Final Touches on the Bottom; Odds and Ends

January 10th, 2016

Needing to keep things moving forward, I took advantage of a few hours on this Sunday to address the final tasks on the bottom.  In applying the barrier coat and bottom paint, I used the boat stands to keep Alva Anne secure and upright on her trailer, but now that I had the majority of bottom complete it was time to finish the areas hidden by those boat stands.  In the week previous I had again sanded the hidden areas and applied a skim coat of thickened epoxy to further protect a gelcoat in very poor condition.  

I started the day's work by water washing the epoxy application, drying it, and then sanding with the 6" finish sander.  Prior to wiping the surface down with acetone to remove sanding debris, I mixed up the remaining portions of the barrier coat part A and part B.  With the barrier coat mixed and awaiting its required 20-minute induction period, I went ahead and wiped the surfaces down to remove the residue from the sanding.

With the surfaces cleaned and primed, I applied the barrier coat.  With dry weather and a good breeze blowing, it did not take long for the small patches of barrier coat to tack up...opening the window for another coat the barrier paint.  I applied 3 successive coats after the initial application, for a total of 4 coats.

After the fourth barrier coat, I then applied the first coat of bottom paint within the"hot-coat" window to ensure good adhesion between barrier and bottom paint.  The bottom paint was applied in successive coats as well, totaling 4 coats.

A few more pictures representing the application process on the keel: sanding the thickened epoxy fair...

...applying the barrier coat (4 coats)...

...and finally, applying the bottom paint (4 coats). 

 To round out the day, I applied a bit more varnish to the coaming boards, and then cleaned up some of the polysulfide squeeze out on the toe and rub rails.

Total Time: 4 Hrs.