beautiful... author exhausted
The final subsection in the chapter of FJ13 hull refinishing comes to a close with the clearcoat. Once all the base was down and inspected, it was time to get ready for the clear. First thing is first, since white shows everything that may have fallen off of the making paper, blown through the open garage door (ventilation), or fallen off my body (don't laugh, you would be surprised at how little body hairs, threads, flecks of paint, or dust can spring off your body from ten feet away and naturally, be magnetically attracted by wet paint); tacking the white to get rid of any dust, and such (after blowing myself and my clothes off really well) is in order. Clean tack rag in hand and an air chuck on the other, I take to the task. Yeah, that looks good... Wow! this is going to be really nice when it is done... Very clean, very pretty... I can tell she is happy to be getting this ultra-makeover... I mean, what lady doesn't like a day at the spa getting a full body massage followed by a cosmetic makeover?
So all tacked up, here comes the catalyzed clear. This stuff is scary without a respirator. The overspray coats your skin, your face, your nose, etc... yup, you guessed it, there was one item missing from my box... Had to do this the old way... Holding my breath....
Since it is a small boat and I was blowing thin coats of clear, each coat was pretty quick, so the holding my breath bit wasn't a big issue. The clear went down without too many challenges, and yes, the outcome was everything I had hoped for.
The beauty of this particular clear is it is diamond clear urethane by PPG. It dries up crystal clear... May clearcoats have a slight yellow cast to them which throws the color a bit... Not the case here... and the other thing I like about it is that the product, when dry has a very high gloss. It is dry to the touch as I write this, and still looks wet.
The end result is quite nice, and I am very happy with the end result. Once the topsides are painted and the boat is re-rigged, she is going to be very photogenic. Even better, while not many people ever notice small sailboats, and most that I have seen lately are kinda old and beat up; our little lady is sure to get an admiring glance here and there.
Here are a few pics of the completed job.
Now I just let it cure up and harden for a couple of weeks before I can turn her back upright on the trailer so I can take care of the anti-skid on the topsides. I think I am going to go with an anti-skid throughout, including the rails, which one sits and stands on when flying on the trapeze. The coating throughout will make for a uniform appearance, but also add to an enjoyable sailing experience by limiting the number of accidental slips in the bottom of the boat during a tack/ gybe, or sail handling maneuver. I thought about using the white base/ clear on the topsides, but after slipping off the last boat whole walking on the deck to handle a bumper, I decided that slipping and breaking my backside in this one was not going to be an option.
Thanks for following this series of posts...
May the winds always cooperate, and you make port safely...