Posted By: wlgorman
Boat Make-over, long read, pic heavy. - 03/12/12 05:58 PM
Whats up guys. Havent posted in awhile. Hunted a grand total of 3 times this year due to school.
Ive been telling myself I am going to paint my boat for about 2 years now. I got this boat in 2007. 1998 Sea Ark Pro-V CC, put a 2008 yamaha 2-stroke 50hp on it in 08. It spend every off day I had on the water from the mouth of the colorado to san luis pass for 3 years until I got laid off and had to move in 2010 to DFW. It still gets used regularly, but not as much. On the coast it was kept at my dads house, who was always doing something with it (tinkerer). So I rarely had to do any maintenance. Moved up here and shortly realized that I had it made down there. Well over about a year of being rarely used, little things started popping up here and there. I was going to sell it to pay some bills and what-not, but decided I wasnt ready to part w/ it. Here are some before pictures.
First up, steering. Cables had locked up and it was all I could do to turn it. Fooled around with it for a month before I realized it was a simple fix. $120 cable, 10 minute replacement and its smooth as butter.
Second up, carb issues. I run an inline filter, but noticed that it had a 'dead zone' in the throttle. Its done this before. Cleaned carbs and replaced filter. Good as new.
Third, replace some bunk carpeting...easy enough.
Now on to the good stuff. Like I said, I have been wanting to paint it for awhile, the 'seafoam green' just wasnt doing it anymore. The floors, as you can see below were BARE aluminum (used to be painted from the factory). While this was useful when people on my boat smarted off (cut throttle watch them go down), it was a problem. The front and back decks were carpet, that I have been replacing (well, my dad has) every year. I decided to tackle this first. I started looking around and decided to go with Tuff-Coat in Tan. This stuff is real similar to a truck bedliner but a little harder to the touch. Started with the prep work. You have to take your surface down to bare metal and rough it up good for this to adhere properly, I read quite a few reviews saying it peeled up fast and most chalked it up to bad prep. After about 20 hrs of scraping carpet adhesive, sanding with 60grit, grinding w/ a wire wheel, taping, cleaning, priming w/ self-etching primer, and laid it down with Tuff-Coats recommended textured brush. Put it down on both decks, the livewell lid in front of the console, and the actual floor of the boat. One gallon BARELY covered it with 2 coats. Drank LOTS of beer during this whole process. Here is a pic.
Alright, done w/ floors. On to paint. I researched and brainstormed different options. Solid colors? Camo? Stencil? Wrap? After looking on various sites and hundreds of pics. I decided to go with a 'natgear' scheme but with a little more tan overall look. Ordered licensed stencils off Ebay for $45 from a member on another site. Went back to Cabelas and got Parkers Duck Boat Paint in Sand Tan. Came home and did another 20 hrs of prep work. Scuffed it up (old paint was good, just oxidized) with #1 steel wool, top and bottom. I didnt take the engine off, just taped and draped what I needed to, I have a manual jackplate and didnt care about overspray there, so it wasnt that hard to keep it off the engine. Used floor jacks to elevate from the trailer so I could get to the bottom. Used self-etching primer on the bare aluminum. A friend let me borrow a HVLP gravity feed paint sprayer, and I rented a compressor from Home Depot. Then I went to town. I taped off the floors but it was a lost cause, so I ended up just dusting the floors w/ the sprayer for an even look. 3 hrs, 2/3 gallon, 1 beer (got carried away w/ paint), and 2 coats later, this was the result...
Let the boat and myself rest for a week, went and got some Rustoleum Satin Nutmeg spray paint. I needed help w/ the camo pattern, 3 hands to hold the stencil over the curves of the boat, and one hand spraying. Its real awkward. My wife offered to help, which was surprising. First pattern down, and TX numbers sprayed flat black...
Ive been telling myself I am going to paint my boat for about 2 years now. I got this boat in 2007. 1998 Sea Ark Pro-V CC, put a 2008 yamaha 2-stroke 50hp on it in 08. It spend every off day I had on the water from the mouth of the colorado to san luis pass for 3 years until I got laid off and had to move in 2010 to DFW. It still gets used regularly, but not as much. On the coast it was kept at my dads house, who was always doing something with it (tinkerer). So I rarely had to do any maintenance. Moved up here and shortly realized that I had it made down there. Well over about a year of being rarely used, little things started popping up here and there. I was going to sell it to pay some bills and what-not, but decided I wasnt ready to part w/ it. Here are some before pictures.
First up, steering. Cables had locked up and it was all I could do to turn it. Fooled around with it for a month before I realized it was a simple fix. $120 cable, 10 minute replacement and its smooth as butter.
Second up, carb issues. I run an inline filter, but noticed that it had a 'dead zone' in the throttle. Its done this before. Cleaned carbs and replaced filter. Good as new.
Third, replace some bunk carpeting...easy enough.
Now on to the good stuff. Like I said, I have been wanting to paint it for awhile, the 'seafoam green' just wasnt doing it anymore. The floors, as you can see below were BARE aluminum (used to be painted from the factory). While this was useful when people on my boat smarted off (cut throttle watch them go down), it was a problem. The front and back decks were carpet, that I have been replacing (well, my dad has) every year. I decided to tackle this first. I started looking around and decided to go with Tuff-Coat in Tan. This stuff is real similar to a truck bedliner but a little harder to the touch. Started with the prep work. You have to take your surface down to bare metal and rough it up good for this to adhere properly, I read quite a few reviews saying it peeled up fast and most chalked it up to bad prep. After about 20 hrs of scraping carpet adhesive, sanding with 60grit, grinding w/ a wire wheel, taping, cleaning, priming w/ self-etching primer, and laid it down with Tuff-Coats recommended textured brush. Put it down on both decks, the livewell lid in front of the console, and the actual floor of the boat. One gallon BARELY covered it with 2 coats. Drank LOTS of beer during this whole process. Here is a pic.
Alright, done w/ floors. On to paint. I researched and brainstormed different options. Solid colors? Camo? Stencil? Wrap? After looking on various sites and hundreds of pics. I decided to go with a 'natgear' scheme but with a little more tan overall look. Ordered licensed stencils off Ebay for $45 from a member on another site. Went back to Cabelas and got Parkers Duck Boat Paint in Sand Tan. Came home and did another 20 hrs of prep work. Scuffed it up (old paint was good, just oxidized) with #1 steel wool, top and bottom. I didnt take the engine off, just taped and draped what I needed to, I have a manual jackplate and didnt care about overspray there, so it wasnt that hard to keep it off the engine. Used floor jacks to elevate from the trailer so I could get to the bottom. Used self-etching primer on the bare aluminum. A friend let me borrow a HVLP gravity feed paint sprayer, and I rented a compressor from Home Depot. Then I went to town. I taped off the floors but it was a lost cause, so I ended up just dusting the floors w/ the sprayer for an even look. 3 hrs, 2/3 gallon, 1 beer (got carried away w/ paint), and 2 coats later, this was the result...
Let the boat and myself rest for a week, went and got some Rustoleum Satin Nutmeg spray paint. I needed help w/ the camo pattern, 3 hands to hold the stencil over the curves of the boat, and one hand spraying. Its real awkward. My wife offered to help, which was surprising. First pattern down, and TX numbers sprayed flat black...
