The $40 Amazon electric sprayer worked surprisingly well. I had to use the smallest included 1.0 tip and thinned 2:1 to get a fine spray; it can really dump out some paint fast. The hot weather let me shoot all four coats today. It's not a perfect finish, but looks good from ten feet away. I'll...
The barrier coat is on; it took 3 coats and 3 1/2 gallons plus the first topcoat of gloss white enamel applied last night. It's a heavy orange peel texture, but below waterline so I don't care.
I also applied Rustoleum gray tractor enamel primer to the hull sides, but could not get it to...
Forgot to add: I did some paint experiments after reading others' occasional issues with enamel not curing over fresh epoxy. Both Rustoleum and Majic hardened tractor paints both cured fine with a 3 hour hotcoat over Tuff Stuff. This was at 80 degrees and 80% humidity.
All the old bottom paint has been removed via sanding with 60 grit to the gelcoat (nasty job). Fairing is nearly complete using thickened epoxy. Sanding should be complete today.
Also, I finished replacing all the sanitation hoses in the bilge after diluting and draining the really old head...
Everything is put back together, and it looks much better than before.
I also replaced some old hoses in the bilge with Trident #148, re-sealed the old bronze thru hull (replaced the wood backer with PVC board), omitted the OEM fuel filter for a Racor Fuel/water separator, and deleted the...
The only 36" masthead/anchor combo light I could find a few years ago was this: https://www.amazon.com/Attwood-7836-S-1-Masthead-Navigation-Stainless/dp/B07M8J2ZVG
The resin arrived, and the other motor mount is done. I decided to re-gelcoat only the lower part of the engine room; I don't want to uninstall anything else right now.
I concur with Mike. I bought some of the cheap Amazon EVA, but I can't really recommend it. It shrinks some and the adhesive is suspect. I have some on my cooler that is permanently stained from fish blood.
The transom pour didn't go swimmingly, but it was poured yesterday. The duct tape I used to plug up some holes let go quickly when exposed to the resin, so it started running out bad into the bilge. I was able to plug these up in the moment with paper towels while the resin cured and scooped up...
Since I can't fully pull the motor, I rigged it to each far side of the bilge for stringer demo. I cut the top off most of the stringer (didn't want to mess with re-configuring motor height), and cut out the old wood in large chunks using the mini chainsaw (you can hear/feel when bumping it...
The 6 inch chainsaw worked great for eating wood fast; it only took about five hours of work. It couldn't reach the far corners, so I ordered a 12" auger bit to finish the last little bit; I'll also weld a long handle onto a cheap wood chisel for any scraping.
I can now see that the motor...
To preserve the odd cut out shapes of the keyhole, I placed packing tape over the contour and glassed over that plus about a couple of inches down the vertical edge. This will serve as a clampable mold for pouring the Arjay 6011 when it arrives.
The masking tape was only to prevent drips.
