Hull Side Paint Complete

I got the boat hull all primed and prepped for painting, and started looking into the cost of painting it myself. It was going to be a lot in materials, and then I still would probably waste a lot of material learning. I decided I have put enough time and effort into this thing to get it finished right. There is a guy that I see at the coffee shop in Hampstead who owns Mirror Image, Inc. His name is Shawn Fuchs and he specializes in auto painting and repairs. So, I talked to him about the boat one morning, and he felt good about being able to do it. Shawn was completely rigged up to help me, as he has a trailer with all of his gear so he was able to paint the boat right where it was in the garage. He did a hell of a job, and was very meticulous. Here are the results.

Suppliers

Just thought I would include some stuff I learned about buying stuff for a boat build for any who may be beginning the process. Hopefully I can save others some time, headache and money.

US Composites is great (http://www.uscomposites.com/) . I used them for all the glass, peel ply, cabosil, fairing compound, and epoxy. The pink fairing compound they make is TheBomb.com. It mixes smoothly, sands easily, but it also cures pretty dense. I like it better than the fairing compounds that West System makes. The US Composites fast cure epoxy is super fast, and the slow is super slow. I would only get the fast for extreme cold building conditions, and I don't think i'd really use the slow again--you have to wait like 1-2 full days before you can sand it.  Their peel ply and their glass are both good quality and priced competitively. They ship anything from a huge load of epoxy to one container of cabosil.

I got a few things at West Marine, but only when I needed it right away. Many things at West Marine can be found at literally 1/3 to 1/4 of the West Marine price, but when you are in a bind they are good. Also, know that they will price match--even if you give them online store pricing. I got three hatches from them for a total of $120. If I didn't do the price matching thing they would have cost me over 200 dollars.

Discount Marine Supplies (http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/) is great. I have to say that I was a little leery of ordering from them because there is no phone number listed on their site. If something doesn't work out I can't even get a hold of them, right? But as it turns out they are great and very responsive. I ordered trim tabs, steering wheel, steering system, fuel vent, fuel tank, gauges, and a few other items from them. I found out that my steering cable was too short. I just emailed Cristian at Discount Marine, and he called me back to say a new cable was in the mail. I didn't have to send back the whole thing--they just swapped me out cables. That was great. I spent a lot of time looking for the best deals on stuff that I bought, and I just stopped looking around because this site had either the best prices, or the best prices when you include shipping.

Another online company that I used was Wholesale Marine. I wouldn't suggest using them. Their operators are not very informed on what they are selling so you have to really know exactly what you need. Also, their shipping prices are high (I paid 22 dollars to have a fuel water separator, one keel roller, and 17 feet of fuel line shipped). At Discount Marine shipping is like $10 standard, and sometimes they waive shipping on larger orders.

Divinycell was a tough one. Just by chance, I found some locally and got it at a really good deal. I still had to buy another 10 sheets of 1/4 inch H80. This stuff is a killer. I ordered directly from Diab since that was the best price I could find, but it still set me back a pretty penny. I paid a ton in shipping because I had them keep them in 6 foot sheets, but I would do it again as opposed to having cut up and trying to joint them all back together for the build.

Crunch Time

A WHOLE lot has gone on since my last post. I have worked on the boat for the past three weekends (except one day--the day the hurricane came through). Also worked on it just about every week night too. Here are the things I have done since last post:
1) Faired the entire topside, including fine filling filling small lows and digs as well as pin holing.
2) Faired underneath gunnels where the rods will be stored (this part was miserable due to working in tight place).
3) Cut out deck holes for the read hatches to go, and cut out center console hatch hole.
4) Cut out front deck hatch, and built a ledge for it so it will lie flush with the deck. Borrowed my friend Scott Lindsay's router to make a trough around the lip so water won't go in the bilge.
5) Cut out access holes in the bulkheads so I can get to the below deck areas where different items will be mounted.
5) Put in reinforcing substrate material under the front deck so the deck will be able to support the weight of the trolling motor.
6) Built up strakes - they waved a little bit, so I used west systems 403 which has a little glass in it to even them out. I basically took a 2x4 and cut out the shape of the strake all the way across one end of it using the table saw at a 45 degree angle. Then I lined that cut out with plastic wrap, packed it with West 403, and then turned it over on top of the strake. This way, it cured in the shape of the strake. Once cured, I sanded it down, and then faired again using Interlux WaterTite.
7) Faired the spray rail using US composites fairing compound and epoxy.
8) Faired center console. It isn't perfect, and the reflection will walk a little on the sides, but it is close. Plus it will have things like speakers mounted on the sides, so hopefully that will cover some imperfections.
9) Made mount on floor using divinycell where center console will mount.
10) Primed topside of the boat, and sanded down to be ready for slick coat.
11) Ordered the rest of the hardware I need for the boat. All I have left is the spray rail, poling platform, and seat cushion that Tommy from Salters Marine is going to make. Plus the wiring materials that Luke Donat will need.

Here are some pictures of the progress:

This is the fore deck taped off and ready to be cut out.

Fore deck after cutting out the hatch. I made it large enough so the fuel tank can be easily removed.

A load of fairing work, but she is finally ready for prime coat.

Robert, the friendly ghost.

Topside primed and sanded.

Boat flipped over thanks to the help of Kyle Hines, Juan Echevery, Robert (my helper) and the other Robert, my neighbor.

Robert and I getting the strakes lined up.

Got the Logo Done

Had a guy here in Wilmington, Derek Schmidt (DesignLoud.com) do the logo. He did exactly what I described, and was really patient with all my edits. Really reasonable rates too. The logo is the silhouette of a fiddler crab (a food item preferred by redfish) .

First Float

Robert and I have been absolutely busting tail working on the boat. Having it back in the garage has been wonderful--can work on it every time I get an hour free. I've worked on it every night for between 2 and 6 hour blocks.

Took Kendell with me, an we floated the boat at Mallard Bay, and it sits just right. The chines come up out of the water about 3/4 of the way up so that's going to result in a little hull slap, but I am okay with trading that for a better ride than I had on the old Pathfinder.

Back to fairing.

1 Step Forward, 18 Steps Back

Got it all primed on the topside, and it looks slick in a picture. Problem is that it there is still another round of fairing to be done. So I have since gone back and started filling, and now it looks rough again with blue streaks of fairing compound all over it. Soon enough I will seal it all up though.

And it continues...

Topside Fairing

Flipped the boat right side up and started fairing. I used a fairing compound I got from US composites along with the US Composites epoxy. This epoxy is actually really good for fairing because it is already kind of thick.

I mixed it up and poured it over the various sections of the boat. Once it cures I just sand it down with the polisher with 36 grit, and then move on down to about 80 grit at the end. It sands pretty easy, and spreads nicely over the glass, filling the weave.

I got Robert to help me sand it, and this day was tough for both of us. It was a lot of work, and a lot of glass particles down the shorts and all over.