Saturday, May 29, 2004

Help on painting

Thank you for accepting my membership request.
I am NEW in the wooden boat world. I purchased a 23 foot Clippercraft 2 weeks ago. She was built in 1983 out of mahogany plywood. The owner of the boat painted her, I am not sure what kind of paint it is. The oringinal paint is still the only layer she has on. It has been stored in a garage all of its life 21 years. The paint at plywood ends at the transome has worn away the topside has small blisters on it.
 
The construction on the side gunnels are plywood strips screwed and epoxyed to a 1.5 inch strips creating a lapped plank look.
 
My big questions are. Do I need to strip all of the paint off the hull before I repaint her or can I sand the good paint and reapply a new layer? If I need to strip all the paint off will a heat gun distroy the epoxy bond between the plywood and 1.5 inch strips? Should I use an epoxy penitrator to seal the ends of the plywood. The boat will be on a trailer all the time with a week being the longest it will remain in the water can I use top paint for the bottom or is it recomended to use bottom paint? I plan to spend many hours on the Pacific ocean chasing salom and halibut.
 
attached is a picture of a simular boat. Unfortunitly I do not have a digital camera.
 
Thank you for any input you might have.
 
Steve
Attachment: Clippercraft.jpg

3 comments:

  1. Alarm    That depends on how much work you want to do.  Can you tell if there is a layer of fiberglass covering the wood and then painted?  I wouldn't use heat to remove the paint if you really want to strip it. I'd sand off the old paint and primer and start from there. But, if the paint was good enough to stick on the boat for 21 years I would guess it should be OK to paint over it. If it were me I'd sand it all down until fair then start the repainting process.   Since you don't know what kind of paint was used I would think a good epoxy primer is a good choice then a good paint.   See what some others may have to say about this.  Good luck!

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  2. I agree with gpcloud it depends on how much work you want to do. You can spend a lot of time removing the old paint and restoring the boat to new condition. Sounds like you want to go fishing. Sand it down and fair her smooth. You can use an epoxy with West Systems 407 filler compound to fair it smooth. Absolutely seal the plywood edges with Epoxy. Use the best marine grade paint you can buy and it will last a long time. If you are not going to leave the boat in the water for an extended period of time you do not need to use bottom paint. If it has all ready been bottom painted by all means use a similar paint again. A two part epoxy top side paint will be the strongest for the bottom otherwise. All the major marine paint manufacturers have customer service help lines so confirm which product to use...   Good luck and go fishing.

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  3. Thank you both for your replys. I have a lot of work ahead of me.... I enjoy my working time.

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