Darin's 32" WildThing P-Mono Repaint

[Darin Jordan]

Well guys... I'm starting over with the paint... After two unsuccesful attempts to paint over the original paint, I decided to strip it down to wood and start over. I'm going to seal the wood this time with epoxy before painting. Should hold up better that way.

Still looked good, but I wanted to change the colors up to my Spektrum scheme before the NAMBA Nats next month...

[BassBoat88]

That thing looks like it really burns up the corners in that first pic.

[Darin Jordan]

Yah... but it does show the deck paint well!

OK, I have it all sanded down to 320-grit. It's VERY smooth now... Last time, I just primed it and painted. This time I'm going the full seal it first route, so I applied a coat of epoxy and spread it out with a credit card. Once it's dry, I'll sand it smooth and then go from there with painting.

I checked with the Nitro guys over on International Waters, because they do a LOT with wooden boats, and got some good advice on how to go about this, so hopefully this will turn out well...

[Jesse J]

I hope your credit card still works!

I guess I never appreciated the importance of sealing. I usually polyurethane my wood builds just to have a water ready boat - since I may end up bondo-ing the imperfections. Although, the only boat I ever painted without sealing has still held up, pretty good.

Why not just leave the pretty wood grain on the deck? looks nice.

[Eodman]

Yeah it does look nice Darrin --- but then it wouldn't match your oberto stable!

[Darin Jordan]

Yeah it does look nice Darrin --- but then it wouldn't match your oberto stable!

That stable is slowly shrinking... This one will be painting in the Spektrum colors I've been transitioning to. I kind of like them better anyhow... very classy looking color scheme...

[Doug Smock]

That thing looks like it really burns up the corners in that first pic.

Monos have three keels, you didn't know that??

Ole Reed Eagle just hooked me up with a 27"er for N-Mono can't wait to githerdone!!

Good luck with the paint job!!!

Doug

[JimClark]

One thing I learned from the Nitro guys is to use thinned epoxy and paper towels to apply the epoxy. It works great and you can apply a very thin and very smooth coat of epoxy which does the job of sealing the wood very well. I usually do two coats of thinned epoxy then a very light sanding. You have to constantly change out the paper towels as they start to fall apart and leave fibers but if you are quick it works the best I have tried.

Jim Clark

Yah... but it does show the deck paint well!

OK, I have it all sanded down to 320-grit. It's VERY smooth now... Last time, I just primed it and painted. This time I'm going the full seal it first route, so I applied a coat of epoxy and spread it out with a credit card. Once it's dry, I'll sand it smooth and then go from there with painting.

I checked with the Nitro guys over on International Waters, because they do a LOT with wooden boats, and got some good advice on how to go about this, so hopefully this will turn out well...

[Darin Jordan]

OK, The epoxy dried overnight, and I sanded it all down with 240, then 320 grit, until smooth. After wiping down, I degreased and ran a tack cloth over everything, taped off the transom and hull bottom, then tacked one more time. Then I shot the first coat of primer and let sit until completely dry.

I wetsanded this then with 400 grit, rinsed with clean water, dried, tack clothed, then painted a second coat of primer.

The second coat dried for about 3-hours, then I wetsanded with 600, wiped down, and it's now sitting in a warm room thoroughly drying. I should be painting the base coat (white) tomorrow.

So far, so good... everything looks good and this is likely the smoothest surface I've ever prepped...

[Darin Jordan]

No pictures... just a quick update...

I tacked it off one more time last night before I went to bed, and shot a final coat of primer... this time, white primer. It was completely dry this morning, so I wetsanded that with 600 grit, rinsed, and wiped it all down again. When I get home tonight, I'll tack and then shoot on the white basecoat. I may leave it in white for the race this Sunday, then finish adding the colors next week...

[sailr]

Maybe I missed something...where do the paper towels come in?

[Eodman]

A couple of steps back -- I think! If I followed it right the suggestion was to use paper towels to apply the thinned Epoxy! Not sure though!

[AndyKunz]

They're for catching the drool.

Andy

[sailr]

Darin,
I have found that using the Testors Model Masters Glossy clear holds up to tape pretty well. I have used Krylon for the color and then apply decals, etc. and clear over all of it with the Model Masters. Every other kind of clear seems to lift. The primer/color coats still have to stand up to the tape. I have started using less agressive tape like the 'clear' electrical tape they sell at Walmart. It sticks OK to seal the hatch but lifts off easy, thus sparing the paint. I have also found that I need to give the boat an occassional wipedown with some alcohol to remove fingerprints, water residue, etc. This promotes better tape adhesion without effecting the paint job. By doing this, I get by with the electrical tape instead of the other really aggressive tapes.

Hope this makes sense.

[sailr]

Only nitro people drool. haha

They're for catching the drool.

Andy