Here are a couple of images from today's adventures in the shop. The first shows the 5.2 hulls sanded to 220 grit ready for final.


The 2nd image shows the first coat of Mauritius Blue Perfection


There is no doubt in my mind that perfecting this finish will be massively easier than what I did with the mast, beams and all the aluminum parts. But for sure there is a bunch of work to do. My plan is to put 3 coats on. I did get most of the bottom deck covered too and I am real sure that the new smooth decks are super cool.

dg

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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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The mirror gloss of that first coat sure is amazing. The camera captures that more dramatically in blue than in the arctic white I did. Are you mixing the whole quart peer coat, or measuring a smaller quantity?

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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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I did the whole quart. Not that I wanted to. I would rather have mixed as I went along, but Interlux kind of sorted this out as mix as a quart. With the 20 minute wait they sort of forced the issue as to how much you mix up. There is a small area under the horses that didn't get covered, but most of the hulls did get one coat. I had some left over, but no where to go with it.

Tomorrow, if my arms will still move I will wet sand out many of the imperfections. Then if my arms will still move I will sort out a 2nd coat. In the morning I will also sort out if I want to invert the hulls and work the other side of the equation.

I get how this coating works, I am just not convinced yet that it is less work than spraying. For sure the hard finish will be seriously good looking when completed. I just hope that I don't get to meet a cardiologist in the process of making this boat look like I want.

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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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Hanging the hulls worked pretty good for me. Just a couple eye bolts in the ceiling joists, and suspend the hulls by the crossbar straps. I think the hard part about spraying is getting a thin enough coat not to have sags. Even with very thin coats on the foam roller and tip method, you will find your second coat is more sensitive to sagging if you get a little heavy. The Perfection was so much work, that I have second thoughts about not gel coating the whole thing. Either way, it's a lot of sanding, but the gel coat leaves you some thickness for mistakes and repairs.

For quantity, you might want to try 16 oz + 8 oz in a mix container. That gets you 24 oz of paint + 1 or 2 oz reducer if it's hot. The remaining 8-ounces can be used as a touch up or to recoat areas like the bottom with an additional coat within a few hours of the first coat getting tacky. I found 24 oz was about perfect for complete coverage of the hulls and rudders.

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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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I am going to look at hanging the hulls. My challenge is that the shop ceiling is 10' on the low end and about 15' on the high end. So I have been concerned about swinging, although I can probably minimize that. But it also doesn't look like the main beam strap location is in front of the center of balance point of the hulls. I'm afraid that the hulls will tip bow down, unless I also include or use the bridal tang. I suspect your 5.7 is heavier in the stern than my boat.

This really is a lot of work, but some really shiny hulls kind of help push this project along. My brother the boat builder also says I should leave this stuff alone for another day or so before wet sanding it. I'm good with that since I can hardly move today after sanding the primer out and then painting this thing. So I will wait to wet sand this first coat out.

dg

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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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I was able to dry sand using #400 paper in an orbital random sander, followed by hand-sanding.

If the hulls tip down, just hang some weight from the stern drain plugs. It won't interfere with painting. I had a little bit of swinging in the hulls as I painted, but there really isn't that much pressure being applied. A hand on the masked top surface usually quieted things down. I was able to get to all sides at once, which made coming around the bow without a lap mark easy. On the other hand, the areas you need to touch up the bottoms is not visible, so it really doesn't matter as long as you are able to move freely up and down both sides as you paint. I would avoid painting on the hulls upside down as this cold give you a pretty serious lap mark or drips in a very visible spot along the top.

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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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