270Handiman's 1649 Custom Flat Project

[rellis1962]

Hey Handiman, I have a very similar boat (I have a thread going here as well) custom flat 1654. It is a heavy rascal. I have question - Are you painting the bottom of your boat? I have about decided to paint only about the front half of the bottom. This is the part I can get too without flipping her. I am sure you are having the same problem. If you plan to flip her, I would like to know how you will do it. I have 3 helpers but I still think it will be too much to handle.

 

[rellis1962]

Sorry, Just went back through your thread and found your comment about not painting the bottom. Mine has a good coat of primer on the bottom, so may just leave it that way.

 

[270Handiman]

Sorry, Just went back through your thread and found your comment about not painting the bottom. Mine has a good coat of primer on the bottom, so may just leave it that way.

rellis, I know exactly what you are saying. Here's the way I see it. It's a big, heavy duty all-welded boat. There is no potential for any rivets leaking or anything like that, so no need for Steelflex or any type of seal coating. The only reason to paint it would be for asthetics, and unless someone crawls under the trailer to look, it'll never be seen. My boat has the original OD Green paint on the underside, and it is in good shape. The only thing I plan to do is crawl under with a can of self-etching primer (which matches the original color pretty closely) and touch-up any bare spots, which are mainly on the ribs.

However, my wife and daughter have pointed out to me that I need to paint from under the point of the bow to the beginning of the rake (area shown in this picture) because apparently it looks like I missed this area (this is the only area of the bottom that can be seen when the boat is on the trailer). I had purposely avoided this area because stenciling around 1 rib is bad, but trying to work around 7 ribs would probably cause some sort of mental health breakdown.

So, if it gets done, it will be after everything else is complete.

 

[Queencitybassman]

Hey man great job with the boat.. Could you tell me what colors you used on your stencils and what brand.. i want to do something very similar for my boat

 

[flintcreek]

Man I believe that is the nicest camo paint job I have seen.....just bought a 16' yesterday and it has a camo paint job but nothing this nice...I may have to consider some of those stencils to help mine out....Great job...Flintcreek.

 

[rivercat]

dos the spray paint stay on the boat very well with it going in and out of the water

 

[270Handiman]

Hey man great job with the boat.. Could you tell me what colors you used on your stencils and what brand.. i want to do something very similar for my boat

Bassman,

The colors were pretty simple, with one exception. I used the Krylon camo in black, dark brown, light tan, and OD Green. These, of course, are available at Wal-Mart or wherever. The exception is the lighter brown color that you need. For this, I got the "Fall Brown" color from Styx River, who is the company that makes the stencils. They actually have all the colors you need, but it was just easier to get the others locally. So I ordered a case of the Fall Brown and didn't have to worry about that any more.

 

[270Handiman]

dos the spray paint stay on the boat very well with it going in and out of the water

Mine hasn't been in the water yet, but I have no doubt that it will stay. A buddy of mine did his several years ago the same way, and it still looks great today. Obviously, stumps and rocks can create scratches, but that goes the same with anything. Also, little girls on bikes who run into the boat with exposed steel on their handle bars can also create scratches #-o .

I have a good self-etching primer as a base coat, which I know is bonded to the boat. So all the paint has to do is bond with the primer. One thing I would not do is to put the boat in the water before the paint is completely cured, as that would be more likely to create problems. I don't mean dry, I mean cured, as in 7 to 10 days after applying.

 

[longjohn119]

It's too bad Krylon quit making that camo paint in 1 quart cans a couple of years back. I used it in '03 when I did my 1436 PolarKraft and the great thing about it (and this is generally true of all flat paints) is it sticks better because it's basically a primer (not an etching primer though), it'll go on thicker without running and it's easy to touch up and get it to blend without watersanding or buffing. I'd just wash it good and touch up the boat every winter with a spray can and it would look like I repainted it. Also a can of flat spray paint will cover more area than a can of glossy spray paint because a lot of what makes it glossy evaporates while the flat paint has much more pigment that doesn't. I use flat paints on my electronics projects for these reasons, the only drawback I can think of is decals and stickers don't go on very well although a little water sanding helps in that respect. I night fish a lot and have to navigate waterways with commercial traffic and lots of navigation buoys so a glossy paint of out of the question, it has too much night vision killing glare when using a spot light to spot the channel marking buoys. I wanted to use the canned Krylon and roll it on again but since they no longer make it I bought a gallon of Parker's Duck Boat Paint after a recommendation from a buddy. I guess I'll find out how good it is next week, it's not a true flat paint but a dull matte finish similar to what a lot of the manufacturers use.

 

[rivercat]

oh ok thanks and i like what u have done great job

 

[Tettle07]

I have been looking at those exact stencils for some time, thinking of puttin em on my duck boat (a 1436) and I wanted to know how easy they were to do, and if you ran into a problem with paint build up on them, stencil giving you problems, or something like that.....Since you are now experienced with the stencil kit please give the good, the bad, and the ugly low down on it..

 

[wolfmjc]

that is one sweet paint job! =D> =P~

 

[jj97blazer]

Hey man, what size CMC tilt/trim unit is that? I'm thinking about getting one.

 

[270Handiman]

Hey man, what size CMC tilt/trim unit is that? I'm thinking about getting one.

It's a PT-130, the big one. It works great in the driveway, but I haven't tested it on the water yet.

 

[270Handiman]

I have been looking at those exact stencils for some time, thinking of puttin em on my duck boat (a 1436) and I wanted to know how easy they were to do, and if you ran into a problem with paint build up on them, stencil giving you problems, or something like that.....Since you are now experienced with the stencil kit please give the good, the bad, and the ugly low down on it..

I think that they are a great product and they are not really “hard” to do, but basically it all comes down to how much effort you put into it. It will seem really easy right before you start, then you get really worried when you first start and it doesn’t look like you thought it would, then it turns into a nightmare when you get to your first rib or uneven surface. However, something happens as you keep going, and you actually start to figure out how it needs to be done to make it look like you want it to. If it gets really bad at some point, and you start thinking “maybe I should just forget this whole mess and just paint the boat back green”, then the best thing to do is quit for the day and get away from it. It will not seem as bad when you come back to it later. It gets easier as you go, and once you get one area looking good, it really makes you want to do good on the rest of the boat.

As far as the specific things you mentioned:

Paint Build-up: It happens, but it's not really a bad thing. The added weight of the build-up actually makes the stencils easier to use in my opinion. The stencils are cut from mylar, so to clean them you just let the paint dry and break it off in big chips by bending the stencils.

Problems with the Stencils: None, other than almost losing my sanity using them and almost getting a divorce because I spent so much time working on the boat.

If you decide to give it a try and need any advice, just let me know!

Good luck

 

[270Handiman]

Trying to get everyone caught up

I finished the camo on the inside of the stern:

 

[270Handiman]

Then I attacked the power tilt/trim unit with Mossy Oak Shadow Grass!

 

[270Handiman]

Then I attached it to the boat with 1/2" stainless bolts and locking nuts

 

[rook]

I am really impressed with your paint job. I made some custom stencils for my last rig but they still didnt hold a candle to yours. Bravo hoss. Looks great.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm located in Houston, TX.
Let me know when I can drop my boat off !

As already been said ... beautiful job.

If you don't mind, where'd your get your CMC T/T? How much?
I'm looking for used, but not much luck.