Painting a beat up boat.

[ctoms]

I have a fibreglass MAUS shovel nose that I want to make look like new.

What are the steps needed to sand and fill in cracks, screw holes and re paint this boat.

How far down should I sand?

What should I use to fill cracks?

What primer and paint to use?

Please explain as if you were talking to a 1st grader.

P.S. I am not in 1st grade I just wish I were.

Thanks
Charlie

[toyboy4145]

Charlie,
Depending if the cracks are structural or not you may need to do some glass work, hopefully not. If they are just superficial, you can lightly dig a small ditch down the crack line and fill it with epoxy or any filler. The same goes for the screw holes, just round off the hard edge around the hole, and insert your choice of filler. For the sanding, I would start with 220 grit sandpaper and sand just until you get to the resin and of course have a nice smooth surface. Whenever possible use a block of stiff wood with the paper wrapped around it. Depending how fancy of a paint job you want, you can just use Krylon primer and paint or take it to a car body shop(be prepared to ask nicely and bring your wallet. With the fancy route you can have whatever you want, as long as you wallet allows it. There you go. I tried not to be too elementary. Have fun.

[eddieh]

Following what nate was saying regarding a block, a cool tip is to use a paint stirrer free from the home depot, cut the paper to the correct width, a little contact cement on both sides voila, you can even zap some small lengths of dowel on the stick for handles, this is a cheap and very useful tool, with the contact cement instead of spray adhesive it holds upo much better for wet sanding, the longer length shows up any wavy lines or low spots,,,, hope it helps, if the paint is really nasty, and the hull is FG while your at home depot grap a can of lacquer thinner, and a roll of those paper shop towels, put some thinner on the towels and wipe off the old paint, use plety of rags and be sure to put them in a garbage bag you will take out immediately after your done or same day if your doing it over a few(because of spontaneous combustion) I find when you leave the old paint on it causes all kinds of combatibility problems, even enamel over enamel, and you will get a better look at any cracks, a little more work, but worth the effort,,, you can also use duplicolor or classic lacquer from the automotive part stores, can get a really nice job out of it for a few bucks, I always recommend use the same brand primer,colour, clear, it helps, cheers eddie

[Al E.]

Charlie,

Two winters ago I took on a Maus boat - you can see an article at www.modelboatmagazine.com - the cat. It was in OK condition when I got it - required filling and lots of sanding. I had to dig out a few holes made by air bubbles. Then filled with epoxy and wet-sanded til smooth. Then I hit it with thin coats of the Krylon primer and searched for more imperfections. I was suprised at how much resanding and re-filled it took for the boat to look good. After the primer, I used Krylon gloss white. The only problem I ran into was with the glasswork under the black windshield - I sanded down too far and got into the fiberglass threads - it looked like pinholes in a grid pattern. It took real thin layers of epoxy to fill it, finally I used my fingers to work it into the tiny holes. They filled in but not perfectly. The paint covers it nicely. After the Krylon primer and white base coat I applied the stripes and clear coated the hull, one surface at a time so the clear did not drip. Take your time, be patient and don't count on getting your boat painted in one or two nights - allot at least a week for it. The nice thing about Krylon is it dries quickly. You can hit it a couple times per night but give it good drying time between coats. Try the decal technique too - it works great! Good luck.