Building a skiff

[Totem Polar]

Bottom line: I think we can reasonably conclude that the half-completed fish boat in my garage is the basis for most of the important foundational technologies of the coming epoch.

I can get behind this theory.

Plus, I think you may be more than half-way there.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Well, I'd like to agree, but there's a lot of interior structural components that need to go in yet.

BUT: the worst part is fairing the exterior for paint and that's about done. Typically the flip is only around 40% complete, sometimes less, but in this case I think it might be closer to halfway when I flip it, depending on how you look at it.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Finally something worth photographing: rather than just layer after layer of primer as I prep for paint (I used 3/4 of a gallon of kilz to get it where I wanted it, so however many coats that is, maybe a billion?) I was finally satisfied with the surface and rolled on some blue. It's not done, I'm doing thin coats of a single stage enamel so bear with me as it evens out.

Here's one coat:



And here's two:



I'm blocking it with 320 between coats. It's sitting nice and flat. I just wanted to get a couple of coats on her to seal up the primer nicely, and then I can roll it out of the garage for an afternoon to get everthing vaccuumed out. I don't really care that there's dust in the first coat or two, A) because they're getting sanded between coats, and B) I'll probably put another five on top of these two. At this stage I'm not even tipping the paint, I'm just rolling it on and walking away.

Still, you can see it's sitting pretty flat after a couple of go-arounds:



I mean yeah, there's orange peel to deal with, but it doesn't take much to buff it down with 320. A couple more coats and it'll really start to get smooth, I think

So far I've used about one pint of paint. I have a gallon, so no shortage here. Actually, I might have 5 quarts, I'll have to look. I forgot I had this paint, but it was the colour I wanted to this boat anyway, so I figured I'd use it up.

Bit of "mahogany" (presumably sapele) trim, now that it's nicely saturated in epoxy. I loaded on a pretty thick coat and heated it with a paint gun until it was 90% absorbed into the wood. Should pop pretty nicely once the paint is done and the stem is all varnished up etc.

[JAD]

That’s a gorgeous blue. Any wood will look amazing next to it.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Thanks man! I'm pretty happy with the way it's coming together now. Tomorrow I'm really hoping for a decent day to get it outside where I can see it from a bit of a distance, for the first time.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Today all I did was haul the boat out of the garage and clean everything up so I could take a step without choking on primer dust. There was probably an eighth of an inch of dust on the floor, no joke. I swept everything down, moved everything, vaccuumed everything. That doesn't make for great pics but you know what does? Having the boat in the alley for a bit.



Note that the child has grown slightly since the beginning of the thread but is still very small, ergo I am not that far behind schedule.





Of course the downside is that in good light you can see I need three more coats of paint to even up that surface but I found all the paint and I do indeed have about 4.5 quarts left so I can layer it on for as long as I want, really.

Oh, here's the garage, post-clean. I realize it doesn't look very clean but if there was a good before picture, well, it's a big improvement.



Okay, back to gratuitous boat pics:





And finally I had to stuff her back in the car hole.



Oh, I did also decide to treat the boat to what I call "the Australian Flip."



Now we can picture her right side up!

[WDR]

Looking good!

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Thanks - like most addictions, dealing with it is just one day at a time.

[Coyotesfan97]

That’s looking great! It looks like it got a little water on it.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

It did indeed, the first trace of water which hopefully will be its element before too long!

Not much to update beyond saying that I keep layering on blue. I might do a couple more coats, but I plan to stop painting this week, and then leave it alone over easter weekend to cure. It's just an alkyd enamel that I'm using, although I have been cutting in a bit of Valspar hardener that chemically crosslinks the paint so it should be pretty tough in the end. I've used the same stuff on other boats to good effect.



I am getting pretty happy with the overall appearance. The first pic is two coats ago, the other two are this afternoon. It's very uniform in tone now, and starting to pick up a bit of depth. Once I start smoothing out the surface I think it'll have a lot of shine to it.