Paint, Paint PAINT!

I'm trying to finish the mast and mast-step painting as soon as I can.  The job is getting, shall we say, old.  By nature I don't like painting tasks whether house or other.  This particular effort has been such a learning experience and challenge for me that I got taken up in the personal skill improvement.  Well now I'm ready to move on.  Painting oblong objects is very hard.  I think I could paint the topsides of  Belle with no more effort.  As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I plan to do...next summer after I spend the late winter and spring aboard her.

The Tornado mixer has gotten a lot of use lately.  Sure glad I "invested" in this fine piece of equipment some years back.  I have two guns that I like and one I simply can't abide.  The main tool is the Devilbiss HVLP.  It is a work horse.  Using the 1.3 mm tip I get a really nice finish.  I used the 1.5 mm tip for the epoxy base coats.  For detail work, I boat a cheap 1.8 mm miniature gun that has really good controls for fan and flow.  Turning down the pressure at the gun to about 50 lbs gives a nice job with average paint.  I have a Simco gun for the American Turbine 3000 that I own.  It wastes way too much paint in over-spray.as you can see from this picture.

If I can get a better gun for the AT 3000 I will use it. Otherwise, I really can't think of a use for such a wasteful gun.  It also puts a lot of rime on the finish that has to be sanded off.









So now the masts are completely finished being painted.  I have to re-attach the mast track bedded with 3M 5200 with stainless steel rivets every 4 inches for 25 feet on two masts.  That should be fun.  There is a lot of re-assembly for the mast heads and re-deployment of cables with appropriate damping tie-wraps all the way from top to bottom.  She will definitely be ready to splash by the end of the summer.  That to me is good news.

Well, pictures don't do justice, but it is a nice shiny finish!

Just to add a little on the paint selection for this project.  I chose Awlgrip because the mast color was given to me by Jim Leet of Marine Concepts as Awlgrip San Mateo Wheat.  I had two choices with respect to paint systems.  The first was original Awlgrip, a  traditional linear polyester polyurethane well respected by the boating community.  As for the other system, Awlgrip 2000, it is an acrylic polymer which ends up being easier to apply by less experienced painters. It also is easier to patch due to the "full thickness" nature of the paint.  I have used Interlux Perfection in the past which is one of the modern acrylic formulations. I found it and also Awlgrip 2000 to go on surprisingly well in the less than optimal environment I work in (e.g. outside, with humidity and wind). The most important advice: get a Zahn viscosity cup and a timer and use the reducer to bring the time between 18 and 22 seconds.  Be sure and turn the flow down on the gun so you don't get runs. Keep the strokes parallel to the work and make them overlap.  Patience and practice are the two most important ingredients! Safety first!  Full face respirator, work outside, and wear gloves and a Tyvek suit is the way to go!  If you work inside, you will need a positive pressure mask and a recovery system.  I don't want that sort of added expense.  Be sure to use an HVLP to limit the VOC escaping to the atmosphere and paint waste.