bertram31.com

Waiting for the ordered rubrail ,...

Decided to put 1 more layer of paint on her , nice and shiney brush job !!

Polished the bird and the ss pulpit one more time..

Instaled RC led strips below the gunwhale.

Took of all the chrome work for a redo.

Ordered all new VDO black gauges wit chrome trim.

Running out of jobs...any sugestions guys ???

gert, hot tub in the disco cockpit...Russ

THAT'S a brush job?

Hi Walher,

indeed it is and I can say it looks better than most spray coats.

I have 3 painters working for me that learned it the traditional way and the guys are the best !!

Its AWL grip with 7.5 % reducer and a couple of belt sanded brushes that do the trick...( and of course the brush manager !)

Yesterday evening I took out the high pressure wash and blasted the sealings , floors and boat , painted this morning ,11 degrees centigrade in the shed after 5 hours after the paintjob put on the heathers till 20 degrees and now she is looking like that.

The reason we are doing it like that is that we have very strict laws for spraypanting in Holland.

You should see the guys bright work !!

Gert

Duel pyrometer, bildge pump counter, crash pumps, backup power, Teak cockpit rail. Shal I go on?

Wow! To say I am impressed is an understatement!

Thanks Walter , so are my customers every time !!

Brew , ive got them all !!!!

:)

[img][img]http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g47 ... G_0423.jpg[/img][/img]

It DOES look better than my spray job!

Do you mean they sand the tips of their brushes on a belt sander?

Gert that is absolutely unbelievable the finish could look like that with a brush.
WOW is right! Beautiful job your doing on the old girl. I feel like getting my belt sander out for the brush and practicing the technique but I'm sure it would be years before I'd get that kind of consistency. That's great!

Wow... Nice!

A really good brush paint job is rare but it is the very best finish. Spray rarely flows like a really good brush coat because spray is thin and generally fast to dry. It relies on many coats to get thickness and depth….. thickness and depth that most of us would mess up in a brush coat.

I know a guy who can produce mirror finishes with a brush. I used to pester him constantly for insight as to what he was doing to get such fine results… and for years upon years he would give me trite, cute, and misleading advice. I concluded as most do that it was more of an art than a skill…..

But then I found out he was an M.I.T. educated engineer. SONOFABITCH! I instantly knew that he had a system and a logic and a process. It may be art, but no good engineer is going to leave it at that, a good engineer is going to figure out what works and why, and so far I have yet to met a bad M.I.T. engineer.

He still hasn’t told me his secrets and I doubt he ever will, but I was encouraged to know that there is a process that works and since then I have made great strides in my personal painting ability. Still the glass-like finish eludes me, but I Believe!

What I can say is that too many painters worry too much about viscosity and ignore surface tension…. And the top brush guys put on what seems like lots of paint, then they spread it, and then tip it off.

If you are looking for something else to do while you are at it -- well there is a 1966 25 hardtop that you can play with for me! Two words -- wow wow!

Gert

You are killing us. That is unbelievable. You have to post the secret to doing that. Even the Maestro Capt. Pat probably could not reach that perfection.

There is a guy here in Forked River, NJ who comes close, but he is not as good as your guys.

Capt. Pat probably could not reach that perfection.

Tony, believe me when I say that "perfection" is something I ONLY aspire to but NEVER achieve...

The only way one can be the best at anything is to specialize in that very thing. My problem is that I dabble in too many processes and specialize in none, making me a Jack of All Trades, Master of None.

I'd say that if I've come close to mastering anything, it's patience and perseverance.

Gert's painters are obviously masters of their trade and I suspect that Gert's mastery is in management and the ability to demand the best and accept nothing less.

Capt. Patrick:

"My problem is that I dabble in too many processes and specialize in none, making me a Jack of All Trades, Master of None." Horse Guano == The only flaw I have seen in your work -- is that there is only one of you. Your projects are the standard we all aim for, but never achieve.

Tom

Gert,

I am at a loss for words, you're doing things in days that others take years.

What did you do to the window frames? Were they removed? Painted or powder coated?

Amazing Gert, they must be relatives to Vincent van Gogh.

Walt

Gert, I have to say it.

If you are hurting for projects, send the crew over here. I have a boat that could use the skillsets!!!!

:)

Dug

Dug:

Note that I called dibs first, go back to Bobby Valentine and the big dig!

yo frien,

Tom

Yes Walter , take an new brush made out of Chinese pig hair and sand of a quarter of the length and round the tip at the belt sander.


Peter , last year I took out the side frames and made it Capt Pat style ( fibreglassed ).

Took out the front glass and started sanding the hell out of it back to the bare aluminium , then painted everything with interprime 820 6 times and 4 coats of AWL grip.

The sanding is the worst part , because you have remove all the anodized stuff and clean out the pit corosion

If you don't 2 years later you can do it again.

Thanks for the compliments guys , but don't forget it is my business and it is my business card aswell to have my own stuff look like new !

last year I had more than 30 clients that thought I build a new boat, bunch of dumb asses didn,t knew the existance of a B31.

I am in the business 20 years and own the company for 15 next year.


BUT , I am never reluctant to learn , and many thanks to this wonderfull site, where everything I needed to know I could find !!!
and the old Capster gave me fist of all a lot of inspiration and a lot of help behind the screens !!

BR Gert[/b]

CaptPatrick wrote:

Well maybe you can't paint like Gert's crew, but I would say it is hard to find too many who dabble's as good as you do.

I had a thought on LP paint and thickness, would it have as much bonding strength and chip resistance as gelcoat if it had the same thickness?
Probably been gone over before but thought I'd ask.

This is my hardtop I rolled and tipped it with Algrip, not as nice as Gerts guys but I am happy.

Thats the top.

Thats the bottom.
Is it better to do 1-2 coats or 2-3 coats ? for durability and gloss?[/img]
I plan to paint the rest of the boat in the spring. Figured I ask the pros.

Belt sanded brushes, makes good sense for holding the paint. You learn something everyday.

Brush manager- Didn't know that was a title, certainly an important job.

I prefer the finish of a brush painted boat over sprayed, I think the slower dry time really helps the Original Awl Grip set up better. Our hull is brushed and still looks pretty damn good after 6 years.

Neat project Gert, she just needs more wood.

Rolled covering boards
Teak Deck
Varnished bulkhead and overhead

Really make that classic a classic. Heck looks like you can keep her in doors so you got wood maintenance licked.

dumb question. yall are talking awlgrip. Could same be done with gelkote and get the results?

Nope, Matt, polyester gelcoat is a totally different beast than linear polyurethane and cures in a different manner.