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Refit: Winter 2008-2009
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Winter 2008-2009 Refit | Saturday, December 20, 2008
(and several days preceding)
The day after completing the
blue paint, I removed the tape demarking the top of the
boottop. The tape was extremely well stuck, a
phenomenon that I attribute to the weird tendency of older
Awlgrip, as it oxidizes, to grip the tape in an odd and
annoyingly tenacious way. I had noticed this issue on
deck in recent seasons when I masked off the deck adjacent
to the toerails for varnish, but it had never been a
particular issue despite that.
However, with the various
thicknesses of primers and topcoat on top of the tape, the
extra adhesion was a serious problem. Normally, the
buildup of paint over the tape in this way poses no
particular issue for removal, as the tape remains strong
enough to pull cleanly away, even though the thick primers
and paint require a certain tape-removal technique, which I
have done many many times. But since the tape was
stuck badly to the boottop, I found that it tore constantly
during removal, being as well stuck as it was, and required
tedious, time-consuming, and careful maneuvers to finally
remove it all. A job that normally takes 4 or 5
minutes took perhaps an hour and a half, spread out over
several sessions to maintain my sanity.
In the event, I got all the
tape off, and then later removed the plastic and tape from
the decks and toerails (which task proceeded as expected at
the normal pace).
With the masking tape
removal debacle behind me, I solvent-washed the boottop as a
preliminary step to clean and prepare it, as well as to
remove a few areas containing masking tape adhesive.
Then, I applied some of my blue vinyl fine-line tape to the
hull along the top edge of the boottop to create a crisp
line here. I followed this with a layer of standard
green masking tape over the top, and then applied green
masking tape between the boottop and the antifouling, since
the blue fine-line wouldn't stick to the antifouling (and I
didn't really need it there anyway). |
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For several reasons, I'd decided earlier to brush, rather
than spray, the white paint for the boottop. Chief
among these reasons was the fact that the boot was in
generally good shape and sound, and therefore I didn't see
the need, nor plan, for primer--just several new topcoats as
required, so I thought it'd be a quick and easy job to sand
and brush-apply three coats of white Alexseal. I soon
discovered why I favored spraying and came to regret my
brushing decision; it seems the effort of masking for the
quick spray job is well worth it. But I digress; more
on this later.
Next, I sanded the boottop with 220 and then 320 grit paper,
cleaned it twice with solvent in the usual way, tacked off,
and mixed and applied one coat of Alexseal snow white, using
a 2" badger brush. I applied this late in the day
after work on Friday, and left it to cure. On Saturday
morning, the paint had not yet cured enough to sand, so I
left it for later in the day, when I sanded and applied a
second coat.I
decided to leave it alone for Sunday, as I knew the paint
wouldn't be ready for sanding till late in the day, so I
planned to sand and apply the third coat sometime on Monday. |
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Total time Wednesday, 12/17/08: 1.5 hours
Total time Thursday, 12/18/08: 1 hour
Total time Friday, 12/19/08: 1.75 hours
Total time Saturday, 12/20/08: 1 hour
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