I have returned... with a Starcraft this time!

[BWR1953]

Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. And that's a fact. Been a tough couple days due to my own inattentiveness. I won't bore you with the details. Costly mistakes too. :frusty:

And more news from the doc yesterday afternoon. They're gonna quadruple my steroid dose. Oh goody.

HOWEVER!! There is some genuine good news.

Bought this Minn Kota 45 lb. thrust motor from a fella on craigslist today. This motor is only 4 years old and has 60% more thrust than my existing Motor Guide, which I'll sell to help offset my blunders.

These are the seller's ad photos for the Minn Kota. Clean and works great.

 

[Watermann]

That'll be the perfect TM for your little KF, nice score! :thumb:

 

[BWR1953]

 

[ab59]

Looks real good !!!

 

[No-AH]

Aw that color combo looks sweeeeetttt!!!
Good job!

 

[BWR1953]

I took about a hundred pix of the overall process. Too beat tonight to post but will work on it tomorrow.

 

[Decker83]

What a great looking paint JOB.. I've been :behindsofa: waiting to see these pics.. :first:arty:eace:

 

[Brackett221]

WOW!!!! I know you are proud to have this finished!!!!! Glad everything worked out for ya. Now just make sure you let it dry before starting back to work! Plus you deserve a break after all the drama you had to deal with painting this boat!!!

 

[strokendiesel002]

Man is that sharp!

 

[BWR1953]

While waiting for my wife's availability last week to mask the boat I had to cut the grass. I've been needing a grab handle on the right side of the tractor, so I appropriated this old one from the KF and put it to use. Right after doing that I cut the grass and it worked great. :joyous:

 

[BWR1953]

My wife did all the masking on the KF for me. She's an artist, limber and patient enough to get it right. While it's possible that I could have done it myself, it literally would have taken me a week!

As it was, it took my wife (with me and the boy as support) about 6 hours to completely mask the boat. She laid down the green 3M 06529 3/4" x 60 Yard Precision Masking Tape first. This green tape worked GREAT! There wasn't a single bleed-through or bleed-under anywhere on the boat. And that tape had been on the boat for 21 hours before painting, then another 4 hours after painting plus 2 hours of actual demasking. No errors at all! :joyous:

Then she masked with the brown paper patterns (which she had previously cut) followed by the blue 3M Vinyl Tape 471+ PN6408, 1/2 in x 36 yd tape. This blue tape DID have some bleed under in a couple spots. Fortunately, it was on top of the green paint so no problems with the finished paint job.

We ended up not being able to paint on the same day that the boat was masked. I was concerned that the green tape would stick to the underlying white base coat but that just didn't happen. After painting, tape removal was absolutely perfect!

 

[BWR1953]

Yesterday morning we got out to the garage early enough but had to wait for the humidity to drop before I could paint.

Once I got started, it took me just about 45 minutes of actual spray time to get the black paint laid down. That did not include periodic rest and cool-down breaks. Overall, I'd say we were in there just over 2 hours, including a time when I had run out of paint and had to mix up a new batch.

After painting, we started the countdown for the second coat. I'd originally planned on waiting about 4 hours before I'd go out to test the enamel paint to see if it was tacky enough to apply the second coat.

Reality changed things! I waited 3 1/2 hours, during that time I got a shower, had some lunch and my wife and I took a nap. We all went back out to check the paint and it wasn't tacky. It was already DRY to the touch!

I'd not expected the paint to be dry. I'd expected it to be a little wet, maybe slimy. Or if I was really lucky, it would be tacky and ready for a second coat. Man, was I surprised! Must have had something with it being like 150 degrees inside the closed up metal garage! But at that point a decision had to be made. Paint a second coat over the "dry" first coat or not.

So my wife and I did a very careful inspection of the entire paint job and decided to forego a second coat!

The black looked plenty good as it was and we started stripping the masking off. We started at the stern. My wife carefully lifted the blue tape off the green tape. That blue tape was really sticky and it was tough getting the paper and blue tape off the green without pulling the green up as well.

Once the blue was off, I pulled the green tape off the stern myself, showing my wife how to pull at a 45-degree angle to help prevent lifting the paint from the adjoining area. The green tape was the superstar in this case and performed magnificently!

After I completed the green tape removal at the stern, my wife unmasked the entire rest of the boat herself. Many kudos to her!

 

[Monmouth00]

Dude! That looks freaking awesome!!!

It was worth the wait!!!

Congratulations!!

 

[Candutch]

Looking good BWR. Love the black bottom.

 

[jbuote]

I have to admit....
I've been following along for a little while now..
Since the stripping of the paint, and the dreaded burn on the leg... (ouch!)

The design concepts you put up a while ago looked pretty good, but now that it's on the boat??

FANTASTIC!!!
I know the delays, LVLP hiccup and weather were frustrating, but dang!! That's gotta feel good!

Nice job you all did!!
:triumphant: :thumb: :cheer2:

 

[Watermann]

That was a great process with the family all in, the KF's new dress looks super :thumb:

 

[Renderwurx]

Congratulations! A beautiful result well deserved!

 

[BWR1953]

Hi guys! Thanks for all the kind words! And inspiration!

It's been a long, tough row to hoe for me but we achieved that milestone in good spirits, thanks in no small part to all of you providing guidance, advice, suggestions, encouragement, and yes even some chastising.

It ALL helped!

The boy and I had to deal with some car stuff this afternoon and spent some time in the garage. We also did a little shop cleanup, very carefully removing the plastic sheeting covering stuff and the tarps from the floor.

And my Genesis is now in the garage too, suffering from a driver side power window which won't go back up.

I took a couple more pix of the KF while I was in there and I have to say that I'm very happy with how it turned out. It'll be awhile before I work on the hull again. Gotta let it bake.

From today:

 

[Watermann]

Good on ya for letting her sit and cure up some before flipping and tearing into the innards again. You won't regret that decision.

 

[BWR1953]

Good on ya for letting her sit and cure up some before flipping and tearing into the innards again. You won't regret that decision.

Yah! Patience is key now. I'm already feeling the urge to get back on the job. Although the boy isn't. :lol:

It is nice to have a little break but I'm starting to get bored sitting around the house. But that will end soon. Gonna go out and start checking the yard this morning for stuff that I've been putting off. We've been getting a lot of our normal summer liquid sunshine too and that keeps me inside.

I do have surgery scheduled for 30 Jul 18 which will force me to take it easy for a few days afterwards.

But maybe this coming weekend we can roll the KF out of the garage and do a major cleanup and reorganization. I do look forward to getting the shop more usable. Gonna investigate an option to get a lot of the "storage" items back out of the garage, thereby freeing up workspace.

Once that's done I can get started on a lot of the "smalls" that need to be done for the KF. And one biggie... getting that 50HP Merc up and running! Vrooom!