December 12, 2012 - painting underway

Lots of things are going on right now with the boat.  I am removing several through hull so they can be up-sized, or moved, or replaced.  The old holes will be fiberglassed over.  The stabilizers have finally arrived and we need to get going on that project now.  I have had to remove two depth sounder transducers and several through hull to make room for the active fins (including swing room) and the actuators inside the hull.

One of the stabilizer fins.  This thing weighs about 150 pounds and is 5' long!

A crate full of VERY expensive hardware.

One of the hydraulic actuators.  This goes on top of the fin and moves it
back and forth directed by the "brain box".  Amazingly, it will eliminate more
than 90% of the roll of the boat in heavy seas.

Lots of final prep work has been going on so the flybridge can be painted.  Sal applied primer the other day and it looks great.  But the primer did reveal several flaws that we just couldn't see before.  All minor an easily dealt with using a special 3M marine filler compound.  The primer needs a few days to cure before it can be sanded.  Sanding should begin next week.

Sal applying the two-part epoxy hi-build primer.  He's painted a lot of boats
and really knows what he is doing.  I'd mess it up if I tried to do this.

Flybridge exterior primed

Back of pilothouse ready for sanding.

The flybridge interior.  The helm isn't getting painted because I'm going to
rebuild it next year to incorporate modern electronics.

Flybridge bench seat all primed and looking good.

Several parts received their final paint today.  First is the hatch for the v-berth ceiling.  It was a rough textured lid before, with paint coming off the aluminum vent louvers, and it was all an extremely dull finish.  It almost resembled a find sandpaper.  Lots of sanding and filling of gouges and holes on my part, and then Sal took over to apply primer and paint.  The results are simply amazing!

This is the lid after a few coats of final paint.  WOW.  Look at that gloss!

The three doors also got painted today.  And they look equally impressive.  Extremely smooth and unbelievably glossy.

Nice looking doors.  Super glossy, flaw free, and ready for
another 10 years of service.

And finally, the cockpit ceiling is taking shape.  The rough texture and peeling paint on the ceiling have been sanded off.  The inside lip/edge has been sanded smooth, filled with epoxy filler, and sanded smooth.  It will be a smooth finish now, not the rough texture it had before.

Looking much nicer.  The ladder opening is gone, the BIG old lights are gone.
The terrible paint and texture are gone.  Two small and efficient LED lights will
be flush mounted in the ceiling.  It's looking SHARP.

The inside lip converted from rough texture to smooth finish.  I can't wait
to see it with the final paint.  These changes are going to really update
the look of the cockpit.

  Nest week progress will slow with the Christmas break.  Same for the week after with New Years.