1981 Springbok 18' Restoration/Renovation

[SlipperyOar]

Bought my first home, been learning how to mud and tape and crawling in an attic and crawl space to relocate some outlets and switches. Will continue the boat build once I see the damage of my mortgage payments and have some free time.
Cheers!

 

[MikeSchinlaub]

Ugh, I suck with drywall. Don't rely on the breakers being labled correctly, use a light pen and double check at the outlet/switch that the power is off. Have fun finding all the janky repairs from previous owners!

 

[SlipperyOar]

Ugh, I suck with drywall. Don't rely on the breakers being labled correctly, use a light pen and double check at the outlet/switch that the power is off. Have fun finding all the janky repairs from previous owners!

These old houses sure didn’t follow a code when it came to electrical lol, I thought the long days of setting rivets and welding new aluminum pieces and whatnot were bad but going in an attic for hours to identify wires and sanding drywall tops that, hands down. Last bit of trim going up now before the final pieces of furniture and then I’ll be able to get back at the boat and hopefully paint it before these summertime high humidity days arrive!

 

[SlipperyOar]

Finally back at it, brought the boat down to the shop today and got it hooked up with the A frame and forklift, lifted it off the trailer and got that out of the way, then slowly raised the one chain fall while lowering the other to get it rotated 90°. Had to really guide it past halfway but once it started it was fairly easy and did the reverse with the chain falls. Got it set up on some wood in a comfortable position to sand the existing paint. I first gave it a wash with only water to rinse any dirt off, then I sprayed degreaser on it and using a brush I scrubbed a lot of other grease and grime off, with another rinse and then let it air dry for a few hours. Began feathering out all the chipped paint spots first, wasn’t too difficult with the different tools I had. Sanding near the rivets was rather tough so I used a pneumatic die grinder tool with stainless wire wheel to clean the areas around rivets. Once I get everything feathered I’m going to do a final sanding over everything and then scotch brite and then a degrease and use acetone before spraying primer.

 

[MikeSchinlaub]

Good to see you back at it. Nice work space.

Just use degreaser, skip the acetone. It's a bit aggressive for automotive paint. For this, it's basically just serving as another degreaser anyway.

 

[SlipperyOar]

got my primer sprayed, was difficult at first dialing in the gun to the right settings for my epoxy primer but once I found the sweet spot it was a breeze. Went on super nicely with great coverage, 1 thin coat and a second medium coat and by the time I cleaned my tools it was looking nice. Hoping tomorrow when I check things out it has cured nicely

 

[SlipperyOar]

After 2 coats of epoxy primer I used some scotch brite and scuffed the surface and then laid down a nice even coat of reduced primer as my sealer coat. Went on very nicely and was happy with the results. Heading into town tomorrow to get the compatible urethane reducer for my topcoat and hopefully can get both tones on before the wet and humid weather at the end of the week.

 

[SlipperyOar]

Well I finally finished painting, was a struggle finding the right times between window replacement in my house and fighting the humidity and heat we’ve had, power went out from a nearby storm as I had the paint opened about to mix and then wouldn’t have any air. Got my Honolulu blue sprayed on tonight and the grey a few days ago, the epoxy primer was amazing for the bare aluminum and scuffed existing paint and really created a nice even surface for the topcoat. Lost track of how many hours I spent with scotch brite in my hands but was well worth it. Gonna let it sit and cure for the next week or so before flipping it back onto the trailer. Enjoying a nice rye and diet tonight before a busy day doing trim work around windows tomorrow.