Re: 1977 Silverton Flybridge Restoration- PICS & VIDEOS
Since the busy season has started, I've put my project to the side for a couple weeks while helping to get customers boats repowered at our shop first. I set aside this saturday to prime and paint the bottom of the Silverton. Removing bottom paint and fairing the bottom to a point where it is primable and paintable was and is the biggest single project I have ever undertook on any boat. It makes repainting each and every individual component on the 318 engines look like a piece of cake.....and thats taking into consideration I walnut blasted the caked on bottom paint off! I cannot even imagine sanding it off - let alone using chemical strippers.
Before I primed the bottom, I used MarineTex to fill in any holes or gouges in the hull. After that had set for 48 hours, I sanded it smooth and degreased/dewaxed the bottom, and went over the bottom of the hull with an orbital sander with 80 grit so that the Petit Protect Epoxy Primer would adhere properly.
After removing the sanding dust from the hull, I began to tape everything...using the original bootstripe as a reference point to make sure my tapeline was strait. I dropped the tape 1/2" below the bootstripe, as that's where the paint was before i removed it and matched the water line almost perfectly.
Products used:
- MarineTex (to repair pitting in hull)
- 2 Gallons of Pettit Protect Grey Epoxy Primer (only one gallon kit shown in photo, used two kits)
- 3 Gallons of Woolsey Ablative Plus Bottom Paint, BLACK. Cheap and VERY effective paint.



