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Tommy
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Post by Tommy »

Hi Frank,

Saw on the "Paint Scheme" thread where you sanded a bad paint job off your B-33, but I didn't want to hijack that thread. What tips would you offer for removing paint from a Bertram hull? My assumption is a lot of elbow grease using orbital palm sanders, but we'd like to benefit from your learning curve (my brother has a B-20 Sportsmanfacing the same issue).

Thanks!
IRGuy
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Post by IRGuy »

Tommy...

I am preparing an answer for you offline.. will post it in a day or two.
Frank B
1983 Bertram 33 FBC "Phoenix"
--------------
Trump lied! Washington DC isn't a swamp.. it is a cesspool!
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Tommy
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Post by Tommy »

Thanks Frank; I'm sure it was no easy job.

TD
IRGuy
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Post by IRGuy »

With all due respect to Captain Patrick and everyone else here who works on boats for a living I humbly answer Tommy’s post. I am an amateur who is not afraid to accept challenges, and I find I pretty much learn as I go along making mistakes, so I know I work inefficiently, while you have to work as efficiently as possible so you can be profitable. Please feel free to criticize my comments… for everybody’s benefit. Also, I am offering herein my own techniques, which are what I developed as I went along. I had good advice and a rather steep learning curve. Others might question how I did things or have better techniques to offer.. I am only saying here what I did personally.

This information has been prepared to be used as part of an overall writeup on the rebuild of my B33 FBC “Phoenix” for the B33 forum’s Owner Tips section, and as such might appear too “wordy” or oversimplified for some readers, but I have tried to make things very clear so someone with no prior experience in yacht refinishing can do the pre painting prep work as I did.
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Tommy...

I have been asked this question before, and my very first suggestion has been to hire somebody else to do it! It is a long miserable job! But a B33 has a lot more surface area than a B20. Certainly it a lot of work if you do it right, but hiring someone else to do it would likely cost a small fortune. For a hands-on guy it is just a tedious project, but certainly doable.

I have the luxury of having "Phoenix" in a building where two professional boat repair guys have their small businesses, so I can ask questions and get guidance whenever I need it. Probably the most important thing I learned is what are which materials and tools the pros use.

Source of supplies…The first thing to do is get a good source of sanding supplies. I learned to eliminate hardware stores, marine supply houses and builder’s supply places for materials.. instead find a supply house that caters to auto body painting and repair shops. They have more types of sanding materials than you could imagine. Sanding and painting are their primary work, and they have professional stuff that is of much higher quality than you can find anywhere else.

Safety First!.. Get a good supply of throw away dust masks.. and use them any time you are sanding. Also get a good partial or full face mask with a filter that can remove solvents from the air, for use any time you are spray painting (I didn’t actually paint anything, but I did apply lots of primer). You also want to have some goggles (that fit over your glasses if you wear them), so your eyes are protected from grit and dust coming off the sanders.

Some of the products you will use are flammable, and/or carcinogenic, and may contain solvents that may be regulated by federal or local authorities. Be sure you know and follow all regulations about the use and handling, including disposal, of any material you use.

Next thing is tools and materials.. Get a good 6” random orbit air powered palm sander.. these are more powerful, lighter and easier to use than electric palm sanders, and you don’t need to worry about dust getting into them.. but they don’t have built in dust collectors. Some have a dust collection outlet you can hook up a vacuum system to, but I did not do this. As a result you need to deal with a lot of unhealthy dust. USE A DUST MASK whenever you sand anything!

Then you need a good supply of clean compressed air. Where I am we have a large compressor that serves the whole building.. it seems like we have an unlimited supply of 110 psi air.. but I added a moisture separator to my main connection point so the air that reaches my sander is reasonably dry. You would be surprised at how much condensation there is coming out of an air system on a humid summer day.

Also get a good quality (I use a Makita) 8” electric variable speed sander/polisher. This is heavy and a little bulky, but very powerful.. you need this for the first sanding which removes the paint and a lot of the gel coat. As I used it I guess it was more of a grinder than a sander.

For sanding with the Makita I used regular 8” resin bonded 80 grit discs which I bought in a high quality tool store that caters to woodworking professionals. It takes some commitment and mental determination to take an 80 grit pad on a powerful sander and start grinding away at the surface of your boat!

With the random orbital air sander I used 6” diameter Velcro “hook” type pads and matching “loop” discs. My local auto body store stocks products from the European company “Mirka”.. the discs I used were their AutoNet line, and were a sort of open cloth mesh with the loop part of Velcro bonded to the back with the grit bonded to the working surface. I bought boxes of 50 at a time.. in 80, 120, 220 and 320 grits. These are some of the best sanding products I have ever used.

For sanding small areas and into corners I used a Fein MultiTool, which has many uses for working on boats.. other companies make similar tools. All have interchangeable blades and pads that you can adhere either Velcro or adhesive backed sandpaper to. All my Fein sanding pads were originally for Velcro backed paper but I ripped the Velcro backing off a pad and converted it to be able to use Mirka’s adhesive backed 2 ¾” wide paper strips, which I trimmed with scissors to fit the pads. These rolled strips come in 50’ lengths and are great for hand sanding as well. I bought these in the same grits as the discs.

For hand sanding I bought or made several pads that I could stick the strips of adhesive backed sandpaper to. These ranged from standard 5” by 2 ¾” wide rubber blocks to a 30” long rubber faced pad with handles on it. These are great for getting both small and large areas smooth and fair.

For fairing materials I used mostly AwlGrip’s “AwlFair” two part product, which I bought in one gallon tub kits. When mixed 50/50 the two components make a smooth and easy to work material that spreads easily and seems to resist sagging well. The only negative about this product I found is that it has to be left for 8+ hours to harden. I tried to do all my fairing as the last thing in the day so it would have overnight to cure.

I used AwlFair for large areas, but for small areas such as screw holes and small dings I used epoxy thickened with cellulose powder or milled fiber, depending on the final strength I wanted to achieve. I use MAS Epoxy products exclusively. Other companies make excellent epoxy products, but I am familiar with MAS Epoxy and have standardized on their products. Depending on the ambient temperature and the type of activator used this mix can cure in from less than an hour to several hours.

For primer I use AwlGrip’s epoxy “545” grey product, which I spray on using an inexpensive HVLP gun. The 50/50 primer base/activator mix is a little thick, so I used the recommended T-0006 solvent to thin it somewhat. This mix is easily sprayed, but when I brushed it on I found it was not easy to get a uniformly smooth coat, as it started to thicken as soon as the solvent began to flash off. AwlGrip also has a high build primer for very rough or uneven surfaces, but I was advised that unless you can sand it within 24 hours after application it becomes extremely hard and difficult to sand. I did not use this at all.

Removing the paint.. (Also the most miserable part of the whole process!) I used the 8” Makita at slow (setting 1 or 2) speed with 80 grit discs to literally grind away the coat of paint the previous owner applied. This sander/disc combination is a very unforgiving tool, in that it has to be kept moving and at the same time it will dig into the relatively soft gel coat if you are not careful. The edge of the disc is much like a fine tooth saw blade in that it will dig into anything it touches. I have a 2” long scar. with white gel coat dust in it, on my left knee to verify this.

Paint and gel coat dust will build up quickly so have a vacuum cleaner available.

By experimenting with different disc speeds and techniques you can find a process that will remove the paint with a minimum of damage to the gel coat, however you will still produce more deep scratches, digs and dings than you can imagine.

First cleaning.. Once the paint is removed, the surface should be brushed or vacuum cleaned to remove excess dust, and then wiped with acetone and a clean rag.

Be sure to know the rules about keeping acetone moistened rags spread flat and allowing them to dry before throwing them in the trash.. wadded or balled up solvent moistened rags can catch fire due to spontaneous combustion. BE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO HANDLE AND PROPERLY DISPOSE OF SOLVENT MOISTENED RAGS AND PAPER TOWELS! Handled incorrectly these can be dangerous!

First fairing.. Once the sanded surface is clean trowel on AwlFair to any visible low spots you made with the sander. (Don’t worry, you will miss a lot of them, and you will have more occasions to deal with them.)

Let this cure until hard, and sand with the air sander and 80 grit discs until the material is smooth. Use sanding blocks and/or longer pads to fair large surfaces. Wipe down again with acetone moistened rags to remove dust.

First primer coat.. Spray on a coat of 545 primer and let it dry. This material dries fairly quickly, depending on ambient conditions. When the primer is dry use the air sander with 120 grit discs to sand all the primed surface. The primer will turn a light grey where it has been sanded.. any low spots that need more fairing will remain dark grey. High spots will sand through and reveal gel coat. These may be bare but are not a problem.

Second fairing.. Apply AwlFair to any depressions that are revealed after the first sanding. When hard sand this smooth with the air sander and 120 grit discs.

Second primer coat.. Spray on a complete second primer coat of 545 material and let it dry. Sand smooth with the air sander and 120 grit discs again.

Spot fairing and priming.. Check all primed surfaces for any remaining low (dark grey) areas and re-fair these with AwlFair. Sand these areas with the air sander and 120 grit discs. Spot prime these areas with 545 primer and when cured air sand them with 120 grit discs.

Complete sanding.. Sand all primed and faired areas with the air sander and 220 grit discs.

Make one final check of all faired and primed surfaces for low spots. Follow the above steps for any that you find.

Final sanding.. Sand all primed areas with the air sander and 320 grit discs.

At this point all surfaces should be faired, primed, final sanded with 320 grit, and ready for painting. Bare spots showing gel coat can be painted, but any spots showing bare fairing compound or bare fiberglas must be primed and sanded before final painting. All surfaces should be sanded with 320 grit discs before painting.

Immediately before painting the surfaces should be vacuum cleaned, washed, and wiped down with clean (and if possible lint free) rags moistened with acetone.
Last edited by IRGuy on Jan 23rd, '12, 13:27, edited 2 times in total.
Frank B
1983 Bertram 33 FBC "Phoenix"
--------------
Trump lied! Washington DC isn't a swamp.. it is a cesspool!
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TailhookTom
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Post by TailhookTom »

IRGuy - Great tips -- two things I learned along the way when redoing my B31 -- no matter how fair you think it looks, a couple of spray cans of cheap, bright colored, enamel spray paint will show low spots like nobody's business. And, nothing beats a 3 foot flatboard for making everything fair! The added bonus -- you don't need to go to the gym to get your cardio with that either!

Great, well thought out, direction and much appreciated!

Best regards,

Tom
IRGuy
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Post by IRGuy »

Thanks Tom...

I did not highlight hand sanding with what the locals here call a "long board", but on large repairs I used them in different lengths quite a bit. I had to do some subsurface structural repairs where I had to remove and replace a couple of exterior surface panels so I could reinforce something below them. I used 12", 16" and longer rubber faced boards to fair the surfaces after I replaced them.. TOUGH WORK. Buried in a corner in the building in a junk pile I found a long board about 48" long for use by two people. Best used by two gorillas I think!

PS: A tip when using a longboard.. before you feel you have gotten the surface perfectly fair, take the flat side of a carpenter's pencil and scribble random closely spaced lines all over the almost fair surface.. then sand some more. On the high spots the black pencil marks will be sanded away first, the low spots will remain with the pencil marks showing.
Frank B
1983 Bertram 33 FBC "Phoenix"
--------------
Trump lied! Washington DC isn't a swamp.. it is a cesspool!
Capn' Tony
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Post by Capn' Tony »

PHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
Thanks
Capn' Tony
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CaptPatrick
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Post by CaptPatrick »

Frank,

Good write up!

Couple of important notes though...

Avoid using acetone as your pre-paint wipe down. Common acetone has a number of contaminates that will cause fish eyes in your paint. Use denatured alcohol instead.

Don't use pencils to trace out the surface. Graphite is a lubricant and can contaminate your surface, again affecting the paint finish. Use rattle cans of sandable automotive primer and just mist the surface from about 2' back.

Good luck on your paint job.

Br,

Patrick
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Tommy
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Post by Tommy »

Wow Frank, that is quite the detailed tutorial; thanks for taking the time to put it together. Would love to see your finished project if you can post some photos. I must admit that after reading I've decided that I like your first suggestion (hire someone)! Thanks again for sharing, and thanks also to the others who shared some thoughts.

Tommy
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lobsta1
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Post by lobsta1 »

Just remember though, even though Frank says he is an amateur, he's been practicing since they built the Constitution!
Al
NITES OFF
1978 B33 FBC

Al
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Capt.Frank
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Post by Capt.Frank »

Frank,
I can't wait to see Phonix painted. If your prep is as good as the other work I have seen on her she will look AWSOME.
1976 FBC
3208 NA
IRGuy
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Post by IRGuy »

Tailhook Tom... Thanks for the nice comments and the spray paint tip!

Tommy.. You are welcome! If you or your brother have any questions drop me an email with a phone number and I can call you and answer them. Just don't ask me to come to your place and do the job for you! (Well... maybe if the price was right!) Nah.. forget that!

Tony... I said that a lot!

Capt Frank... Thanks also for the nice comments! When do you think you will be back in Wilmington again? Hope we can keep in touch!

Capt Patrick... Thanks as well for your comments.. I will change my writeup for the B33 Owners Tips folder to reflect your acetone comments. As far as the pencil marks I made.. good point! I probably sanded most of them off, but after all the work involved I don't want anybody to do anything that might even remotely affect the quality of the final job.

Lobsta1.. Al.. I might have you by a year or so.. but don't you think it is time you admitted that you and I were both Cabin Boys for John Paul Jones at the same time?
Frank B
1983 Bertram 33 FBC "Phoenix"
--------------
Trump lied! Washington DC isn't a swamp.. it is a cesspool!
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Post by CaptPatrick »

As far as the pencil marks I made.. good point!
I'm sure that you're OK and the alcohol prep before shooting further insures it. But sanding away pencil marks is only a visual thing, meanwhile the graphite dust is being spread about across the surface.
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Capt.Frank
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Post by Capt.Frank »

Frank,
Don't know. Maybe in end of April. My wife is going down there next month. If I can get someone to watch the kids and cover my shift at work may join her I'll let you know.

When do you plan on splashing "Phonix" ?
1976 FBC
3208 NA
IRGuy
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Post by IRGuy »

Capt Frank...

If you can get down here pls be sure to let me know.. maybe we can get together. Present plans are for me to be using Phoenix this summer.. I plan on launching and complting several things, such as installing new nav lights, here at my slip. My grandkids are getting psyched about getting out on the boat! After all this time so am I!
Frank B
1983 Bertram 33 FBC "Phoenix"
--------------
Trump lied! Washington DC isn't a swamp.. it is a cesspool!
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Marlin
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Post by Marlin »

Couple of comments,painted show cars thru the college years was taught to always remove all surface contaminants by thoroughly washing the car with a mild soap and water, rinse well, using the 2rag treatment degrease the surface with a commercial degreaser ,I would recommend this be done prior to the final color coat as well lots of hand prints etc along the way, u don't want to grind this stuff into the subsurface similiar to the Capt comments. U really have to have a good feel to drive a 8" slow start bringer over a curved surface such as a hull, I used both an online and an orbital air board with36, 50 80 150 on stick it paper, the hook and loop stuff is extremely expensive,comes in rolls die cut for 5/6" orbital disc sanders as well, Awlgrip recommends using awl fair ( pink stuff) on sanded 545 ,not over unknown paints, chemistry thing and help sales probably, one other idea to consider when doing a repaint, u may want to clear coat after the color coat, scuff the color with 400 and shoot the clear, the finish will always appear wet,only do this on a colored surface,I did it o my 28 buddy Davis ,what a difference, a bit more challenging when attempting a repair on the awl craft finish,just a comment
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Rawleigh
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Rawleigh
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