Final coat of Kirby's Maynard Bray Off White, rolled 100% with a Mighty Max Mini Roller and tipped with a Corona Deck and Trim brush. George Kirby recommended the brush, they also sell them, is had a soft, full head on it and held a lot of paint. The bristles were very flexible and we are very happy with the paint.
Catching up the blog. Each layer of primer or paint took about a day, so we skipped posting about each coat. Sanded old paint off of SUGAR 2's deck with 120 grit pads on a DeWalt Random Orbital sander. Fixed one more void on the seam with THIXO injected by a syringe then lightly clamped. Then did another leak test, which she passed.
Put a coat of TotalBoat Gleam Satin Varnish on the rudder, tiller and tiller extension.
Sanded, leak tested, ready for tape, primer and paint.
Removed the bridle eyestraps, took out one screw at a time, swiveled the eyestrap out of the way, reinserted screw, then took out other screw. This helps ensure that the wood backer block inside does not drop off. The blocks are glued and fiberglassed into position, but 40 years later they can come loose. Sometimes excess expanding foam holds them in place.
Taped off the bow and stern and brushed on Kirby Primer tinted with #4 Orange with a short handled sash brush. 2 coats.
2 coats of Kirby's #4 Orange, it went on smooth with a brush, 100% in 90F temp. Color is awesome and so is Kirby's Tech Support, George answers the phone!
Skipper peeled the tape!
Removed the cockpit trim, 1/8 inch drill bit to drill out the head of the rivet. A wide, flat screw driver is handy to tap the trim loose. Sometimes a remnant of the rivet is stuck in the fiberglass, like you see on the far left of the photo, we used an awl and hammer to tap that piece out.
We've enjoyed using the Kirby Paint. They have been making paint since 1846 and custom mix the colors. It has been easy to use, levels well and the colors pop on this boat.
Before we did the deck we sprayed the perimeter and cubby of the cockpit with light gray Rust-Oleum, it was east to reach far corners with the spray. On the non-skid portion we brushed on Kirby #25 Light Gray.
Kirby White Primer on the mid deck then first coat of Kirby's Maynard Bray Off White. Primer brushed and then lightly sanded with 120 grit. Paint rolled with a Mighty Mini roller and tipped with a Corona Deck and Trim brush. Very happy with the results!
Applied the US Navy Fixed Wing Flight Training Squadron 27 (VT-27) markings.
Skipper's idea, I had nothing to do with it. We padded the line with towels this time to prevent rubs on the soft paint.
She is getting good at doing rolls in Skipper's flipper cradle.
We filled the last seam void with Jamestown Distributors' TotalBoat THIXO, it was easy to just dispense it right into the syringe. #totalboat
Air leak test for the seam repair, passed with flying colors. The Porter Cable cordless wet/dry vac puts out plenty of air.
Sanded the last of the paint off of the deck with 120 grit.
Removed the bow handle and sanded the fairing compound around the bow handle screw holes. Someone added an extra set of holes at one point with plastic anchors, we removed those and filled the incorrect holes.
Removed the bridle eyestraps in prep for paint. The trick here is to only remove one screw at a time so the internal backer bock doesn't drop off.
Screws to make sure the internal backer block does not fall off.
Put another coat of TotalBoat Gleam Satin varnish on the mahogany rudder, tiller and tiller extension. #totalboat
Kirby Primer tinted with #4 Orange on the bow and stern. Applied 100%, with a soft brush, thicker than I'm used to but George let me know his paints are thicker than I'm used to. Looks to be leveling just fine.
SUGAR 2 checking the 10 day forecast, pondering Sea Trials.
Brushed on another coat of Kirby #4 Orange with a oil paint sash brush, pulled the tape. The paint flowed on smooth and leveled nicely. SUGAR 2 is ready for white bottom paint next.
When we were repairing backer blocks we noticed that the coaming was attached with screws and plastic wall anchors, definitely not AMF's doing. Plus there was a lot of failed sealant, another shade tree repair. We decided to remove it, clean up the old sealant and will reinstall it with the proper rivets. Luckily the screws came out easily and the sealant scraped off with a putty knife. We were able to pull a few of the wall anchors with vise grips and the others we poked inside with an awl.
Time to seal up the seam on SUGAR 2. We cut some seam size strips of 4 oz fiberglass cloth, about 30 feet of it and wet them out with TotalBoat Low Viscosity THIXO. The seam was propped open with paint sticks about every three feet, that is a good length of strip to handle at one time. We also prepositioned clamps and paint sticks to clamp the seam. The paint sticks help even out the pressure from the clamps.
Next we put down a bead of THIXO in the seam to bed the fiberglass strips, laid in the strips, put another bead of THIXO on the top of the strips, than took out the paint sticks.
Clamps. Lots of them. And since we didn't have enough big clamps we made some cheap ones by cutting sections of 4 inch PVC pipe and slitting one side.
