One of this summer’s big projects was repainting Sundown’s bottom. It was quite the job, but the results are so gratifying because the progress is visible.
Most of the steps are documented in the Photo Gallery. They included:
- Experimenting with a chemical paint remover which turned out to be an epic fail
- Resorting to old-fashioned scraping and sanding, which reminded me of a Chinese massage technique called gua sha
- Fairing (filling and smoothing out) the divots and pinholes which remained on the surface
- More sanding
- Applying a barrier coat (West System epoxy with barrier coat additive). The barrier coat is meant to prevent osmotic blisters or bubbles from forming on Sundown’s fiberglass hull. I found an article on the subject at NAUTICALweb quite helpful in understanding this step.
- Wet sanding and sponge bathing off the amine blush, a wax-like residue that forms on the surface of the dried epoxy barrier coat
- Sanding the barrier coat surface to provide a wee bit of grip for the paint
- And finally, applying a beautiful new coat of copper marine paint. After much research, we decided to use Blue Water Copper Shield 45, because it’s rated highly by many sources, including Practical Sailor, and the price was right. Based on the opinions of some of our fans plus our own preference, we decided to paint Sundown’s bottom a sophisticated black, changing it from various shades of blue. Her boot stripe will be a shade of dark green.
During the process, we also installed brand-new Forespar Marelon® thru hulls and seacocks, replacing the 
original bronze fittings. According to Forespar’s website, “Marelon® is a proprietary formulation of polymar composite compounds using composite reinforced polymer and additives to produce a superior marine-grade product.” Clay agonized over this decision for quite some time, but finally chose Forespar’s product because it never corrodes and also is highly rated.
We’re happy to have this big project behind us, because there are plenty more ahead!
I could offer you my little plastic kayak–I don’t suppose you’d trade??? It’s a little bit less work.
There won’t be room for my yarn stash in the kayak, Dottie! I guess the price of more space is more work.
VERY EXCITING!! What an accomplishment getting that done before Winter truely starts. I would love to come and see in two weeks when volleyball is over. 🙂
And I would love for you to visit Sundown. She’s still a work in progress. A construction site, really. But with some imagination…