What does it cost to get a 21' cat painted?

Why? your boat looks great!

I've heard the bulk of the cost is attributed to the amount of kitty treats you need to keep a 21' cat still whilst its hue is altered.

I spent close to $2K painting Flight Risk, but that's 24' hulls, 3 crossbeams, center and fwd pods. I did 90% of the prep, and was around for masking and moving the pieces around over the course of 4 or 5 days. I used $950 worth of very expensive automotive paint (Viper red and Corvette yellow, with clear coat). The bodyman was a friend of mine, so I only paid him around $700, and the graphics guy got $200 for a days work.

Dave

Better pic.

Dave:

That is sweet. Are the mast and beams powder coated? I am thinking of doing that to mast and spars on sunfish when I rebuild it. They are really corroded now.

Doug

It looks great but, you know how it is, I am aware of all of the scratches, dings, etc...
If it is affordable, i'd like it to be perfect, at least for a little while.

If I do all the prep and prime, do you think i could do it for less than $1,000.00?

$1000 is probably doable if you can find someone who has the equipment to shoot if for you for cheap (less than $500). Depending on Color and paint system, you are probably looking at about $500 just for the paint, primer, reducer, converter, etc... If you do awlgrip, here is how I would do it:
sand existing paint with 150 grit
Shoot 1 coat of 545 epoxy primer
fill any dings, etc... with awlfair
sand with 150
shoot 1 coat of high build primer
longboard and fair
shoot 1 coat of 545
lightly sand
shoot 1st coat of finish
lightly sand
shoot intermediate topcoat
lightly sand
shoot final coat.
Some guys then wet sand and then shoot a clear coat on top.

Each step is not alot of time, but there are alot of steps. If you add up the materials needed to do this, it is close to $500 (could be more depending on colors). This is how we did mine, but did not do the high build (wish I had). The hard part is getting the right conditions (when the painter is available) to shoot the finish coats.

Good Luck!!

How much weight does that add to the hull?

not much if you sand off the gelcoat. paint is actually lighter than gelcoat. When you consider that you are sanding off alot of the primer, it is probably about the same weight.

as is

Doug,
All my beams, boards, and the mast are composite construction, and they're all painted with the same automotive paints.

Dave

Dave:

Have you ever done powder coating? I am just afraid paint on the mast of sunfish and scratch and flake off easy.

Doug

I've never specifically looked for powder coating on sailing related items, but I've never been horribly impressed with it's abrasion resistance in general. In some cases I've seen it fail where it gets rubbed/hit repeatedly up and then just falls off in chunks. Probably why extrusions are anodized vs. powder coated in the sailing world

So what would it cost to get mast and spars on a Sunfish anodized? Any idea?

Doug

That entire chunking falling off issue has to do primarily on how the surface was prepped prior to painting. If the surface was prepared correctly and thoroughly then the paint should stick darn good.

Powder coating involves baking the paint into the metal. I dont think it can be done on composites.

Anodizing I beleive involves dipping the metal into an electrically charged paint/chemical?

Both ways are pretty darn expensive for big items like a mast, boom, spinnaker pole or crossbeams.

Mast and spars (or whatever call them? The two pieces that form a V to hold the sail) on the Sunfish are aluminum. What would you guys suggested, The are corroded pretty bad and I want to do something them as I rebuild Sunfish and add racing sails and parts.

Doug

Powder coating may be a slight step up from painting but it will still flake off. The earlier Mystere's used powder coating on the spars and beams and it flaked off.

I had my beams and mast media blasted, then I used a dupont etch for aluminum, then sprayed clear Imron on the bare alum. It lasted about three years. I just redid the the mast and beams last spring.