from a professional sprayed Awlgrip job. I like it so I'll contiinue.

This picture displays the contrast between the cut and buff (the transom) and the aft starboard quarter which has yet to be done.

Same as this picture, look at the clarity of the tree in the transom and the blurry tree in the aft port quarter.

She is back home

My father and I have towed her back home.!

Painters Tape Removed

The non-skid

Non-Skid was applied by mixing 1 part awlgrip colour base (whisper grey) with 1 part converter then mixing with Silica until as thick as drywall mud. After the "shinny stuff was tapped off" I rolled it on with a meduim nap roller. Using a clean unused meduim nap roller to roll over the paint to ensure an even look.

Shooting Awlgrip Whisper Grey on the deck

I wish I could say the deck came out as nice as the hull, but I can't. I have a couple sags but I'm going to live with them.

Another 2 coats of Vivid Red

Just sprayed it on today, no sags, drips or runs....hopefully tomorrow it will look just as good!

First 3 coats of Vivid Red

If you look closely you can see the overlap....so I roughed it up with 220 and sprayed another 2 coats.

The primer has been sprayed

The dummy in the yellow is me, Bruce Moore and Andrew Tibbets looking at my sanding technic!
The boat is now primed with Awlgrip's 545 primer, I wish I had used grey base instead of white. It would have required less coats to get a uniform colour base.

The J30 is finally under a roof!

This J/30 Hull number 124 has had 7 soft spots cut out of the transom and deck with new balsa glassed back in. These areas are now faired and ready for primer.

The fall weather is getting pretty cool in Nova Scotia so I managed to acquire a roof for a week where I will prime and paint the boat using Awlgrip products.

Hull sanded and ready for primer

First Pass completed

Starting to board sand the hull

Thu-Hulls in the Transom

The cockpit drain on the starboard side was rebuilt when the rotten section of the transom was replaced.

The picture below shows the holes in the transom on the port side. As you can see the thru-hulls expose the balsa wood. If the thu-hull seal is faulty then the water is going to get in. These two are dry and solid but I will be grinding out about an inch of balsa around the hole and filling with thickened epoxy which will:

1) seal and protect the balsa wood

2) The epoxy will not let the thruhull compress the balsa wood

A picture of the port side with solid epoxy protecting the balsa wood.

Refinishing the Woodwork - Work taken on by my Father

Removing the port side woodwork

A Mess to clean upMore Mess! Starboard side unfinished
Port Side Finished - Thanks for doing all this woodwork Dad!