Painting and fixing the hull

[Marty McOmber]

Hi fellow Passporters, 

Thought you’d like to see the results of our latest project on our 1984 Passport 40.  

Since we bought her 7 years ago, we have suffered with ugly crack just below and outside the toe rail.  I understand some other Passport have had the same problem. 

Also the previous owner had the hull painted, probably in Mexico in the 90s. It was a very hard paint, but long ago lost its luster and looked dull and splotchy. 

I worked with a trusted freelancer who is an expert in fiberglass and finishing. He is the same guy who helped with our deck project a few years back. His work is outstanding.  

Before we dove in, we were not sure what caused the cracking but suspected it was just badly prepped filler that was original to the boat.  Worst case it would have been in the laminate. Luckily it was the former.  

We ground out the old filler around the entire boat, being careful so as not to damage the toe rail. Then prepped, filled and faired the area.  

We then guide-coat sanded the entire hull in 180 grit. Fixed, filled and faired numerous scratches and other defects in the hull.  

We Used Interlux Perfection Matterhorn white for the hull, since were going to roll and tip. My freelancer assured me that if we could get results as good as spraying. He has a proven approach.

We stacked three build coats on the hull over a single day — waiting until the applied coat could pass the finger print test — that touch the paint could leave a finger print mark, but no paint would lift off on you finger.  The trick is to use a good quality foam hot dog roller — Epiphanes makes one that works really well.  And you need to burn through a lot of rollers, switching out every five minutes or so.  Otherwise the foam might start shedding. 

After letting the build coats dry for a few days, we again guide-coat sanded the hull, but with 400 grit. And then prepped for the final coat. 

We waited for what we consider ideal conditions — around 60 degrees and early morning without wind. 

The final coat flowed out amazingly.  We also had a great crew supporting us. Two of us rolled, one high and one low.  We had a third person running paint, filling tray, and handing us new rollers.  Two others followed in behind looking carefully for drips, sags and holidays we could get before it was too late. 

Then we painted on a boot stripe with Awlgrip and a cove strip.  He shot both of those with a spray gun. 

New bottom paint and Velox for the running gear and we were ready to splash.  Oh and we replaced 8 thru-hulls — more on that if anyone is interested. Best discovering if the new backing plates that Groco makes — they are bomber and much better than the original wood ones.  

So here are some photos of the results.  We are very pleased!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1JqgBR2HkjPhGhMi8

Best,

Marty McOmber

Sent from my iPad

[John Baudendistel]

Beautiful!  Nice job.

Thanks 

John 

On Oct 17, 2020, at 3:19 PM, Marty McOmber <mmco...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi fellow Passporters, 

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[Kristin Pederson]

HI Marty -

I'm currently in the middle of trying to find a person and yard to do an awlgrip deck and hull paint. Would you mind sharing who you worked with? I'm based out of Seattle.

Thanks!

Kristin

[Kyle L]

Hey Kristin, I think I shared this before but we had a really good experience with Paul Ziegler of Northwest Fiberglass. He works out of Canal Boatyard. He repaired our flag blue awlgrip after we got hit by a 50' Grand Banks dragging anchor in the middle of the night.... can't even tell where the repair was.

Paul Ziegler

Northwest Fiberglass

206 423 7683