SK14 in Katy, TX

[TexasCoastReds]

Progress update:

• The sole, hatch, deck, and side cubbies have been installed, glassed, faired and sanded.

• The skeg has been installed and the underside has been faired and sanded. For the skeg I used some hard maple I had lying about the shop; it's also been glassed.

• The fairing process took much longer than expected. I used my drywall taping knifes and feathering knife to do most of the work. Both the upper and underside took two coating of fairing compound with sanding between coats.

• I've sent the templates to Marine Mat for quote.

To do:

• The upper side has been curing for about a week, so it'll be ready for primer and paint this week. The underside will be sanded back tomorrow and ready for primer and paint next week after Christmas.

• I am using S3 Pennant (yacht) primer with the EMC Quantum 99 top coat for the sides and deck. I will be applying a graphite/epoxy coating to the below waterline section.

• Once the paint is on, the lights and hardware will be installed. I've got Tessilmare R30 rub rail cut, and all holes epoxied and drilled.

Nearly there...

[cape man]

Looking good!

[TexasCoastReds]

Thanks Cape Man!

Got the top coat on the sole and deck. Had some small issues with the first 3 coats that didn't resolve them selves.....so I ended up wet-sanding the whole lot and applying another 3 coats to get the finish to level out properly. Wishing I had just built a spray booth and used my HVLP system in the first place....lesson learned.

Got the lights installed and hatches in place. Next up is to sand, prime, and graphite/paint the underside.

I'm having a bit of a nightmare with my Total Boat bilge paint inside the hatches. I prepped, primed and cleaned the surface and applied per the instructions. I've ended up with a wrinkled and blistered mess. I'm currently about half way through scraping the entire finish off, and I'll just use the left over EMC stuff I have to paint the inside of the hatches.

[fallguy1000]

It wrinkled because your solvents had not flashed off. Those low places require a final step of blowing a fan in there to get any remaining cleaning agents out; even H2O. I know because I had the damndest time getting some areas dried for paint.

[TexasCoastReds]

Ahh that makes sense, so the solvent in the fresh coat was lingering there and causing the previous coats to soften up? I'll scrap, sand, prep and try again with the fan tip.

Thank you.

[TexasCoastReds]

Well the hull is completed.

I have my game warden inspection this week and at the beginning of the week the underside of the hull was.......uncoated. It was a little bit touch and go with the local temps that have dropped below freezing. This, and the fact that I had laid out my coating schedule based on the 70F re-coat time, which would have left me plenty time before the inspection. Fortunately, I have some oil filled heaters that were able to keep my shop in the 60s. With the heaters and a couple of late nights, the hull is complete.

On the bottom there is 3 coats of Cracker Larry recipe graphite, 2 coats of 3S Pennant, and 3 coats of EMC Q99 top coat (same as the topsides).

[TexasCoastReds]

The boat is 99% complete, the only thing left is to install the my decking once that arrives. I got the game warden inspection done the other week and the boat registered.

[cape man]

Awesome rig!! Gorgeous.