Let's Get it Started!

Wow! It is hard to believe that it has been over 6 months since I last worked on the boat! You can really blame it on the re-fit of Tru Luff, my Catalina Capri 18, for a couple of summer ocean trips in California and the stinking hot Arizona summer!. Now that the temperatures are finally getting in the pleasant range I hope to finally finish this project! The first step was to finish sanding the hull in preparation for some fairing work and primering which I am glad to say I finished last weekend!

Hopefully next weekend I can start the fairing process!

Primer coating of Deck Complete!

Finally finished primer coating the deck. I ended up applying 3 coats total. I tried a couple of different rollers and found that the best finish came with the sponge type roller vs the more traditional low nap "hair" type roller. The only downside with the sponge type roller is that the chemicals in the epoxy primer breaks down the material therefore you have to keep an eye on it and replace it once it starts getting somewhat limp!

Putting the blue painter's tape on it 3 different times was a bit of a pain, but worth it.

Overall it looks pretty good. There are some areas that could benefit from a little filler to smooth things out but most of them will ultimately end up under the non-skid therefore I'm not sure its worth the effort at this time.

I decided to wait on painting the deck until I sand the hull and primer/paint it. I'm pretty certain that there will be some vigorous sanding going on with the hull and there is no point in ruining the final finish!

We flipped the boat after the last coat dried and now it's time to start on the hull. Looks like another long sanding project to me!

First Coat of Primer!

Last weekend I applies fairing epoxy to all of the low spots etc that I had on the deck, and I followed up this weekend by sanding the excess material off and getting the deck finalized for applying its first coat of primer.

I am using Interlux two part epoxy primer called Primekote. Prior to taping all the bright work I wiped the deck down with the recommended solvent to make sure there was no oils etc that would interfere with a good bond.

I used a roller to paint the bulk of the deck, and a brush to get in some of the tight places and the bottom of the cross deck. I must admit that the bottom of the cross deck has lots of nooks and crannies that are hard to get to!

After I was done with the first coat I took the tape off to make sure that it did not stick on permanently once the epoxy primer dries. I have always had less than good luck with painters tape being a pain to take off so I decided to take no chances.

The deck definitely needs a second coat but it is good to see some paint on the boat! I am hoping that I can get a second coat on this week, but realistically it will be next weekend.

The Deck is Sanded!

So it's been a very long time since I dedicated time to working on this project. I had to get our Catalina 18 ready for a 9 day sailing trip in Lake Havasu during the middle of February that took a lot of time! After which we seemed to have one event after the other that was pulling me away from the boat.

So, after 3 months of not touching the boat, I put on my tyvex suit and went to work and finished sanding the deck this weekend! So she is now ready for some minor fairing prior to the primer going on!

I on purpose did not sand any of the bright work which I will do once I get ready to apply the finished coat to the deck. I must admit I am not a big fan of sanding epoxy! It is almost hard work!