Got me a Starchief

Otte

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
273
Re: Got me a Starchief

rock on man. I like it.
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Ok, today's decision.. Subject to change of course. Is to leave the bottom unpainted. But with a satin kind of finish instead of polished. I'm thinking that would look pretty cool next to the shinier sides.
The paint is coming off the bottom fairly easily. What is strange though is in some places there is some kind of nasty black mold/mildew growth under the paint. It comes off easily enough, but it is pretty foul smelling mixed with paint stripper.
Also there is a little corrosion and pitting where the rollers of the PO's (pre-Reelfishin that is) trailer were against the hull. I guess when a boat sits on a trailer for close to 20 years without moving the rollers can make an impression. Makes me really happy about the decision to strip the paint. Who knows what would have happened with the growth and corrosion if I had just painted over the old stuff.
No pics today, I was just plain too lazy to take them. Not really much to see anyway. I'll take a bunch saturday, I most likely won't have any boat time tomorrow.
Thanks for checking in!
 

jasoutside

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Messages
13,269
Re: Got me a Starchief

Caution: Going that "brushed" or "satin" route is a lot of work.

Course, so is the polished too, so pick your poison I suppose, eh.

I'd go with the bottom, bare, matching whatever you do with the sides.

Opinions are like arm pits though....

(especially mine)


:D
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Thanks for clarifying the armpit thing. I admit I wasn't quite sure what you meant. Armpits can be changed? Stink? Shaved? Hairy? I'm still not sure what it means.
Anyway, I hear ya about brushed/satin being a lot of work. I figure it will be a little less work because I still have to sand, wet sand, and buff with scotchbrite before polishing. At least I can eliminate the polishing. I did get the opportunity to stare at the boat today, I think I will go for the polish... Or satin. I just don't know:facepalm:
I'll probably decide tomorrow. It turns out I have to work tomorrow, but I'll get some boat time in one way or the other.
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Finally got a couple hours to work on the boat today. The paint stripping is almost done. I ran out of stripper with about 6 sq ft of paint left, so I dry scraped it just to get it done. I still need to get some more stripper to clean off the residue and get along the chine and keel strips, but the heavy stuff is off. I also decided I'm going to polish the visible part of the bottom. That is the bow and a few feet back to where the bottom gets almost flat. If anyone wants to crawl under to see if its polished, they deserve to find that it isn't. If that makes any sense. Anyway, here are a couple pics of the latest progress.....
boat1.jpgboat2.jpg

Just looked at a pic of it on the trailer, looks like I'll be polishing the whole bottom... good times!
 
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dozerII

Admiral
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
6,527
Re: Got me a Starchief

Good job R, that is a lot of boat to strip, do you have some help? Polished is good IMHO.
Glen
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Thanks Glen. It was a lot of boat to strip, I am so glad to be almost at the end of that road. My girlfriend's nephew helped me mask for the etching primer, I've done all the rest myself.
-Rich
 

dozerII

Admiral
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
6,527
Re: Got me a Starchief

Hey R, check out the Sonus product for polishing, they say the protectant only lasts for 4 or 5 months but it is real simple to apply, wipe it on and a quick hand buff off, and it looks great.
Glen
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Thanks for the tip Glen, but I think I'll just stick with the Sharkhide. I've got enough left to do the whole boat twice I think. I will make sure I do a better job cleaning for the rest of it. I think I was just too sloppy with the wipedown and that was what caused the black streaks
-Rich
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Stripping and polishing is done. Unfortunately, I'm having some camera issues. It works fine at home, but not when I get to the warehouse with the boat. Anyway, there will be more progress this week. Hopefully I get the camera sorted out.
 

InMotion

Commander
Joined
Nov 3, 2011
Messages
2,080
Re: Got me a Starchief

Stripping and polishing is done. Unfortunately, I'm having some camera issues. It works fine at home, but not when I get to the warehouse with the boat. Anyway, there will be more progress this week. Hopefully I get the camera sorted out.

Hey rh... nice project you have going here... what did you use to polish - power tool or rh's arms? :facepalm:
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Thanks IM. For polishing I used a Porter-Cable 6" sander/polisher. It was on sale at Lowes for about $100 and even came with a nice foam polishing pad. My arms did get pretty sore using it I will admit. When I get my camera issue sorted out, I'll take a pic of my paint stripping & polishing arsenal.
-Rich
 

MichaelP

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
1,190
Re: Got me a Starchief

Hurry with the info Rich. I'm about ready to start polishing my aluminum trim and would like to know what you used.
 

rheagler

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
662
Re: Got me a Starchief

Ok, now that I've got the camera sorted out and working, I'm having issues posting pictures. Any guidance would be appreciated.
My paint stripping routine was brush on Zip-strip, scrape it off with a carbide scraper. It took 2 applications for most areas, 3 for the toughest. I used a brass bristle tire cleaning brush on the rivets. On the sides, I then did the wet sanding routine and polish as desribed below. On the bottom I skipped the wet sanding and used a brass colored wire wheel on a drill to clean up after stripping, then right to polishing.
For my polishing routine, I started by wetsanding with 320 paper, then used "Blue Magic" metal polish with my Porter -Cable 7346SP sander/polisher on speed setting 5 (6 is fastest). The polish left a black residue that I wiped/buffed off by hand with old bath towels. Then I used the polish a second time, and wiped/buffed off the residue by hand again. Then as a final buffing I used a fake lambswool polishing bonnet at high speed on the polisher. Then I wiped everything down with laquer thinner, and applied the Sharkhide. Looking at other threads, mine did not come out as shiney as BigHoss's, or Dozer's boats. But it came out shiney enough for me. I also should have washed it down before wiping it with laquer thinner. As clean as I thought I got it with the thinner, the Sharkhide pulled up some black residue that I had missed. Of course after I was done, a guy who restores motorcycles told me that wet sanding with 1000 grit paper using wd40 instead of water makes aluminum look like chrome. I haven't tried that yet.
For the trim, I'm going a satin route, I've sanded it with 150 paper and that's it. I'll sharkhide the trim after I paint.
I hope at least some of this info is helpful.
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
49,038
Re: Got me a Starchief

Here's one of your pics, RH




What I did was in PB I moused over the pic and in the links window clicked on IMG Code. Came back to iboats and pasted into the links (light blue ball with a funky symbol) window. Works for me.

The Chief is looking good, buddy.
 
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