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Refinishing 30' Sea Skiff and have questions

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nkalchik
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Refinishing 30' Sea Skiff and have questions

Post by nkalchik » Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:24 pm

Hi everyone, I am finally getting to a point where I am getting ready to refinish my Sea Skiff. I am restoring a 1960 30' Sea Skiff and I have questions on what I should use for different projects. I used a heat gun and a putty knife and removed most of the old paint on the hull. Here are my questions:

1. Should I seal the hull before priming and if so what would you recommend?
2. Should I prime hull before I fill screw holes and do any fairing or should I do that first then prime. I was thinking about using Petit wood sealer then not sure on primer and paint. Any suggestions?
3. Suggestions on bottom paint? A lot of existing bottom pain is coming off. I was planning on scraping loose stuff off and just coating over??

I am open to any and all suggestions. Thanks ahead of time for your feedback.

Nathan

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Bilge Rat
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Re: Refinishing 30' Sea Skiff and have questions

Post by Bilge Rat » Tue Apr 16, 2019 8:23 am

Hi:

My 2 cents (like that buys anything today):

1. I used Smith's CPES Clear Penetrating Epoxy sealer on bare wood. It is not an epoxy in the sense of a chemical compound that dries to a hard finish. It has wood lignin in it and penetrates to seal the wood from moisture. Makes a really great sealer as top coats adhere better. It is a 2 part epoxy mixture and has a strong odor as it cures. I have used it under paints and varnish. If you're staining bare wood (not a surface to be painted), stain first then seal with CPES.

2. For painted hull sides, you should rough shape any surfaces that need it, fill fastener holes, sand with a finer grade such as 180 or 220, seal, prime and paint. I have used West thickened epoxy in the past for screw holes that will be painted, but recently started using Interlux Watertite epoxy. It fairs easier than the West and will not sag during drying. With douglas fir plywood lapstrake hull, there will be natural soft and hard grain patterns in the wood. Sanding can make it look wavy because of this. The idea is to use multiple coats of a good primer with sanding in between coats until the surface appears flat. The Sea Skiff was probably finished with a gloss paint and any imperfections on the flatness of the under coats will be very obvious in the top coats.

3. Not sure where you keep your boat but I'm thinking for a 30 footer, you're probably keeping it at the dock or moored during the entire season. If your desire is to use an ablative type bottom paint you will need to read the manufacturer's literature on applying over existing coatings. If you leave it in the water all season, some type of anti-fouling bottom paint designed for wood is a must to keep marine growth away.

My Lyman is not kept in water all season and I used a hard copper bronze bottom paint similar to the original the factory used. Resists the inevitable trailer abrasions that occurs.
1966 Lyman Cruisette 25 foot "Serenity Now!"
1953 Chris Craft Sportsman 22 foot "Summerwind"

nkalchik
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Re: Refinishing 30' Sea Skiff and have questions

Post by nkalchik » Tue Apr 16, 2019 6:57 pm

Thanks for the feedback Bilge Rat

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tkhersom
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Re: Refinishing 30' Sea Skiff and have questions

Post by tkhersom » Sun Apr 21, 2019 6:56 am

Here is a story about my experience with paints.

https://www.woodyboater.com/blog/2018/0 ... -a-bikini/
Troy in ANE - Former President CCABC

1957 CC 21' Continental "Yorktown" (Mom's boat)
https://www.chris-craft.org/boats/22625/
1985 Formula 242LS "Gottago"
1991 Formula 36PC "Band Aids"

Life Is Too Short To Own An Ugly Boat

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