'69 offshore rebuild- BMerr

[BMerr509]

Hey guys/gals, pleasure to write you all. I bought a '69 Offshore last year at a decent price and will be restoring it over the next two years- since I'm traveling the rest of the summer, I'm focusing on completing the paint job before the middle of July. I already stripped all the paint off to find a great undercarriage. I would post interior pics but it's turtled right now in my yard with a coat of primer on the bottom. I think the yellow was the original paint job lol I don't know much about painting but I'm a quick learner. I used paint stripper and a wire wheel and did the whole thing in two days. A little about me and my uses for the boat- I'm in the service hence the traveling, 25 years old living in upstate ny, which is why this boat will never see saltwater. I'd like to use it to fish for Browns, salmon and lakers on Ontario. Also, it'll be used for friends and family as a cruiser/ ski boat. I fell in love with the Lund rebel 18', but it's got one too many digits in its price tag and the used ones aren't set up for my liking. So I decided to keep this boat, and repower it with a new four stroke and new trailer. I love how deep it is, and it's just big enough for my liking. I have plans for the interior but my summer will be cut short and deer season takes a backseat to nothing.

I can't seem to upload any of my photos- anyone know why? They're from my iPhone, I get an "alert null image .jpg" message...

Anyways, hope you all have a happy fourth and I'll be back to show progress.

 

[BMerr509]

Ah-Ha, i have to make three posts in order to upload photos... next post will have pics!

 

[BMerr509]

the first one is after i just got done sanding the bottom, the second is the bottom primed, the third is when i completely sanded the whole boat.

 

[BMerr509]

Heres some more from various parts of the sanding process...

 

[BMerr509]

I apologize for the pics being out of order. my phone takes massive pictures apparently so i have to resize all of them by 90% individually. the yellow paint looks better in the pics than it actually was. the registration stickers were the hardest to remove. i'm going to go with all black with a red stripe, and the corner metal pieces being red. someday i'll put red vinyl in for flooring, but for now she gets blue carpet from the previous owner. there was a 65 hp 1977 mercury on it before...

 

[GA_Boater]

You will do well here, BMer. You read the instructions and got pics of your Offshore right off the bat. :thumb: Welcome to the TinNut House.

The way you're going, you should have paint on her in a couple of weeks if you don't get sent out of town. Keep us posted on the progress. Don't hesitate to ask questions, we have plenty of experience with Starcrafts.

 

[Watermann]

Lwelcome: aboard and to the Starmada BMerr,

Will be watching your progress and you've accomplished one of the tougher jobs already stripping off the paint. Be sure to do any and all hull repairs and hole filling before going forward on the painting.

 

[BMerr509]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it :joyous: I know on all the other forums, it has you sand your primer after the first coat- why is this done? I'm not questioning it, and already have a hand sander with 220 ready to rock. Just curious. I'm using rustoleum topside for all the primers, and bottom side paint for below the waterline, then topside paint for above, then one (maybe two) layers of clear gloss... I'm going with three layers of paint too... I heard the primer for above the water line is fine as long as the boat is not kept in the water more than 24 hours at a time.

I'm going to use a roller for the actual paint job, first coat being tomorrow. Do I have to wait to sand the primer 24 hours after application? It seemed like the primer hardened almost in a few hours. I'm leaving July 15th and am on track to paint the bottom of the boat so I can at least get her back on the trailer. BTW, turtling this beast a feat in and of itself. I don't have a cherry picker, but I do have a 25 hp diesel massey with a bucket!

Again thanks for the help. and please be brutally honest with me- If I'm doing something wrong, or something doesn't turn out right, let me know. I figure even if I screw this up bad, it will still look/perform better than the yellow before. I've had the boat for 2 years (30 hours maybe on water) and no leaks or hiccups. Her name will be "bearly Runnin'" mainly due to the old 2-stroke that took a while to start (ironically it ran flawlessly once going tho!)

 

[classiccat]

Give WOG's painting procedure a good read. That's the general approach used by most around here. I'd personally skip the clearcoat.

 

[Watermann]

I don't sand anything but the bare AL to knock off the surface oxidization and give a nice base for the primer to grip. I hate even doing that sanding but maybe I'm just too lazy to sand on primer around 2000 rivets and there's no way I would use a clear coat, that's just asking for torment and more sanding. After all the way I see it, it's an aluminum boat that's covered in my driveway or out on the water viewed from a distance and not up close at a boat show by judges awarding a 7 dollar plastic trophy

I shoot my boat paint with a HVLP gun... 1 coat of SE primer, 1 coat of alkyd primer and 2 coats of alkyd paint all in 2 days time and I'm done.

 

[BMerr509]

Classiccat- thanks for the link, I cannot paint half as well as the OP there but it goes in depth on the proper formula...

Watermann- I don't have a gun (paint gun that is, I got plenty of the real thing tho!), so I'm just going to roll it. You both are not the first to say to stay away from the clear coat, i'll just bring it back to Lowes I guess. I thought it would harden the paint a bit, and make it more durable. I'm very skeptical of how this paint will hold up to 35 mph hauls, but then, there are many boats out there that go faster than mine big time.

Good news is I checked the primer this morning and it stuck perfectly. Second coat of primer tonight, then first black coat tomorrow. I did clean my aluminum twice with acetone two hours before priming it. Have you ever done something and not been able to educate yourself on how because everyone has a conflicting opinion? That's happening on this project. I think I will sand the areas that are large and flat but I won't spend much time on it if you don't think its all that important.

Thanks.

 

[Watermann]

Yeah differing opinions, well at least here you can see the outcome of what we do. Just look at our restore threads and see for yourself.

 

[BMerr509]

Understood. i noticed something else tonight, the bottomside paint i bought is for fiberglass and wood and steel, it specifically says do not use on aluminum hull. So i'm going with the topside even on the bottom of the boat. Anyone see any problems there?


Here is some pics i took tonight, i got the second coating of primer on the bottom and it is sharp. Its on there like glue...

This is from the first coat, before the second coat.



This is after the second coat is applied.



This is after i was completely done!


Tomorrow i will do the bottom black with the topside unless there are objections here. I guess another question would be will the bottom side paint i have be OK for the aluminum?

I also cleaned the sides tonight and i think i'm going to prime them tomorrow. It is exhausting doing this.

 

[Watermann]

Looking good and you're right it's not easy work, nothing about working on a boat ever seems easy but it's certainly rewarding though. As I've said before my hats off to you guys who can paint a boat outdoors. The bugs and crud would make me go insane. :lol:

Not sure I know exactly what topside paint you have but I'm a firm believer in using catalyst hardener in the paint mix.

 

[BMerr509]

I hear ya on the painting outside. especially under a 3 ft in diameter maple tree- that enjoys shedding its leaves :faint2: hasn't been a huge problem, at least with the primer.

The paint I'm using is rustoleum topside marine paint. I'm going to head to the store on my lunch hour to pick up the hardner. I read that you have to let it sit for 30 minutes after mixing it in with the paint. shouldn't be a problem.

I'll post pics tonight if it doesn't take me too long to do.

 

[BMerr509]

No Title

Used Rustoleum Topside paint with hardener on top of 2 coats of rustoleum topside primer. color is black gloss.Looks awesome. Thanks for the hardener tip Watermann, btw, your SN restore was remarkable. incredible work!

 

[Watermann]

Thanks for taking a look, yeah I used Rusto TS on my SN, it's holding up real well still. Keep up the good work!

 

[BMerr509]

Got the second coat on last night and it looks good, third coat would have been tonight if hurricane Agnes didn't come through I should be able to do it tomorrow. I'm hoping to get primer on the sides too.

 

[BMerr509]

Slapped the third coat of paint on the bottom of the boat, then got the two primer coats put on the sides. I should have pics tonight of the first rough coat of the boat being completely painted (aside from the back). I'm starting to think an 80 hp Merc 4-stroke would look saweet on this thing!

 

[BMerr509]

No Title

Well i can tell you this is the last time i paint outside... between grass and bugs, i feel like this otherwise would be a good paint job. it will suit my needs at least. now that i've seen literallly every inch of this thing, there is no loose rivets or any structural damage. Some dents and scratches sure...

Two more coats. I'm going to pick the back of the boat up to get it off the ground a bit. Should've done that in the first place. :faint2: