My first fast electric boat !

[DeltaAPmech]

Thanks Tony !!
Progress has been at a standstill. I am going to get it done but I have been busy swapping my camper trailer brakes from electric drums to electric over hydraulic disks. Camping season is close and dealing with towing around these nuts that have drivers licenses is interesting at times and I need to be able to stop quicker.
The other problem is the weather. Can?t paint in all the rain we are having lately. Don?t give up on me it?s gonna get done as quick as I get time.
Pete

[DeltaAPmech]

I finally had a chance to paint. It?s not much but it?s a start. I put down the white. Now it has to dry forever and I can mask it off and put down the next color. I was thinking about having a prize for the one that correctly counts the number of runs in the paint but there are just too many of them for me to count to know who would win?.

I sure do hate painting, I want it perfect like a show car finish, but I don?t have the skills to achieve that.

Pete

[Xrayted]

I built a Miss Tide Hydro many years ago and rattle canned the three colors used on the boat, then had a sign shop cut me vinyl graphics for it since the Tide boat has a simple scheme that is easy to duplicate and easy colors to see. Then I took the hull to a cheap auto painter place like Maaco, and asked if they would shoot it all with clearcoat for me. They didn't charge me much because they used what little is left over already in the gun after doing a car, so the majority of labor to paint had already been done. The hull looked amazing with the deep automotive clear, and one would never know it was a rattle can paint job!

[DeltaAPmech]

Hey now that sounds like a good idea! I would have never thought of that. I’ll have to talk to the shop near me!

[DeltaAPmech]

Put another color on the boat. I managed to sand down the runs and figure the clear coat will gloss it back up. I may have to repaint the white in a few places where the sanding made it a little thin. I?ll decide when I can look at it in bright sunlight.

[DeltaAPmech]

Another color sprayed on. I?m beginning to wonder if I should have gone with lighter colors to be able to see the boat better. Not sure how visibility works with these fast boats. I know my planes need to be really easy to see, but these boats do throw up a big rooster tail of water marking where it is. I guess I?ll see??or maybe not🤪🤪🤪

[Xrayted]

Darker colors will be fine for running the boat. The visibility issue can come from being dead in the water with other boats running around it. Dark colors on a low profile hydro sitting dead in the water can sometimes blend right in with the race chop and disappear depending on where the sun and shadows are on the water, making it harder for the others to see and avoid it. Its why the hatch is bright red on the carbon mono in my avatar. I ran it all carbon for a while, but it was dang near invisible when dead in the water with any chop to it

[DeltaAPmech]

Ok that makes sense. There is white on the boat mostly on the tall part of the canopy so that should help with visibility when it’s dead in the water…..I guess it’s not a matter of if it’s sitting dead but when !

[DeltaAPmech]

The painting gauntlet is ongoing. Wet sanded the whole boat to prep for the clear coat, took it outside to rinse it off and sun revealed that the lighter blue color was uneven.....UGGGGG.....Looked fine under my garage lights. So that meant a setback in time. I sprayed another round of paint on the lighter blue and in one area the new paint messed with the previous coat. I think that's what I hate the most, the can says 48 hours before recoat but its been twice as long as that and yet it still crinkled a bit. It may sand out. I really need to spend money on real paint someday. Being cheap is a lot of work and frustration. Its just a toy I know and I should just finish and run it, not make it ready for SEMA. Its gonna get beat up I'm sure.
Pete

[Gary]

A recoat should always be ...First coat very thin and let set up really well , Second coat a little thicker, Third nice and wet. When it's too wet from the start it will "eat" the coat under it.

[DeltaAPmech]

Yep I did that and yet still had an area that it chewed into the first layer of paint that had been cured for a long time. Oh well it will be good enough. Thanks for the advise. I’m sure I’m doing it wrong.

[DeltaAPmech]

Hopefully this is the end of painting. I put clear on the belly to cover the epoxy/glass. Now I just have to let it all cure and start polishing it up. I was going to clear the whole thing but I don?t want to take the chance of lifting the bottom color coats. The fancy 2K clear paint would work great but I don?t have forced air to breath and according to what I have read even the 3M company says they don?t have a filter to protect my lungs from whatever the nasty chemicals are in that paint. The body shop option is a great idea but I?m gonna cheap out ( notice a theme here ) and just wet sand and buff the rattle can paint. I?m ready to learn to drive this thing!!!
Pete

[DeltaAPmech]

Making progress, lots of careful sanding with 2000 grit paper followed by a heavy rubbing compound then a light version and then a wax. It's looking pretty good for a rattle can held by an amateur painter. It should look even better out on the water moving at a good clip. Probably won't notice the mistakes at that point.
Pete

[Xrayted]

That is blocking and polishing out nicely! Likely a good call on not bothering with any professionally done clearcoat for your first. Mine I was talking about above was beautiful until its third race when someone drove over it and prop walked over the deck

[DeltaAPmech]

Uggg that would be painful to have happen. I haven’t really thought about another boat doing damage. I’ve just been thinking the destruction would come from my own screwup. I’ve watched enough car racing to know what you’re saying is totally right it just didn’t click in my head. I really wanted the clear from a shop. Maybe if the boat survives for a while I’ll give it a beauty treatment with a pro. I saw the Facebook message for NAMBA time trials and the picture was of a boat tumbling in the air ! It was funny and intimidating at the same time.
Pete