Bottom Work

	As Spring approaches, the trouble with the bottom paint is starting to sink in. The keel and rudder had been sanded by the previous owner with a disk sander (bad idea) and then coated with unthickened epoxy. The epoxy ran in quite a few places and was not sanded or even primed before the black graphite bottom paint was applied, so the bottom paint in those areas was peeling off big time. Furthermore, the rest of the hull had been stripped to the gelcoat, and a white polyester primer applied to it before the aforementioned black bottom paint. This would have been great except the primer never properly cured so it was soft and gummy, and difficult to remove to say the least. We could have just slapped on another coat of bottom paint, but I figured now was the best time to tackle the job, while the 'new boat' enthusiasm was at it's highest.
	After using hand scrapers and a Wagner power scraper to remove the bottom paint, the underlying white primer was sanded to a thin veil (it was too soft to scrape) with Black and Decker ¼ sheet palm sanders. This thin coat of paint was left behind to minimize the amount of gelcoat removed from the boat during the dry sanding, as we had to use 80-grit paper on the white primer because in it's gummy, uncured state it immediately clogged paper of any grit finer than 80. We then wet sanded the hull using a 1/3 sheet pneumatic sander and 180 grit paper, driven by a 1-hp air compressor, using the thin white primer paint to guide our progress. A garden hose was used to keep things wet and clean while sanding. In the picture, the port side is done and the starboard side still has the thin primer paint showing. The wet sanding left a smooth, clean surface with plenty of 'tooth' for the barrier coat. The boat had no (zero) hull pox. My clothes are wet because my kids, who were supposed to be helping by keeping the hull hosed down for sanding purposes, thought it was big fun to spray the old man and then declare it an 'oops'.
	In this photo the rudder is stripped to the pink fiberglass (it was not originally gelcoated) and the epoxy fairing compound (VC Watertite) is going on the keel. The blotches in the blue color are the high spots of the lead showing through the epoxy after sanding. This sanding down and filling up was done to assure that the minimum fairing was used and to avoid changing the shape of the keel too much. A board sander was used with 80 and 120-grit paper. The sanding went too slow by hand so a pneumatic board sander was used to speed up the job, and this is the only way to go, as I could do in an hour with the machine what took a whole afternoon by hand. Finally we got the keel to a state where it was completely coated with epoxy with no high spots or low spots. The final sanding was done by hand. We solvent washed the entire bottom twice using plenty of acetone and clean car towels prior to painting.
	Closeup of nearly completed keel fairing. When finished, it was possible to pull the sanding board across the keel and get perfectly even scratch marks from the sandpaper.
	Spraying on the VC-Tar barrier coat. The boat had been out of the water about 9 months before painting, so it was really dry. This is important, as even the best paint will not stay long on a wet hull. Gloves and bunny suits are also a must. We used some respirator masks from 3M that are two layers thick with activated charcoal sandwiched in between. These are not as good as professional canister-type masks, but much better than the simple masks sold at the home centers. Care must be taken to avoid getting overspray on the hull and deck. Another row of newspaper on the hull and dropcloths on the deck would have saved me some cleanup work.
	This night shot was taken after spraying on the last of the bottom paint. We used our trusty old Wagner Pro Duty power painter (airless spray gun) and a total of 5 quarts of VC-Tar barrier coat along with 4 quarts of VC-17 bottom paint, which works well in the waters of Lake Ontario. You can see that the fairing job on the keel came out quite good as evidenced by the flash reflection.
	Boat after finishing the paint work and adding a black cove stripe and new transom graphics. The VC-17 bottom paint goes on as a bright copper color and darkens to a charcoal color after immersion in water.
	Boat on the yard trailer, heading for the Travelift. Second season on the bottom paint shows the final color of VC-17. I have been able to get two to three seasons out of this type paint with no problems. Rather tall mast support sawhorses allow the Winter cover to tent at an angle that sheds snow and keeps the traveler ends from rubbing holes in the tarp. This height also allows one to come up the companionway without rapping one's head on the mast!
	Stern view of boat on the trailer. Aft navigation light is visible, attached to stern railing, and the sidelights are on bow rail. This is the only P28-1 I have seen with light fixtures if this type.
	Photographic proof that teenagers do not enjoy boatyard work nearly as much as their parents.