Day 83: Spraying Primer 2.2

Coat #1 was shiny and smooth. I hit it down with 400 just to make sure coat #2 adhered.  Probably took about 10 minutes to sand and about 45 minutes to clean up for the 2nd coat.

Coat #2 went on like coat #1.  You can see some striping in the paint here.  I was going a little too fast and the stripe is due to less paint.

Afterwards, I got the air in the shop refreshed and turned the heat back on, hoping to get things warmed up for coat #3.

Escaped to the truck for some lunch.  It was pouring down rain.

I had Kleo in the truck to keep me company today.  There was a tsunami advisory due to the earthquake in Chile so I didn't want to leave her at her beachside abode.  She came up the hill with me today.

With the rain coming down, Kleo and I went down the road to run some errands while the shop heated back up.

I reserved the rental equipment I'll need for the base/clear coat spray day.  A large compressor and heaters.  Hope to get the HVLP gun working optimally.

An hour later the shop was still quite cold but I decided to try to spray coat #3.  The pile of paper shows all the failed experiments.  I finally got a spray pattern that seemed ok but when I sprayed it on the transom it was no good.  I tried thinning the paint way down no avail.  Just couldn't get atomization.  Had to pack up for the day.  Will have to do some extra sanding on the transom.

Also, I hope I did not damage my spray gun.  When I went to spray #3 the pressure shot up for no know reason.  The pressure at the gun got all the way to 90 before I was able to release it.  It was maxed out at the air filter regulator.  It took about 45 minutes messing with the pressure gauges to get things normalized.  I'm hoping to build a reliable system for the base/clear stage.

Day 82: Spraying Primer Round 2.1

Heated up the shop as much as possible this morning and got everything ready to spray.

Set up this little homemade spray gun craddle.

By noon the shop was as warm as it was gonna get, so I began by getting the spray pattern correct.  I've never sprayed before, so it took a little while to figure out which nobs do what and how to set all the pressure gauges.  But after a little while I got a good pattern going.

I practiced on big sheets of paper to get the speed and overlap right.  The gun I am using is really cheap so the fan size is pretty small. -About 4" instead of a normal 6-7" so I'm gonna have to be careful of tiger-striping.

Before

After.

You can see some glazing on the transom edge.  I found a spot with micro holes after the first coat went on.

I was only able to do one coat of primer as the shop got too cold and the paint started atomizing poorly.  I am hoping to be able to do the 2nd and 3rd coats tomorrow if the shop can stay warm.  Looking forward to tomorrow morning to see how I did!

My rubber chine guards came in the mail today from Nott Attwater in Spokane, WA.  They were super helpful and got this to me only 2 days after it was ordered.  nice!

These are some supplements I take when I'm gonna be around chemicals.  I feel like it really helps my body deal with all the free radicals.  I take a dose the night before and then morning of...

Day 81: Spray Gun Shopping

So after talking to some paint shops and experienced painters, the best remedy, was to replace the spray gun.  I called Sherwin Williams Auto and they were very helpful.  Instead of selling me their top gun they recommended I get an inexpensive one that will only last for a couple projects but still do a good job.  Perfect.  I'm not a painter, and I only need something for this one project.

So off the island I went to Harbor Freight Tools to pick up my $20 auto paint gun.  BTW, that hardware store is awesome!  For 50 bucks I got the gun, gauge, inline filter, correct hose, a bunch of brass fittings, tyvek suit, and confidence that I have the right tools for the job.

Later that day, got back to the shop to prep it for painting.  Its a lot of work to turn a woodworking shop into a paint booth!

Easel.

Antigravity wall.

Day 80: Sanding Primer 2

So coming back to the boat this morning and attempting to wet sand to no avail I gave in and went to the orbital.  I started at 320... wasn't doin' it.    Went to 220... still not happening.  180... finally was getting it down to a smooth surface.

So I 180'd the boat in the morning, then 220'd it, and by late afternoon I was back to 320 ...where I started a week ago.  I then began the cleanup process of all the sanding.

Finished shaping the 2nd oar.

The blue tape marks are the balance point.  They are a bit low on the oar but at least they are very similar.

Epoxied the other side of boatman's well cover.

Day 79: Sanding Primer

Well, when I mentioned in my previous post that the paint wasn't going on smoothly I hadn't realized the extent of it.  I returned to the boat this morning to find orange peel city.  This thing looks like it belongs in a Florida citrus grove.

I wet sanded the entire boat with 320 and let it dry...I then realized I would be spending a lot more time sanding.  The boat is textured like a basketball.  Even with wet sanding its really bad.  I had someone come look at it in case I was just going crazy...  Unfortunately I wasn't crazy ...but will be when I am done sanding.  Its a do over.  Again.

After round one of wet sanding I filled all the micro-holes from the fairing compound with auto glaze.

The Raka Phenolic Microballoons performed very well.  Super smooth, very little holes.

Here is a typical glaze filling on the Raka fairing.

And here is a typical graze filling where the quick fair was used.  Yet again another reason why quick fair is not quick.  Ahh!

Such a novice move to switch building materials mid project.  What on earth was I thinking.  Never take boatbuilding advice from a salesman!

It took 10 minutes max to sand out the glaze over the Raka areas which covered 75% of the boat.  The other 25% was quick fair... it obviously took much longer.

To break up the sanding  glassed one side of the boatman's well cover and shaped an oar which was fun.

Today was a tough day 12.5 hours of sanding to get me to nowhere.

Day 78: Hull Primer

We laid the primer on the hull today.

It was the last forecasted sunny day for a while so we had to go for it.  Our shop will not heat up enough to spray the auto paint unless the sun is out to warm the metal siding on the shop.

Here is our paint system.

Pressure pot and HVLP gun.

The compressed air goes though this thingy and the water gets filtered out.

Air compressor 1

Air compressor 2

Before

After

Our paint is still not going on smooth... so a few days of sanding for me.  I hope we can work out the issues before the color and clear coat go on.

Before

After

Ammos

Inner gunwale scarf

Day 77: Gunwale blocks

Today the gunwale blocks were glued on.  You'll have to take my word on it, as I forgot the camera at home.

The epoxy on the oars and inner gunwale need another day to cure.  Very low temps at night here are the cause of the slow cure rate.

Coated the edges of the spare wood/boatman's well cover w/ epoxy and wood powder mix.

Day 76: Oars2

Put some glass on the end of the oar blades.  Also sanded them to 220grit and cleaned up the pencil marks and black marks from car rack.

Sanded and epoxied the blocks for the southco latches.  These will provide a catch ledge for the latches.

Glued the scarf for the inner gunwales.  Most of the time was spent rearranging the shop to make space for them.

The shop was a bit cold so I heated up the scarf ends for a couple hours with an electric heater.  Then applied plain epoxy to the joint.  Then laid the glue.

Also, went back into the hatches and sanded some flaws and put a second coat of hardened polyurethane down.

Day 75: Oars

Went into Seattle to finish the oars.

My Dad has done everything on them.  Just a little final shaping to do.

We put a slight bevel on the blade.  Making it a little more wing-like.

Tom sanded all the plane marks and fine tuned the shape.

At lunch we went to a leather wholesaler to get the leather for the oar sleeves.  My Dad found a beautiful piece; a stiff 1/8"thick,  medium sized hide.  It will be plenty to form the sleeves and the oar stop.

We also tried to get the oar handles nice and round.  When the oar went on the lathe they came out a bit oval.  They are pretty circular now.

We did all this work at Seattle Stair.  They do incredible spiral staircases.  My Dad introduced me to all the talented craftsmen there.  

They're not just old-school there.  They're old-world.  The techniques have been passed down from the ages.  

...and I thought making oars were tough.

We loaded the oars up for the trip back to the island.

That night I dropped off the oars at the Whidbey shop.  I check out the   paint job while I was there.  It looks pretty good.  Will probably have to do a second coat on some of the textured areas but the rest should be good as is.

Day 74: Deck Paint

Today was a painting day.  The weather stayed warm, the sun came out and we had the window we needed to make some progress.

My Dad came to the Island and we got right to it.

First we rolled paint onto the textured surfaces.  That went really fast and easy.

We took our time to dial in the sprayer and then went full steam ahead.

Tom sprayed the boat while I rolled paint onto the texture on the hatch  lids.

Then Tom sprayed the hatch lids.

We first sprayed the underside then set the lids atop pins for the top coat.

After the paint went on we peeled off the tape.

And now the deck is painted.  Its starting to feel like we just might finish this thing!

I'm psyched on the deck color... yellow!  I had that song; keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, stuck in my head while we were laying this color down.  I think I'm gonna definitely have to change the name of the boat from Arcturus to Zizumara.  This wild color is screaming to be called the Ziz.  Besides the "Arcturus" is way too serious of a name for this first attempt at a boat.  I'm sure the Zizu will bounce off rocks, while the Arcturus would crumple...  or maybe thats just the Xylene talking.
P.S. Use more thinner than they list on the can.