1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

We're heading up to STL... actually, DeSoto. We will be fairly close to ya Judge, but probably not close enough to swing by. Our course takes us up to Pocahontas from Little Rock. My parents are traveling with us so it'll be a full car for us. We'll kind of be in a rush when we are heading up on Wednesday afternoon, but it'll be a slower pace on the way back on Saturday.

It was raining here today so I didn't get a chance to spray the trailer with the new color. I did spray the white onto the hull, though! You can't tell any difference, other than it has more shine to it, so no new pictures.

What is the prep procedure between coats of paint? In between primer coats, I knocked it down with 220 until smooth and then wiped it with acetone. Is there anything I need to do with the color?

I did roll a small dab of the new color onto a fender that I had in the garage, though. It's a high gloss marine/industrial Sherwin-Williams oil paint. It just so happens that the guy that mixed the color for me has an old Skeeter Starfire that he repainted with this same stuff a few years back and he said it looks as good as it did the day he sprayed it on. I couldn't standing waiting to see what it would look like! It's a very light coat, but I think it gives a pretty good idea of what we're looking at. It was hazy still in the garage and I got a little fallout on the fender, but yep, that's pretty much it! FINALLY!

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

I like that...Pocahontas isn't that far from me, about 35-40 miles, its a nice drive to STL that way, once ya cross the border its 65 even on the 2 lane portions. enjoy the trip, and don't forget then entire time you will be thinking about your boat!

prep the color same way as primer, only one you don't sand is the final coat, unless it need smoothing then its a wet sand with very fine grit so you can buff it back to a shine. Wood is the guru, just parroting what I learned from him. I still have not wet sanded, it will be the last thing I do, so I can do any touch-ups that need to be done before I get it to final shine.

 

[Decker83]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Fmjnax.
Looks like you have a great match with the new paint.

I am no expert on paint. I painted a Doge van for one of my daughters. I bought the enamel paint, hardner and thinner from a auto body paint supply shop.
All the materials were made by the same mfg. I mixed up 3 batches of paint. I had the measuring cups they gave me and followed all the insturtions.
I ended up with 3 different shades of yellow. How do you figure that. Same paint. Same can. Not measuring the exact same amounts for each batch did it.
It all looked really good after it was buffed out but when the shine started to dull you could really see the difference.

I think the hardner you added and the acetone changed the pigmentation.

Are you going to add the hardner to the sherwin-williams paint?
If so I would do a small test first to see if it changes the color.
Kent

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Wow fmjnax,

I am glad to have found your resto thread...

If ya don't mind I'll be comin aboard to watch the progress, learn a thing or 3, and help any way I can...

I don't know how I have missed it all this time...I am glad I caught it near the beginning.
I too, gave been reading through some of the older, longer restorations here, and it takes awhile to get through them...
but worth every minute, cause you learn sooooo much.

You are doing a great job so far, another bass boat resto, YEAH!

I am impressed with your speed and your commitment...

Congrats to you and your new bride. I am glad to hear she loves fishin...should make you crank it into high gear to get this baby done and splashed.

Decker83... "I bought the enamel paint, hardner and thinner from a auto body paint supply shop.
All the materials were made by the same mfg. I mixed up 3 batches of paint. I had the measuring cups they gave me and followed all the insturtions.
I ended up with 3 different shades of yellow. How do you figure that. Same paint. Same can."

The simplest answer I can give you Decker, is a question...Did you "BOX" the paint? It is a term I learned when I was working in the TV commercial and Music Video Business...You take all the paint you have, say 3 gallons of yellow, and pour them all into a 5 gallon bucket, and stir/mix thoroughly, what this does is evenly distribute all of the paint pigments equally... you can then put each gallon back and all three will be the same. Does that make sense???

On a side note, but related all the same, when you are ready to mix the colors for your project, you should always mix it all up at one time, and always mix up a bit more than you think you will need [in case you do need it and if in the future you need to do a touch up, you will have the exact color on hand...of course the Sun and the elements will have its way with the color, so even as little as a few months down the road, you may still not get an exact match] and if necessary, BOX the paint. You can do this with just the color part of the paint, not the thinners, catalysts or hardeners. They should not affect the final color. This should give you consistent results.

And I like the color scheme, plus that maroon is looking good, at least from a couple thousand miles away
Now all ya gotta do is go down to your local auto paint supply house and pick up some coarse metal flake, mix in with some clear urethane a spray away, you'll get that original factory bass boat look...LOL, JUST KIDDING!!! that stuff is a PITA to spray and get it to look good, takes a lot of practice....

Anyhow, best of luck and have fun,
GT1M

 

[Decker83]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

GT
It was only 1 quart of paint from a single can. The different shades were caused by different amounts of paint, hardner and thinner used in the 3 batches I mixed.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

GT
It was only 1 quart of paint from a single can. The different shades were caused by different amounts of paint, hardner and thinner used in the 3 batches I mixed.

I could see thinner changing the pigment on a minute level, since thinner paint=thinner coverage....i used measuring cups to add my thinner/hardener after boxing my 4 quarts of beige together Id measure out 2 cups of paint 1 oz hardener and 1/4 cup of thinner...had very close match every time

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Thanks guys! I do plan on adding the hardener to the SW paint. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I rolled the test maroon on (without hardener) just before I sprayed the hull with its white (with hardener). It's been about 4 hours, but already you can feel the difference in hardness (with a fingernail) between the hull and the test roll. I'll do the same test on the other fender with the hardener added and see if there is any difference between the two, color-wise.

No metal flake here! I had questioned it and thought about it earlier on, but I was generally advised against it. I agree, it would look SHARP with some bling in there, but I've already grown fond of the straight paint idea. Once it's sanded smooth and buffed up, it should shine enough!

I'm trying to roll as fast as I can on the project, but after everything is painted, it is going to slow to a near stand-still while I accumulate the funds to make the large US Composites purchase. I have the money now, but I'm thinking of doing a little something extra for the kids and wife for Christmas and we're taking a last-minute trip up to Missouri this weekend. But once I get that purchase made, it will be back to full throttle! Our lakes here in Texas are drying up quickly, but we've had some good rains over the last couple of weeks. I don't know what the lakes will look like come spring, but fishing in spring is something I can't miss. My ultimate goal is to be done by Memorial Day (which will make it a 9-10 month project).

I'm diggin' the maroon the more I look at it. I'll be honest, at first I wasn't sure with the mix they came up with for me. I really wanted a TRUE "Aggie Maroon", but it just wouldn't have looked right. The closest carpet color I can get is burgundy, so I kind of have to work around that.

Thanks again guys. I was starting to think that the Judge was the only one following my project!

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

GT
It was only 1 quart of paint from a single can. The different shades were caused by different amounts of paint, hardner and thinner used in the 3 batches I mixed.

Oooops, sorry. I missed the part about mixing different amounts of the materials for each batch, yep that would do it, especially a light color like yellow. Also the number/overlap, of passes with the spray gun could have also affected the outcome.

Dang, you did an entire Dodge van with a quart of color plus the additives. That is some good paint, cause yellow doesn't cover that great to begin with..Did you prime with white or gray???

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

No kidding on the 1 quart for an entire van! I've been trying to figure out what I have been doing wrong. My hull has been taking just under a full quart for one full coat! Same thing for the trailer. I'm not spraying too thick... at least I don't think so. No runs or puddles. I had initially thought a quart would give me closer to two coats.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

surprising that your going though a full quart per coat...my hull and trailer took 5 quarts total (4Q tan, 1 Q of green)...did 4 coats on on hull and 2-3 coats on trailer....3 coats of green for coverage, 2 coats of tan (lighter color and did 50/50 mix primer color on second coat of primer to make coverage easier) Spraying typically uses less paint overall than the roll/tip method, I would apply thinner coats, just do more of them 3-4 thin coats is better than 2 thick coats

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

I've never used a spray gun before so I'm sure I've got something set wrong on it. I've got the fan set so I'm not spraying a jet stream, but I'm also not misting the entire work area either. I adjusted it to where it just started to fan out and then gave it a pinch more. I'm shooting at 35 PSI. My paint is thinned between 10% and 12%. Maybe I have the paint volume adjusted wrong. I'm not getting and runs or puddles and it's covering very lightly... and maybe that's my problem. Each pass doesn't lay down a full coverage, so I pass over/overlap it a couple of times to make sure it is fully coated. I'm not sure what it is but aside from going thru too much paint, the paint job is flawless.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

I've never used a spray gun before so I'm sure I've got something set wrong on it. I've got the fan set so I'm not spraying a jet stream, but I'm also not misting the entire work area either. I adjusted it to where it just started to fan out and then gave it a pinch more. I'm shooting at 35 PSI. My paint is thinned between 10% and 12%. Maybe I have the paint volume adjusted wrong. I'm not getting and runs or puddles and it's covering very lightly... and maybe that's my problem. Each pass doesn't lay down a full coverage, so I pass over/overlap it a couple of times to make sure it is fully coated. I'm not sure what it is but aside from going thru too much paint, the paint job is flawless.

that's the whole purpose of multiple coats, each coat gives more coverage, your first coat the primer should bleed through, next coat it will be darker, and continuing until it is fully coated...complete coverage on first coat will have it thick, it may not run, but will not cure as well (learned this on my boat, made same mistake and that area even when cured was rubbery) once i figured that out (thanks to a chat on the phone with wood) the next area once cured was solid as a rock...couldn't scratch it with a nail. He told me and I am just passing it on, that multiple thin coats is better than thick. I learned a lot with my first paint job, and made my share of mistakes, so I am assuming that I will be repainting in a few years when this rookie job starts to peel off in sheets lol.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I'll be right there with you repainting my boat in a few years then, too. That is definitely what I did; trying to do too much with one coat.

 

[Decker83]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Hey Guys,
I didn't paint the whole van. It was a minni van. I painted the hood and front fenders and the very back door of the van.

The paint was a automotive paint that was enamel. My only point was, by mixing the paint, hardner and thiner that was not exactly measured out the same way, the tint of the paint changed. I have been spraying paint and other types materials for a long time. The paint was applyed the same way with each batch.

With the paint and hardner and thinner I had just over a 1/2 gallon.

Jmjnax,
With the paint you mixed and using the hardner and acetone as a thinner probably changed the tint of the paint.
Also the paint can change color from wet to dry.

You are just in a learning curve right now. You are doing a great job. Keep it up.

Kent

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Thanks Kent!

I got the 2nd coat sprayed tonight and it's looking pretty good! Is there any benefit or harm to spraying more than 2 coats? I had planned on at least 4.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Hey fm,
just my .02
If it looks good to you and you are happy with the results of 2 coats, that should be fine.
Any more paint is till not really gonna give you much more protection from the inevitable scrapes and bumps.
However, if you plan to buff it out, an extra coat or two would not be a bad idea either...
In the end, if you have left over paint, you can save it for touch-ups, or even a complete repaint at a later date.
Oh and by the way, heres a tip to keep your paint fresh for many, many moons...after you seal the lid on tight, store the can of paint upside down, this will keep all of those VOC's in their place. Won't allow for any osmotic evaporation of those little critters. I made that last part up
Later,
GT1M

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

We got back from Missouri late last night and today the wife informed me that it was time to go cut a tree and start decorating for Christmas. Needless to say, I didn't meet my deadline on painting. It didn't matter much, though, since my brothers weren't able to come in from Nevada to help me flip the boat back over.

My wife and I pondered the options and we decided that we would put just the tires and the jack back on the trailer, hoist up the hull, and set it on the trailer still upside down. It actually went off without a hitch (normally, our ideas never work on the first try!) and I was able to get it on the trailer and out of the garage in under an hour.

I haven't done any work on the boat since I sprayed the second coat of paint on the hull. It's got a little bit of orange peel (is this normal or do I maybe need to thin my paint down a bit more?) so I will wet sand it with some 320 before I shoot the 3rd coat and then again before I shoot the 4th (and any other subsequent coat). I'll finish it up with a 600 and a 1000 wetsand before I buff it up to a shine.

Anyway, the plan is that when I spray the subsequent coats of white, I'll hoist the hull up and put the plastic down on the trailer so that I can keep the hull on the trailer and shoot it outside where I have plenty of room and then wheel it back inside to dry. Kind of the best of both worlds for me.

Painting the new maroon on the trailer will be a bit trickier. I've almost decided to just roll the trailer so that I don't have to worry about all the extra prep work each time I put a coat on it. It should be as simple as hoisting the hull, rolling the coat, and setting the hull back on it after it has dried to the touch. I know I'm not supposed to put anything on it until it has fully dried, but I have looked at the contact points of the hull on the trailer and the only point that the hull touches a visible part of the trailer is up front... but even then I believe it is right where my winch support connects so no big deal. Where the hull rests at the back is the two steps supports, which are covered with wood/carpet so again, no big deal.

These pictures are the first pictures taken of the hull in natural light with its new color on. It's not shiny or anything (since I haven't done any sanding/buffing), but it sure does look pretty good! In the garage, you can still see where the "repairs" are, but out in natural light they almost disappear; unless you look up close and are actually looking for them. Once it's buffed to a shine, they may become even less noticeable! Tomorrow it is back to the grind on the project and seeing the hull outside of the garage gave me just a little more spark to get going!

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

looking good man, it is amazing what a coat of paint can do for ya!

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Well, I haven't touched the boat since Thanksgiving so I decided I better get back out there and do something. I finished wet sanding the hull with the 320 (and think I may have gone too far on one side). I'm going to put at least another 2 coats on it with a good wet sanding in between coats. I want to have a good, thick layer of paint on it and as smooth as I can get it. That will be for another day, though. I have to get the trailer done first!

I hoisted the hull back off the trailer and pulled the trailer out and started to prep. I was too lazy to really prep the trailer, though. Heck, I spent more time prepping the driveway than I did the trailer. I have the horrible mind set of "it's just a trailer" and I hope it doesn't come back to bite me later.

Anyway, I initially thought I would just roll the paint on the trailer this time, but I decided I would go ahead and stick with spraying. I mixed up a quart of the new paint, added my hardener, finished getting everything ready and proceeded to shoot. The guy at Sherwin Williams said this paint didn't need to be thinned to be sprayed, but he was wrong. It still needed acetone in order to flow smoothly through the gun. Not a big deal, though.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this paint, but in the end I think I like it A LOT more than the Rustoleum. These pictures were taken after being shot with just a pint of paint... and I still had about 1/3 cup left. It covered perfectly and I'm quite sure the coverage rate is MUCH better than the Rustoleum. I'm going to lay down the other pint of paint after dinner and I'm thinking that I will be done with the trailer after that. It may need a touch-up here and there with a roller in spots I couldn't hit with the sprayer, but based on the coverage and finish of the first coat, a second coat will be PLENTY!

My wife is getting me a Hot Foot and the trailer bunk carpet for Christmas, so hopefully by the New Year, the trailer will be officially finished. Heck, I may even have the hull finished with paint by then as well... only a month past my goal. HA!

Here are the pictures. We are FINALLY at the color we wanted. It MAY be a touch more pink/purple than we wanted, but both the wife and I agree that it is real close and that we will go with it.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1984 Skeeter Champ 16' Restore

Paint looks Great!!! I'd recommend a light scuffing with a 3M ScotchBrite pad before you shoot the fiinal coat. I couldn't tell much difference between the Rustoleum and the Valspar but I will continue to use the Valspar due to the compatability with the hardener.