Laser Winter Project

B-L Bandit

Leeward Bound and Down
Hey there everyone.
A little about me: I'm 17 (18 in a month) love boating and i work at Sturgis Boatworks here on cape cod. Last winter I fixed up my uncles '69 sunfish, new paint parts ect. Came out great, the hull was in good condition and it sails great not to mention how awesome it looks. This summer I decided I wanted a laser so a friend gave me his that he raced with up to about 4 years ago. It is the oldest laser ive ever seem. Sail number in the 3600's. I dont know where that puts it year wise, but I'm guessing pre '76? Anyway the boat was in rough shape: Racing damage including holes in the gunrail, small spider web cracks from impacts and crummy repair work. Someone added clam cleats for the mainsheet and I can tell they just found 4 screws laying around the house and screwed them in by hand, they were horrible and i probably could have riped them out with my hand. I cleaned it up removed all the old parts and started working on it. I filled the holes using epoxies and bondo on some. The bondo works great on the spider web cracks becuase they are just shallow surface cracks. Rite now im just prepping the boat for paint, doing all the hull work. For the record I do not plan to race it, just a recreatioal boat that I'll race against fiends ect, nothing too serious. I'm sure I'll have a million questions for you guys over the course of the project. This is just sort of an intro to let you guys know what is up. I have some pictures of when i first got it and just started working on it, so here you go

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good luck man!!!! I fixed up a 1971 a few years ago. Sail number was 110. It took all winter but by spring i had a sailing laser!!!

Keep the questions coming!! There is plenty of knowledge here to help you out!!!!
 
Good luck. I did the same thing to an old MC Scow when I was 18 years old. It's a lot of fun and you will have great memories.
 
OK, I patched the boat up and I am done prepping it. It seemed the more time I spent working on it id find more areas that needed work. The boat is now ready for the next step: Paint. I already have a paint scheme in mind; I always liked the red lasers that vanguard made around 2004. So that requires a white deck and white bottom of the hull with red topsides and a white transom. I know I am going to use Interlux Brightside for the red topsides and I am going to use it for the flat parts of the white deck, and maybe the transom. For the bottom I’m thinking of using the vivid Brightside antifouling paint in white. It is the only paint I can think of that you can use for a bottom coat that won’t bubble up.
The other alternative is the interlux but I heard it will bubble. The other concern I had was what I can use for the non skid part of the deck. My original plan was to just use Brightside as I am doing with most other parts of the boat but I am concerned that I cannot prep the surface adequately enough with primers and obviously I can’t sand between coats without making the deck flat. And the Brightside goes on really thick so it might just fill in the indents anyway. The alternative I came up with was to use spray-paint of some kind, I’d spray on an appropriate primer followed by two or 3 coats of the paint, whether it be lacquer or regular I don’t know, I need some suggestion. Would spray paint do a good job of standing up to the beating in certain spots and will it maintain its finish?
So I need some suggestions or recommendations on paint for the bottom, and paint for the non skid, or anything that you think can be handy or I might need to know. I’d appreciate anything you might have to add.
 
Unless you are planning on leaving it in the water for a couple of days at a time, topside paint will be fine on the bottom, it will not bubble.

That said (and depending on your budget, you might want to consider spraying white gelcoat on the bottom, mixed with Duratec ( http://www.duratec1.com/dp07.html ) to reduce the orange peel and amount of time spent sanding and polishing afterwards.. Gelcoat will give you the most durable bottom finish, much harder then all paints and will allow you to build up some thickness so a few scratches don't reveal the blue.

On the deck (and bottom too), you might also consider looking into two part epoxy based paints - along the lines of what is used on pools and garage floors - it had great adhesion, is very tough as far as wear and can go on thin or thick by roller or brush.

Good luck
 
How does one paint the bottom with gelcoat? I've never heard of a way to apply it, it seemed like it could only be done in the factory and i could never find a way of doing it by yourself. Is it shot through a gun? How could i go by doing it? Ive done some small gelcoat repairs where you mix it with hardner and apply it like bondo and sand it off and buff it out but other than that.
 
Yes, you spray it on, Duratec is the key to avoiding the orange peel
Google:
spray gelcoat
to learn more
 
What's avg ?

You need an air compressor, and a spray gun - I have a $40 gun that shoots gel ok. For this particular case, I was thinking more along the lines that Sturgis might have the nec equipment and be willing to work with/teach the budding repairman. If not, you can usually recoup the costs by spraying someone else's boat (and use it to practice on before you do your own ;-) )
 
Hull Painting

Hi,
it is a while ago (2006? or 2007?) a Laserite did post some very nice photos and a report of the painting of his Laser here at TLF. That Laserhull got ”rallye-arrows” to the side above the waterline. I did search intensive several hours at TLF, but couldn’t find the thread, sorry. Perhaps others find that thread.
However, BTW, I found some other nice threads to this topic here that maye are helpful:

http://www.laserforum.org/do-paint-my-hull-t6141.html?

http://www.laserforum.org/painting-laser-t9098.html?

http://www.laserforum.org/sanding-mile-scratches-t8034.html?

http://www.laserforum.org/gel-coat-t7130.html?

http://www.laserforum.org/gel-coat-t1185.html?


From my side: I would prefer “Brightside” from Interlux (in Germany: “International” instead of “Interlux”; it's the same producer, see here: http://www.yachtpaint.com/) with a good Polyurethane primer is enough.
NEVER spray “Perfection” from Interlux without professional external “breath-equipment”!Spraying “Perfection” is toxic (Cyanic gas!). It’s a 2-component Polyurethane paint. For spraying “Perfection” one need the thinner “No 10” of Interlux (for painting: use thinner “No. 9”). I made the good experience: “Interprotect” (white) of Interlux is a good primer for “Perfection” (the producer of “Perfection” me told at the phone-hotline to use it.)
In 2006 did refurbish several very old centerboards and rudderblades with spraying "Perfection"/ painting "Interprotect". Soon I add a small report and photos of that to TLF.

Ciao
LooserLu
 
Gel coating is starting to look a little better. But i still cant find good clear instructions of the whole process online, and suggestions? Would i only need a compressor and a paint gun?
 
I once sprayed on a gel coat replacement. It was made by Fiberlay in Seattle. Rented a compesser and sprayer. Bear in mind I had no idea what I was doing. Sanded the hull and sprayed the stuff on following the directions in the can. I was shocked to see what a good job it did. So...............I would say just seek out advice where you buy the product and go for it. If it doesn't work you can always sand it down and try something else.

Just my $.02! Good Luck.
 
Is gelcoat painting/spraying affected by temperature? becuase rite now i cant paint until the temp is above 50, which it wont be until at least march/april? What is involved in gelcoating, arnt there multiple layers under the color, or is is simply buying the color gelcoat i want and mixing it 50/50 with acetone? Do i need to prime somehow?
 
Yes, gelcoat cure time is effected by temp. The gelcoat sprayed will be the color - most will tell you you need to spray a few lighter coats as opposed to one thick coat. You need to do a little more homework on the thinning, it's not 50/50 acetone. The info is out there, you just need to track it down...
 
The only info id ever really found was this (http://www.bertram31.com/proj/tips/re-gelcoating.htm) and it was helpful but it didn't go into enough detail for me. It just seems like all the posts and articles Ive read have different advice on different ways of spraying gel coat, different additives and different techniques but i cant find one method that someone has explained completely from beginning to end and it is frustrating. Is there anyone out there that can go over the whole process for me? And another problem i have is that i patched up some cracks and small divits in the hull with bondo, will gelcoat adhere to this?
 

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