Alright, here we go...

[fool4fish1226]

Man those are some really clean lines!!!!!! The boat is lookin good =D>

 

[MRichardson]

Rest of the exterior paint came in last week. Parker's Duck Boat Tan for the outside, Steelflex for the bottom. Spent about an hour taping, prepping, 10 minutes painting, then another 45 minutes cleaning up. The Parker's is solvent-based, so wait time is loooonnnng between stints.

The new (and final) color:

It goes on real well. I used an airless sprayer and and found it worked fine, as long as you DO NOT LET THE PAINT LEVEL GET LOW!

One side done. Took about 3 minutes. Already very happy with the color.

After about an hour of drying, it's already looking nice and flat.

Several more coats during the week, and I'll be putting on the Steelflex next weekend.

 

[MRichardson]

Steelflex is done.

 

[MRichardson]

Color came out perfect. I picked up some brown tint at West Marine.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Paint/Steelflex turned out great =D> Now let the fun begin

 

[arkansasnative]

Looks great! What is that oval riveted to the side for? Was it a logo or a patch or something?

 

[user 7806]

Looking really good

 

[MRichardson]

Looks great! What is that oval riveted to the side for? Was it a logo or a patch or something?

Yep, that was a logo. I'm looking for a replacement decal, but might just do a stencil.

Another view:

 

[bigwave]

Awesome paint job. =D>

 

[JasonLester]

That wouldn't have been my choice for colors....but I really like it. I jus never would have thought it would turn out that nice with those colors....

Way to Go!!

=D>

 

[Gators5220]

Nice start with the paint! =D>

 

[MRichardson]

Here's a few more taken last weekend. Primer, then application of the Tuff Coat.

I can't decide whether to Tuff Coat the rails, or leave them smooth. I'm leaning toward the latter.
The 2nd coat really makes it look a lot better, especially in the seams and places where the benches meet the floor/sides.

 

[Jdholmes]

I would probably vote for leaving the rails smooth as well. Of course this is personal preference - I would only have done the floor in it.

Main thing is that it suites you and you are happy being out in it.

Thumbs up.

 

[MRichardson]

Thanks! Yeah, that's all I needed to hear. Smooth it is!

After I began the application, I too wished I'd just done the floor. But I wanted teh rubberized stuff on the insides, the sides of the benches - anything that could use some sound-dampening. After I add the decks, most of the inside won't be visible. But I'm planning on making the decks simple and easy to put in/out, so it's gotta be there under them.

 

[Jdholmes]

I would probably vote for leaving the rails smooth as well. Of course this is personal preference - I would only have done the floor in it.

Main thing is that it suites you and you are happy being out in it.

Thumbs up.

 

[MRichardson]

Well, from May all thru the summer, I postponed further work because every free moment I got with this thing I went fishing. Then fall/winter came and made the mistake of taking up duck hunting. But, season's nearly over so I have a couple months and will put in some decks, a tiller extension and a grab rail to perfect it for fishing this summer.

Here's what she looks like w/the transom completed (and before I banged up the pretty paint job duck hunting) and engine. Speaking of engines, this boat is fast but porpoises badly when it's just me at the tiller. The battery and gas is all up front, still porpoises. Does the engine look awfully low in this photo? I'm thinking of putting a spacer in to raise it 1.5" to 2" and take it for a test run and see if that improves performance. Already fiddled with the trim settings.

I just copied the shape of the old transom. Perhaps the othe motor mounted differently and got the cav plate higher. Or may since it was a smaller motor it didn't have the same effect. If I like how it runs with the spacer I'll just make a new transom that goes straight across the stern instead of with the notch that it's always had.

 

[JMichael]

The motor looks very low to me. It looks like you have a short transom and a long shaft motor.

 

[johnnybassboat]

Yup motor looks a bit low to me too. raise it up a couple of inches will make a difference I bet. that little boat should really move with that motor hung on back good luck

 

[MRichardson]

The motor looks very low to me. It looks like you have a short transom and a long shaft motor.

Yeah, it does look that way in this pic. But I measured the shaft length of the motor and it is definitely 15". I think the angle of the boat/way it's parked on the trailer, plus the tiny low cutout in the transom exaggerates the appearance. Also note that the bottom of the boat is couple inches lower than the bottom of the wooden transom piece.. that also makes it appear at first glance to be even lower.

But even so, the cav plate is definitely lower than the bottom of the boat, and from what I've gathered here it should be even with it or slightly higher if anything.

Here's a better angle:

Cav plate is a couple inches lower than bottom of hull.

Hot damn, I was gettin 29mph as-is. This should put me over the 30mph mark for sure!

 

[JMichael]

Ah yes, it does look closer in these pics. My motor was a little low when I got my boat and raising it just 1" made enough of a difference that I could tell it.