So I have an orange cat and the paint is pretty faded. I'm getting it professionally painted by a friend and I'm in the process of getting it prepped. What are somethings i should do before i get it painted. How much sanding is required if im painting the boat white? What method do you use to sand it(hand sander?) And if i know of areas where there is a small leakage of water, what should i use as a filler for these spots. Any help is appreciated

First, be sure that you are putting the new coat on paint rather than gelcoat.
I just painted my cat, I suggest that you read the instructions that come with the paint for precise information.

for minor dings, gouges, scratches you can use polyester glazing putty made by EVERCOAT. I bought a can at NAPA auto parts. You will need to prime the Evercoat before painting it

First I'd ask your friend what are they going to paint it with. Is he is going to use Gel Coat, Automotive Paint, or something like Awl Grip? If he is using paint the boat will need to be primed first. Make sure the paint system - primer and topcoat match (use the same brand). You can use a high build primer to fill minor scratches and a lot of minor scratches will sand out of the get coat. When sanding always use a block if you are not using a power or air sander. Once primed the old color will not matter.

Gel coat can be sprayed over the old gel coat with a good sanding to give it bite.

Leaks can be a problem. If there are cracks paint will not fix cracks and they will crack the new paint and may cause it to peel. I'm a firm believer that you should grind / sand leaks and fix them with epoxy such as West System. Evercoat is good to use on the primer before the paint. Have fun it is a lot of work 95% of a paint job is the prep work.

www.TheManShed.net

So if i use a sanding block, how much do i sand, do i remove all the paint so its just to the fiberglass?

Ryan

Most likely someplace in between paint can fade and you just loose the shine, not bad. Also paint starts to deteriorate and the bond is bad. You've seen cars with flakes and spots that peel, really bad.

You can take it down to the glass if it is really bad, but most likely you just need to give a good surface for the paint to make a mechanical bond. The solvents in the new paint melt into the old paint. You want a fair surface that is not flaky, chipped, raised, and the paint and glass seem as one. If you scratch at the paint it acts like the fiberglass if that makes sense.

Usually you do the prep work sanding, filling, ect. Then use a wax remover on the boat - wipe on wipe off then prime the boat. At this point you can go over it again and use fine paste filler like everclear to do the fine touchup, sand, wax remover then paint.

The middle step is not necessary it just depends on the quality of the paint job.

I'm a bit anal but my paint jobs usually come out nice.


Have your paint guy look at it he can tell you how far it needs to go.

Thank you, you gave me everything i need to here, so for just filling in those cracks i should just use the west system, and then to get the boat really smooth use the everclear?

Yep kind of,

Grind fill sand.

Depending on scratches you can use west with filler (powder) to make a paste it is much harder then everclear. Use that first the prime.

Use everclear after the clear to spot and touch up.

West = epoxy
everclear = soft bondo/paint

But like I said I’m anal everclear is fine but not as hard.

If you look at the website http://www.themanshed.net/supercat-20.html on Craig’s Supercat 20 picture 12-06-08-1458 you see fiberglass, primer, west with filler (Tan old tape stripe), and blue (everclear). On 1457 you see the fairing with west/filler.

Oh yeah--make sure you wear at least a white dust mask.

I highly recommend Formula 27. I've been using it for a while. It's light in color so you can paint over it easier. The best part is that it sands great. Sets up quick too.

Formula 27

You will be amazed at how much white paint it will take to cover orange if you don't sand it off or use a quality sealer-primer. The best way to sand is to use a board file or for what your doing fart rock. No I"m not kidding fart rock. You'll understand when you use it. Go here and call and order 6-8 blocks. It's cheap too! http://www.fgci.com/.

The beauty of this stuff is it's very aggressive and it conforms to the shape your sanding and is the best thing I've used to fair a surface. Careful using any type of sanding block or power sander. If you work one area here one there and so on you'll wind up with surface that's wavy or not fair.

Then prime w/ high build, sand with a board file,paint and wet sand and buff.

That should keep you busy until the ice melts.