Hello all, I've been following this thread with great interest, as I'm involved in the same project. My M15, though, is in a bit rougher shape than I expect most others are. I rescued it from the salvage yard, repaired some gaping holes and am getting quite near to the paint issue. As I'm in Minnesota, I'll be exclusively freshwater sailing, so I'll be following your collective advice on paint. But, with the numerous dings, scrapes, scratches, barnacles and other places where the hull has been rubbed down to (or through) bare fiberglass, my question is this: can I do a skim coat of epoxy over the entire hull before painting to even out all these imperfections? There are still some rough patches in the hull that need glassing, and the front of the keel needs to be built back up (I plan on using bondo covered with fiberglass), but once those are done, there will still be the issue of minor imperfections that can't be sanded out. Thanks to all for your collective wisdom! Chris M15 Persephone On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM, John and DesAnne Hippe <jdhippe@gmail.com>wrote:
Hello All,
Thanks for everyone's input. After consideration I have decided to follow Gary's advice and go with VC 17. It is a thin antifouling paint recommended for fresh water. Because it is formulated with teflon it should be slippery. It is also said to produce a "hard, super-smooth racing finish." Just the thing for an M-15...
I am almost done removing the old bottom paint. I began with 80 grit on my random orbital then switched to 100 grit on the random orbital and am finishing with 100 grit by hand to get into the corners of the lapstrakes and the other areas that my random orbital wouldn't go. I love the looks of lapstrake but it sure is a pain to sand. It is a joy, however, to see the bottom beginning to look so much better -- and smoother. No more old, lumpy, flaky bottom paint.
If I had it to do again I would have begun with a scraper. I originally tried this with a bad scraper and then abandoned it. Later I found a better scraper (a pull type) that worked very well.
In addition the the cracks that I mentioned in previous posts, I have found a couple of spots where the gel coat has chipped off. So, before painting I will be repairing these.
John M-15 Jester _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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