Reflections in Hull Paint

Well, it took 5 coats, but I’m calling the hull paint done.  Parts of it are very shiny :-)  Some of it doesn’t look quite as nice but I’ve decided I can live with it.

 

I added flattening agent to the third coat, which made the paint look very thin so I added very little thinner. The paint didn’t smooth out after tipping, leaving tiny ridges along the whole hull surface. I had to sand it down with 220 grit – 400 wouldn’t dent it. This stuff cures hard!  It took 2 more coats to make it look good again.

 

Sanding the 4th coat with 400 grit:

 

Stem:

 

Self-Portrait in Two-Part Polyurethane:

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60-HP High-Thrust Outboard Motor Comparison

• The first three are 4-strokes. The Evinrude is a 2-stroke.
• All meet the California Air Resources Board air pollution standards.
• The Honda is new this year
• I’m guessing the steering angle of the non-Honda motors are 30 degrees
• The Evinrude is the only one in this list that isn’t a ‘high-thrust’-style motor. High-thrust motors are designed to power displacement boats.
• All of these models come with power tilt/trim

 

	Honda BFP60A	Mercury 60 hp EFI Bigfoot	Yamaha T60 High Thrust	Evinrude E-Tec 60 HP (E60DPL)
Engine Type	4-stroke, inline 3-cylinder	In-line 4 cylinder	4 cylinder	Inline 2 cylinder
Weight	259	260	248	240
Fuel/Induction System	Programmed Electronic Fuel Injection, in-line 3-cylinder SOHC	2-valve SOHC	SOHC Fuel Injection	Direct fuel injection
Alternator Output	27 Amp (Battery charging power 22 Amp)	18 Amp (225 watts)	17 Amp	25 Amps not dedicated
Displacement	998 cc	995 cc	996 cc	864 cc
RPM Range	5000-6000	5500 – 6000	5000-6000	5500 – 6000
Trim range	-4 to 16 degrees
Tilt range	60 degrees
Steering angle	50 degrees
Gear ratio	2.33:1	2.33:1	12:28	2.67:1
Special features	New in 2009		Dual Thrust propellers	No oil changes
	Easy Dock Steering – 20 degrees additional (needs additional parts)			195 fewer parts than a 4-stroke
	Rudder angle indicator			low emissions
Links	Brochure (pdf)	Specs	Specs	Crap Flash Site
	Specs			Specs

Dashboard Mockup

It’s been too rainy and humid to paint so I spent yesterday working on the dashboard design. I went ahead and bought the hydraulic steering (as opposed to mechanical) so I can add an autopilot later on if I want.    It’s a really beautiful piece of engineering. The fluid pumps are built into the steering wheel post.  Fisheries has a cutaway model – the steering mechanism has a canted plate that pushes a series of small pumps as the wheel turns. The downside is that it’s three inches deeper than I had planned for. Space between the seats and the wheel is already very tight.  It’s hard to see in the picture below, but I inset the mount 2 inches into the dash to reclaim some of the space.  This is actually my third dash mockup.  It’s hard to figure out the design until I have the actual parts that will be installed. The only things I still don’t have are the motor parts – shifter/throttle, and the engine gauges.  The navigation console will mount above the dash so I don’t need it yet.

 

Hull Paint

Meryll tipped while I rolled the first coat of black paint on the topsides. The tipping left visible streaks but I’m guessing that’s normal for a first coat of black over white primer. Halfway through, the paint started getting tiny bubbles that left white spots after tipping. We tried adding some thinner but, although the paint flowed more easily, it made the bubbles worse.  It could be that it wasn’t warm enough (65F), or that the humidity was too high. I’ll wait for better conditions for the next coats.  It took about 3/4 of a quart of paint to do this coat.

Meryll wore a shower cap to keep her long hair safe. I bought her a brand-new respirator for the job.  The horizontal line of dots in the paint are screw holes for mounting the rub rail.

The rolling box she’s sitting on has been a real back saver while prepping the hull for paint. I bought nice big casters so it’s easy to move around.