Painting topsides and bottom

[Ryan Barnett]

I just bought my first Cape Dory (CD 25) and have been loving it. Now that I have thoroughly scrubbed her inside and out, cleaned and oiled the teak she is looking great. The first big project I want to tackle is painting the bottom and the topsides. At some point in her life the topsides were painted green and the blue non skid was painted over with tan. It is looking pretty shoddy as the tan is coming off revealing the blue and the green topsides look worse for wear.

My question is this: If I haul her out to do a bottom job, should I do the topsides at the same time? If so which should I do first or should I make it two seperate projects? I plan on repainting the entire deck and non-skid at a later date.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Ryan Barnett
CD 25 #19
Lake Lanier, GA



trbarnett@hotmail.com

[john]

I just bought my first Cape Dory (CD 25) and have been loving it. Now that I have thoroughly scrubbed her inside and out, cleaned and oiled the teak she is looking great. The first big project I want to tackle is painting the bottom and the topsides. At some point in her life the topsides were painted green and the blue non skid was painted over with tan. It is looking pretty shoddy as the tan is coming off revealing the blue and the green topsides look worse for wear.

My question is this: If I haul her out to do a bottom job, should I do the topsides at the same time? If so which should I do first or should I make it two seperate projects? I plan on repainting the entire deck and non-skid at a later date.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Ryan Barnett
CD 25 #19
Lake Lanier, GA

Ryan, I did the same on the hull of my CD. Did the topside & the bottom during the same haul out. I suggest you purchase a Porter Cable 6" stick on sander for the project. I lost a lot of time sanding with a smaller sander until one of the yard pros loaned me his porter cable. Bought one that night. I used a one part paint & the hull looked like it was sprayed, but we rolled & tipped it. 2 coats of primer & a 3d coat mixed 50:50 with the paint. Then 2 coats of topside paint. All sanded between coats. The bottom was taken down to the gel coat because the paint was in very bad condition. It's easier to just sand the whole hull & repaint. We also barrier coated the bottom. Makes them look new when you go back in the water.
John CD31 #18 Bonnie Blue



redzeplin@yahoo.com

[John (Rosetta Stone)]

I'd agree with John that sanding/striping from the gunnel to the bottom of the keel would be the most efficient. John also sounds like he did everything by the book. You may already be aware of this, but the only thing I'll add is that you need to find out what type of topside paint was used before. The one part polyurethane can be painted over the two part epoxies, but you need a special primer coat before applying the two parts epoxies over a one part.

I painted my Typhoon dark green using Epifanes' two-part (recommended in Practical Sailor). I sanded and faired the surface and decided that the surface was in good enough shape to skip the primer coat. Some may argue that I should have layed a primer coat, but Epifanes' instructions suggested it wasn't necessary if your fiberglass/gell coat was in good shape. I layed one coat on and it looked fantastic. I rolled and tipped as the recommend. Because I was ansty to go sailing, I decided to launch with plans to lightly sand and apply the "finish coat" when I haul her out this fall.

In the spring I am stripping the bottom down to gel coat and applying a barrier coat and fresh bottom paint.

I layed a coat of brightside with microballons on the non-skid deck. I am satisfied with how that came out, but I will apply another coat at haul-out for durability.

Good luck - I am sure it will look fantastic when you are finished!



john@mohawkroc.com

[Dan]

If you don't strip the bottom but do paint the topsides, do the topsides first. Then put on your boot stripe, then scuff and paint your bottom. You can put bottom paint over topsides paint, but not vice versa.

I did the above this spring. My boat was a very weatherbeaten medium blue. I repainted her white with Interlux Toplac and then scuffed and painted the bottom. Came out very well.

Dan

[marc]

Hi Ryan,

For the sanding before the painting: buy a lot of sandings papers, do'nt be cheap on that you will save so much time, in my case i sand with 400 and 600 grade for the topside and for the non-skid i use the 80 grade.


Like everybody told you, do the topsides first. I use Easypoxy for my Ty and now for my Alberg 22. I rolls and tips, for the painting i mix with the thinner salem 12120 (60% paint and 40%thinner) the result will be better with thin layer. Between each layer i sand with 800 grid, just a light sanding. I bought the paper to an automotive repair shop.


Good luck with your project. Nothing is hard to do, just take your time to do it.


Marc
A22

I just bought my first Cape Dory (CD 25) and have been loving it. Now that I have thoroughly scrubbed her inside and out, cleaned and oiled the teak she is looking great. The first big project I want to tackle is painting the bottom and the topsides. At some point in her life the topsides were painted green and the blue non skid was painted over with tan. It is looking pretty shoddy as the tan is coming off revealing the blue and the green topsides look worse for wear.

My question is this: If I haul her out to do a bottom job, should I do the topsides at the same time? If so which should I do first or should I make it two seperate projects? I plan on repainting the entire deck and non-skid at a later date.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Ryan Barnett
CD 25 #19
Lake Lanier, GA

adrenaline@vif.com