Destiny Bottom Painting process . . . . .
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 5:23 pm
Destiny and her bottom job.
click each photo to enlarge
Every two years we lift Destiny out of the water, sand her bottom, paint her bottom, wash and wax her hull. The process is fairly straight forward as long as we keep up with the ever changing rules at the marina.
The first and most obvious step is moving Destiny to the haul out area! Thanks Alan (Alanhod) for showing up and crewing for me for a very short trip!
While at our dock, we spied of all things a tiny submarine going up the channel!The marina no longer allows us to pressure wash our own boat. So they squeeze more money from us and force us to hire them to pressure wash our boats. They then move her to the boat yard and block her up for us. We then allow her to sit for a day to thoroughly dry. Sanding wet paint sucks.
The next day we completely sand her bottom. Again, the marine says no hand sanding. So we must rent power sanders that are hooked up to vacuums and heppa filters. This is not a bad thing. You'll notice I have a breather and eye protection and that is it! We did not even have to wrap her in plastic this year! That was always a huge pain in the butt! So I really like this forced change. It is better for the environment anyway. Notice the green paint under the black. The very first time we painted her we picked a very bright color. The idea is so all future paint jobs will be dark ( black ). It makes it very easy to tell when to stop sanding so we do not hit the gel coat with a power tool! We also do not need to strip her completely with an ablative paint. Just knock it down to remove the surface area and keep from building up to much paint over time.
Next we wipe her bottom completely with paint thinner. It removes all dust particles and softens the existing paint to allow for good adhesive for the new paint to the existing paint!
Next we mask off the waterline and roll on paint! Easy as that! Remember, the ablative paint is meant to intentionally sluff off over time. Because of this, all leading surfaces get multiple coats. No reason to let the paint get worn off by the water!
Next we completely wash the upper hull with soap and water to remove ALL grime and garbage.
Then we use 3M Cleaner Wax 1 step to polish and wax the hull by hand. I apply the cleaner wax and Diane follows closely taking it right back off and polishing with clean rags.
Now change all your zincs.
Just before splashing her, the marina guys will lift Destiny to allow us to paint where the pads and blocks were!
Now they haul us back to the launch and allow us to board before lowering her into the water! That way we can literally float off the straps and motor out!
How simple is that! For those that care. We pay for the haul out, the pressure wash, $1 per foot per day in the yard. Everything else we do ourselves. The everything else would have cost us $1200 bucks this year had we paid to have the sanding and painting done for us! So yes, it is expensive to do this however it does not have to be outlandish. You can control the costs by carefully planning your paint purchase and doing the work yourselves!!!! Diane and I do everything. We share the load equally! Between the two of us, we can do a 40'er in 3 days work half a day or less for each of the days. We spread it out because the labor is intensive but quite manageable if you do not try and do it all in one or two days!
Things to remember. Always wax last. Don't want to get wax on the hull before you paint it!
Do NOT sand through your gel coat. Thus the bright first color!
There are as many opinions as to how to finish your bottom as there are sailors. Do what works for you and research your paint. Cheap is not always best.
Your environment may require some other method. Check with local old salts that do their own work for ideas!
This method will not make a racer happy. It is for a cruiser. We do not fair the bottom perfectly. We do not remove very ounce of old paint. We do not want a "perfect" boat. In our book if it is perfect it is a yacht. A yacht is a boat you don't take out for fear of damaging the finish. That is not us. We have a boat. We do not have a yacht! She is however a very pretty boat in our eyes!
As always, this is our opinion and our method and has suited us for many many years and several boats perfectly. After two years in the water and then a pressure wash, we could have easily changed the zincs and dropped her right back in the water. She was that clean. See the photos of after pressure wash and before paint! Yes, she was THAT clean!!
Scott
click each photo to enlarge
Every two years we lift Destiny out of the water, sand her bottom, paint her bottom, wash and wax her hull. The process is fairly straight forward as long as we keep up with the ever changing rules at the marina.
The first and most obvious step is moving Destiny to the haul out area! Thanks Alan (Alanhod) for showing up and crewing for me for a very short trip!
- Check the haulout before arriving
- Destiny with Dinghy already loaded
- Alan and his life jacket!
While at our dock, we spied of all things a tiny submarine going up the channel!The marina no longer allows us to pressure wash our own boat. So they squeeze more money from us and force us to hire them to pressure wash our boats. They then move her to the boat yard and block her up for us. We then allow her to sit for a day to thoroughly dry. Sanding wet paint sucks.
- Cool submarine!
- Destiny Lifted out of the water
- Destiny and the crane at the pressure washing station
The next day we completely sand her bottom. Again, the marine says no hand sanding. So we must rent power sanders that are hooked up to vacuums and heppa filters. This is not a bad thing. You'll notice I have a breather and eye protection and that is it! We did not even have to wrap her in plastic this year! That was always a huge pain in the butt! So I really like this forced change. It is better for the environment anyway. Notice the green paint under the black. The very first time we painted her we picked a very bright color. The idea is so all future paint jobs will be dark ( black ). It makes it very easy to tell when to stop sanding so we do not hit the gel coat with a power tool! We also do not need to strip her completely with an ablative paint. Just knock it down to remove the surface area and keep from building up to much paint over time.
- Destiny's bottom up close prior to wash
- Set on 8 stands after pressure washing
- Me sanding her bottom!
Next we wipe her bottom completely with paint thinner. It removes all dust particles and softens the existing paint to allow for good adhesive for the new paint to the existing paint!
- My Bride wiping the bottom with paint thinner
- Diane just started painting the rudder
- We made Tshirts for Relay For life! Here is the back! Cool!
Next we mask off the waterline and roll on paint! Easy as that! Remember, the ablative paint is meant to intentionally sluff off over time. Because of this, all leading surfaces get multiple coats. No reason to let the paint get worn off by the water!
Next we completely wash the upper hull with soap and water to remove ALL grime and garbage.
Then we use 3M Cleaner Wax 1 step to polish and wax the hull by hand. I apply the cleaner wax and Diane follows closely taking it right back off and polishing with clean rags.
- Me after waxinging port side!
- Diane Wiping off the wax on Starboard side
- Destiny lifted, removed stands and final paint touch up!
Now change all your zincs.
Just before splashing her, the marina guys will lift Destiny to allow us to paint where the pads and blocks were!
Now they haul us back to the launch and allow us to board before lowering her into the water! That way we can literally float off the straps and motor out!
- Destiny headed back to the launch
- From aboard just as she is about to be lowered!
How simple is that! For those that care. We pay for the haul out, the pressure wash, $1 per foot per day in the yard. Everything else we do ourselves. The everything else would have cost us $1200 bucks this year had we paid to have the sanding and painting done for us! So yes, it is expensive to do this however it does not have to be outlandish. You can control the costs by carefully planning your paint purchase and doing the work yourselves!!!! Diane and I do everything. We share the load equally! Between the two of us, we can do a 40'er in 3 days work half a day or less for each of the days. We spread it out because the labor is intensive but quite manageable if you do not try and do it all in one or two days!
Things to remember. Always wax last. Don't want to get wax on the hull before you paint it!
Do NOT sand through your gel coat. Thus the bright first color!
There are as many opinions as to how to finish your bottom as there are sailors. Do what works for you and research your paint. Cheap is not always best.
Your environment may require some other method. Check with local old salts that do their own work for ideas!
This method will not make a racer happy. It is for a cruiser. We do not fair the bottom perfectly. We do not remove very ounce of old paint. We do not want a "perfect" boat. In our book if it is perfect it is a yacht. A yacht is a boat you don't take out for fear of damaging the finish. That is not us. We have a boat. We do not have a yacht! She is however a very pretty boat in our eyes!
As always, this is our opinion and our method and has suited us for many many years and several boats perfectly. After two years in the water and then a pressure wash, we could have easily changed the zincs and dropped her right back in the water. She was that clean. See the photos of after pressure wash and before paint! Yes, she was THAT clean!!
Scott
Nice to see the vacuum sanders, eco sound & better for you also. 
Okay it's just a good idea and I stick to it. 
I did not remember it till reading the post just now.