Perfection Red

A glimpse of things to come.....

After paying my dues with the white Perfection, I finally managed to apply Red Perfection correctly.

Thinning, rolling and tipping is no rocket science but it takes a little practice to get it right .

When you do, it looks pretty amazing...........at least to an amateur eye like mine !

And yes, everything you did not sand and fair properly will stand out. But I am beyond that point now.

Painting schedule. You need one

I decided to try a different paint layout on my hull. JRay and his really cool yellow strips hull inspired me to go for it , even if I don't have any painting experience, except painting the walls of my first daughter bedroom.

And that was long time ago...

But building this boat has taught me that nothing is impossible and that with a little patience, planning and care one can pretty much do anything...even building a boat !

So my hull will be red, white and grey. And since it will stay in the water year long, I will have to use antifouling. Sounds easy ?

In my case I have to use just about all of the Interlux products.

I had already applied a coat of Epoxi Primekote all over the hull and though I was doing good but when I went to the store to purchase another can for the second coat, I found out that they do not sell the stuff in Turkey anymore.

So I had to find an alternative product that could be laid over that initial Primekote.

To make a very long story short, here is what I will use for the sides :

-epoxi primekote

-Interprotect

-Perfection undercoat

-Perfection

-Perfection Plus as a glaze coat on top of red (read on to follow me)

And for the bottom hull:

-Interprotect

-VC Tar2

-VC OFFshore

İ İf you take into consideration that ALL products have different minimum and maximum overcoating times, that many coats of each need to be applied and that some need to be sanded in between coats and some dont, the work schedule is simply nuts !

İ mean it seriously took me over an hour looking at all spec to finally determine the proper sequence and time schedule..... of how and when to apply each coat !

And then when I thought I was all set, I came across this fine print on the specs of Red Perfection:

"if Red Perfection is to be used, then a full coat of glazecoat should be used as a final coat after full opacity has been achieved with the pigmented system to prevent premature loss of gloss or color change".....
So no matter how easy İ would like things to be, İ guess that is not the case.

First thing I did was to draw the layout I wanted on my hull. I actually had previously taped some large sheet of papers on which to draw.

And instead of looking at my hair, or lack of, check out another one of my really hightech tools which was needed for drawing those nice curves...! My garage hose worked perfectly.

Then I cut out the template with the help of my little one.

Once that was done, I applied one coat of Interprotect on the hull. It looks really nice although the final surface is not the smoothest. But I guess it is a good texture for a primer.

Then I placed the template back on the hull, placed good quality taped around it making sure I left a margin of about half an inch, and painted the Perfection undercoat.
As you can see on the picture the contour lines are not really precise but that does not matter since the white will be covered over with red on one side and grey on the other one.

And yes, I managed to let my roller pass by the tape....No big deal really since all that grey Interprotect will eventually be covered with white Perfection Undercoat.

I like it. It gives a good idea of things to come.

Prime Time

İ have no quality picture of the last weeks of work because my wife took the camera on vacation back to Brazil. So İ was left with my crappy cell phone to document my progress.

Overall İ have the following to say:
1-after hitting the boat with the longboard İ could clearly see that my hull was not as fair as expected
2-longboard does not lie. You will see it all. Small or big, bumps or lumps, they will all come to life.
3-İ did most of the sanding dry. That results in tons of toxic dust BUT it is also very easy to spot the high and low spots. İf you water sand from the beginning, you loose sight of what really needs to be faired unless you use the "paint and sand" trick.
4-İ water sanded with 220 just before primer. Amazing how water sanding turns everything so smooth.
5-No other way to sand the bottom of the boat than to just climb on top of it and kneeled down.
6-When you think you are finished, be sure you will still have to fair some. That low spot had just been hidding from you ! But you will get to it.....eventually.
7-İt takes long hours to sand but İ believe the results are very rewarding

When İ was finally watersanding the hull, İ took the opportunity of all the dripping water to clean my garage. No more dust !!!

Ok, so after i really trained by aerobic conditionning by sanding all that epoxi fairing like a maniac, tıme came to intoxicate myself by breathing dangerous fumes...

İ applied the stinkiest primer the world has ever known : İnterlux Epoxi Primekote. I have to admit however that the product is really great. İt rolls on easily, smooth down pretty easily and turns into a very smooth surface. That Perfection paint just cant wait to be laid down....




Truth is that İ will have to apply another layer of primer because İ only had enough for 1 layer and the stuff does not sell in Turkey any more.....!!!! So İ need to find another primer to lay on top of that stinky ,yet beautifull, epoxi Primekote

Can't wait to paint my hull and flip the boat. İ have the paint layout thought of and, if İ dont mess it up, it should look ok.

Fairing fitness

İ have to share this funny thing that happened to me.

After about 10 days of evenings fairing and sanding, sweating my brains out, and getting partially suffocated because İ was using a dust clogged up respirator, İ finally hit the gym yesterday at lunch time.
Since İ had not much time İ jumped onto the treadmill and started running................and İ ran like never before in my life!!!!!!!!! :):)

İ mean İ ran for 40 mns at 12 km/h like İ had never done before. İ am no "marathon man" and running is not my top exercise, so maintaining an average speed of 12km/h over 40 mns is kind of a world record for me !

The only logical explanation İ came up with is the following:
-İ was actually doing sort of a heavy ANAEROBİC exercise by sanding the boat every night with my clogged up respirator. I just could not breathe with the damn thing because of all the dust stuck in the filters, so İ would often go out of breath.
İ believe İ was pretty much doing like the athletes that train at high altitudes to increase their level of red cells and then come back to sea level and kick ass at competition. Except İ did not go to Peru but rather stayed in my garage and sanded like an idiot without properly breathing!!! But the results were as amazing!

So just keep building and you will end up discovering absolutely unforeseen benefits......like turning your body into a mean oxygen efficient machine!