BYYB Forums

The width of the keel is 1 3/4" which is the same as in John Gardner's plans.  In consultation with Paul, I've been building this boat using composite strip construction, so the keel is not necessary for structure.  I sized it to work as a rub strip and approximate the original look of the full keel.  I left the keel full width because I want extra protection for beaching....and it looks right.

Keel epoxied in place.  I could/should have bedded it with a bedding compound and screwed it to the bottom, but I got a bit lazy.

Will, do your self a favor and put a couple of different colors of primer on the boat, first one, then another. Then make a couple of passes with the board of pain (100 - 120 grit). One pass from fore to aft, with the board at the same angle (about 30 degrees to perpendicular) then again from aft to bow, at 90 degrees of the first pass. All strokes in each pass the same direction and pressure. This will identify the lows and high spots, which you may want to address before the pretty stuff goes down. I think you'll quickly see bare epoxy and both primer colors in a blotchy appearance all over (this is normal). The bare epoxy spots will be high, the first primer color the lows and the second primer spots someplace in between. Very shallow lows can be filled with several layers of primer, deeper ones will need filler. I usually use the first primer color as the bench mark and knock the second primer color down until the first is just barely showing, then fill the lows to match.

What kind of filler?  I heard that epoxy doesn't like to stick to paint.  Is there a glazing compound that is compatible with acrylic primer that I could use?

First coat of primer on.  Technically it's two coats, as I did not get good coverage with the first.  I'm amazed at how much primer I used, and I was trying to be careful.  One whole quart for a solid coat!  Glad it's only 10 bucks a pop!

Anyway, this coat is a light gray.  Second layer will be pure white so that I can sand it with the longboard (see Paul's advice above) and find the low and high spots.  I can already see some irregularities in the epoxy layer that were invisible without the opaque paint.  An example of this is shown in the second pic.





(Side Note:  I HATE it when I'm posting something and click Preview to see how it will look, pics for example, then forget to click Post the second time through!  Thought I posted this 2 hours ago.)

Those lows look deep enough to require a good bit of filler. What I do is circle them with a magic marker, wipe off the primer in these locations with solvent (or sand it away) then bulk up the area with filler.

Fairing is an art form. Watching a pro do it makes it seem easy, but a novice can spends dozens of hours. Your hands are the real key. They'll tell you where the lows and highs are with remarkable accuracy. Since you have your 'glass on, you can't get aggressive with sanding so I'd try to bridge the lows using a wide drywall knife. You can apply a lot of filler this way, most of which gets sanded away.

A quart of primer will cover a bit over 60 square feet, in a perfect world. My quick math says your boat is in the 42 - 45 square foot range, so this means a minimum of two quarts over any fairing, smoothing, etc.

Generally, you apply fillers to the base, not primers. Epoxy will stick to primer, but not nearly as well as the epoxy covered sheathing. Depending on the primer, you can remove most with thinner. This is the fast way to do it. You can sand it, but this is more troublesome.

The trick to fairing is to have more than enough filler in the lows, so you can knock them flat with one shot. This is where novices fall short, so they have to apply filler several times, as they "sneak" up on fair. Long board the filler areas first, getting them down to surrounding surface, then blend the nearby areas to match.

Well, I've primered and sanded.  I'm seeing a distinct pattern in what's low and what's high.  A kind of lapstrake effect of ridges running longitudinally along the boat. They're not very pronounced, maybe 1/16th" difference between high spots and low spots at the most pronounced areas.  Some places where I did not feather the filler properly are showing up, but those are pretty straightforward fixes.

A 1/16th can be filled with primer, but it takes a lot. A heavy primer coat might be as much as 10 mils, so to fill a 1/16" deep low, you'll need at least 6 of these heavy coats, just to bring it up level.

Mark the lows and apply a few primer coats, then block just these areas down, with the long board and see where you stand. Concentrate on the lows first, then you can whack off the highs as they show up. You also can cheat a little, by lowering the areas around the lows a touch, before bringing the low up with primer. Ultimately, you'll probably need some filler in spots.

Not going to post pics of primering, sanding, primering, ad nauseum, but I did want to mention that I found out a nifty tip if you're wishing to paint or primer your boat and you're not picky about the color.  My local Ace hardware paint counter guy saved me quite a bit of money by letting my buy a gallon of mis-tinted primer for half price.  I guess it's one of those things you have to ask them about and not be too picky.  Anyways, next time your looking for some paint just to cover up something, ask your paint person if they have any mis-tints that they'll cut you a deal on. 

Currently working my way through a gallon of high quality brownish gray exterior primer.  I've got some white primer to cover it with, otherwise it would look pretty bad behind the creamy yellow topcoat. 

I use mis-tints on my rental unit all the time, but usually can get them cheaper then half price. I'll pick a light color and add more tint to make it more palatable.

Fairing is an ugly process for photos.

Just glad it's a light color. I call it "Gray Water" which has a nautical ring to it.