85 2001 LVL Stringer Project

Well I was out working until 1am this morning on the boat, but the bilge is finally finished being faired/ sanded and is ready for primer and paint!!!

So I pulled the boat out this morning to give it a good washing inside and out. This is the first wash it has had since before I started this project so needless to say it was quite dirty.    The good news is I will start the painting process tomorrow.

TRBenj wrote: Thats a beautiful sight!

Thanks, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me and I am finally making some progress.

Also I love looking at the plugs I cut out of the boat after they are glassed in and seeing that everything is laid up with no bubbles and it is nice and even. These are the plugs from the front bilge access and the rudder.

The wood has 1 layer on one side and 3 on the other, the smaller piece (I over drilled the hole and filled it with thickened epoxy) has 3 layers on one side and 3 on the other plus fairing compound.

This project is turning out great. Good work, and thanks for taking the time to document.

I am still chugging along. I have completed 2 coats of Interlux Epoxy PrimeKoat and a coat of Interlux Perfection and this is how it looks now.





I tried a method called rolling and tipping where you roll the paint on then lightly go over that with a badger hair brush to get it to lay down smooth. Well It did not go so well with the primekoat, I got brush strokes like crazy!! The perfection laid down much better. If I were to do it again, I would just roll on the promekoat with a foam roller and let it be. Then sand it down good after the 2nd coat then roll and tip the perfection.

I am going to have to do probably 2 more coats of the perfection to get rid of all the brush marks and then I will finally be done with this stinkin bilge!!

The perfection was still too soft to sand Sunday morning so I pulled out my cradle and started cleaning it up and getting it ready to be repaired. I have 2 cracks and the welds on top.





I ran over the whole thing with my DA sander to get rid of all the nasty stuff on there and so it will look better once installed. Once I get it back from being welded I will run over it with a sanding block to give it sort of a brushed look.



My plans are to finish the painting this week and be installing carpet next weekend.

I have done some calling around and I can only find 1 place that caries Henry 263 and that is a special order item that will take 2 weeks to get here. I may have a place that stocks Roberts adhesives, Would their 6037 work? Roberts 6037 Or is there any other brands of glue that would work as well?

I wish I could get my bathtub to clean up that nice.


Waldo

C-Bass wrote: Loving the looks of that bilge. Nice work.

Thanks!!

Waldo wrote: I wish I could get my bathtub to clean up that nice. Waldo

8122pbrainard wrote: Kris, The roll and tip works best with two people. The sooner you can tip out the rollers marks the better. But, WOW on that bilge!

Thanks. I am only rolling out about 9" - 12" then tip it. The perfection lays down great, the primer was the pain in the butt!! I think if I would not have tipped that it would have laid flatter and I could have gotten away with only 2 coats of the perfection. What is done is done all I can do now is get it as good as I can in the next 2 coats and move on to the carpet. I am itching to get this boat wet next month!!

OK, I just called and the local place has Roberts 6040 What do you all think? It looks to be somewhat simular to the Henry 263.

8122pbrainard wrote: Kris, I did google the Roberts. It's waterproof but is a solvent base. So, if you can handle the smell (I'm sure by now you can! ) it looks like it will work. I did read that it's good for "turf" type or rubber backed carpet.

Henry 263 is solvent based as well isn't it?

I have 3 or 4 fans all blowing out of the garage while I am messing with this stuff so it is not to bad. That plus my respirator I do not smell it at all and the smell never makes it upstairs either.

sams 85 wrote: kris, how much of each paint would you say it took you to do the bilge area? it is looking good!!

The PrimeKoat took right at 20oz total (Base, Hardner, thinner) for each coat. I used an entire Quart of the primekoat for the 2 coats in the bilge.

**Side Note** it is not a quart of the base, it is a quart once you add in the hardener to the base. Thankfully I did not add in 16 oz (1/2 quart) of base like I was going to to begin with!!

The Perfection went a little farther and I did a full coat on it with about 16oz total(Base, Hardner). I am still planning on 2 more coats of perfection so I will have used somewhere around 48 oz total.

I bought a gallon of the perfection because I am also going to use it to paint my seat bases and the underside of the rear floor.

I also will have used a quart of the 2333n brushing reducer and a quart of the 202 solvent by the time I am finished. Another side note that 202 will clean up anything, very strong solvent!!

Very nice work!

C-Bass wrote: Dangit...I wish you'd quit messing with this bilge and start putting this thing back together already. You're making all of us future projects feel infererior before we even get started.

Big Pappa wrote: Besides since you are a future project you still have time to show me up.

It's going to be a tough act to follow,it's beautiful

That's a pretty bilge... I hope your engine is as clean and polished?!?!?!?

The bilge is 100% complete, Finally!! Woo Hoo

Here is the final product, it has a little orange peal but I am totally stoked with the way it turned out.





Today I spent the day building a sand blast/ paint booth so I do not get sand everywhere like I have been when I sand blast and I can control the air around my freshly painted parts a little better when I paint.

Then I started tearing into my engine pulling everything off and started cleaning it up getting it ready for paint. No pictures of the engine and paint booth yet but I will post some soon.