Repairing Hunter 40 damage from Hurricane Matthew

May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
The smell of paint:

While Maria churns past (thankfully!) we have been enjoying really nice weather. Moderate temps, low (for here) humidity, light winds and the bugs aren't too bad. For the south, that is! Perfect weather to work outside, and that means paint.

I've been working mostly on the hull, a little at a time, to get ready for paint. As each little bit adds up next thing you know a big job seems closer and closer. With the weather cooperating I decided to try to get as far as I can before returning to Japan.

I split the hull prep into 4 main components. 1: finish fairing in the repairs on the port side and fix the small dings and dents caused by Matthew. 2: Remove the old cove stripe and boot stripe. 3: Strip the old paint where it's not good enough to paint over and prep the areas of old paint that are, and 4: Sand and prime, then break out the long board to level the hills and valleys. If I have time and good weather after all that, then paint!

Not much is picture worthy, bodywork is pretty dull and repetitive but I took some pics of the highlights. First up was to remove the old cove stripe. This was vinyl tape, way past its expiration date and in pretty sad shape. I found the best way to remove it was with paint stripper.

In the course of stripping I discovered some interesting things about the various paintjobs the boat has had over its life. First off, it was painted from the factory! I finally realized this when I discovered that Hunter molded the original cove stripe and boot stripe as gelcoat in the mold. But the (factory add-on) sugar scoop did not have this molded in, so the factory painted the boat to blend all this in. No problem, the factory paint was in pretty good shape (on the starboard side, that is!). The port side has seen some damage (as I have alluded to previously) and was repaired by an ape, then repainted by a gorilla!

Most of the port side paint got stripped as well, then I started on the boot stripe. All three of them! Lots of built up paint that took a ton of work to remove. On top of that the repainted boot stripe was grossly uneven port to starboard and had been raised from the factory stripe. I did find a few spots that had been poorly repaired along the waterline:



Not deep, probably a gouge that was fixed but the old filler had cracks in it. This is usually a symptom of overly thick filler application. I ground out the old filler and added a few layers of glass to build things up and re-faired.

Next up was fairing in the scratches on the hull. Most of them were only in the paint so as the paint was stripped and sanded the scratches disappeared. Not all though:



Sometimes you just gotta buoy your spirits and see some real progress, so I split the primer application into three parts: port side front 2/3rds, starboard side front 2/3rds and stern and sugar scoop. So, here's the port side in primer:



Work continues, stay tuned!

Cheers,

Mark
 
  • Like
Likes: Rick D

JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,331
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
Always great to see your updates, Mark.

Are you keeping a record of the time you are putting into the reconstruction? Be interesting to know what that amounts to when she's all back better than new. Of course, as a duck hunter, I've always refrained from calculating the "cost per duck" Some things you just don't want to quantify. ;-)
 
  • Like
Likes: nightowle
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
Always great to see your updates, Mark.

Are you keeping a record of the time you are putting into the reconstruction? Be interesting to know what that amounts to when she's all back better than new. Of course, as a duck hunter, I've always refrained from calculating the "cost per duck" Some things you just don't want to quantify. ;-)
I don't even want to think about the total time involved!

I am keeping a running total of moneys spent, with an eye on what is going in for repair vs. upgrades, or a split between. For example, I had intended at some point to repaint, so is the paint job truly a repair cost only? Another example is the motor mounts and engine bearers I replaced. The tear-down due to repair needs brought the engine bearers to the forefront but they were not damaged due to the storm. I'll post a rundown of costs incurred soon, but my labor can only be classified as LOL!

Mark
 
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
More primer:

I borrowed a set of work platforms from a friend - makes things much easier! Starboard 2/3rds in primer:



So now I needed to attack the sugar scoop. I've been procrastinating on this because I have been trying to come up with a better setup for the transom steps. The factory bent 1" stainless bars are ok as long as one is wearing shoes, but murder on the feet if barefoot!. My first thought was to fab up a set of box-style steps that run across the back, like my friend's Hylas. The more I thought about this, the more I looked at how much work was involved. Finally, I found a replacement set of bolt on step pads made from starboard. They are grooved to fit the 1" bar and secure via thru-bolts. Much easier!

With that resolved, time to deconstruct the hardware on the SS. Off came the rails, steps, vents, ladder and davits. Here's that pile of parts:



Looks kinda bare astern now:



I never liked the factory swim ladder so it will be replaced with a collapsible ladder. All the existing mounting points have been covered. I stripped the paint from the transom and insides of the SS and otherwise prepped the area for primer. The hardest part was removing the last of the multiple boot stripes underneath:



My neck still hurts!

Currently the entire hull has the first coat of primer, and today I got after it with the longboard. A little filler in a few spots and tomorrow she gets the second coat.

Cheers,

Mark
 
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
And . . . more primer:

First primer coat has been sanded. Second primer coat on:





I used gray to help me during long-boarding, so I know when I'm sanding through to the layer underneath. The gray sands easier as well and after this coat dried I long-boarded the entire port side and half the starboard side this afternoon. Tomorrow morning I'll finish the rest and roll on the next primer coat.

Cheers,

Mark
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
I guess it was the NEW Hunter 40 I saw on the water Sunday? I'm seeing lots of boats obviously here for the boat show this weekend.
 
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
I guess it was the NEW Hunter 40 I saw on the water Sunday? I'm seeing lots of boats obviously here for the boat show this weekend.
Gotta see pics (???). The MH40 is a completely different boat, everything new and changed. I think mine (eventually) will be better :)
 
  • Like
Likes: JRacer
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
And . . . sore muscles, then even more primer:

Lots of long-boarding to level things out:



I was pretty happy with things, very few low spots, most will be covered with the next primer coat. My shoulders are sore though!

After sanding came cleaning and prepping for the next coat. I wanted a color contrast for this coat too, so I mixed the remainder of the gallon of gray 2000E with the old leftover gallon of white 2000E for a lighter gray shade. This gives me two advantages - contrast for sanding and a lightened base for the final white 404 primer coat. The lighter the base, the less paint required for the final color coats.

Here's the color difference in the grays:



Done for the day:



One more day of hand sanding (hopefully the last day!) today.

Cheers,

Mark
 
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
Long-boarding done:

It may take a few days for my shoulders to recover, but I can retire the longboard!

So now it's down to final primer coats but before I can do that I have to establish the boot stripe location. I'm only carrying the (hull) primer and paint to the bottom of the boot stripe - below that will be barrier coat. As I mentioned earlier, there were multiple painted boot stripes and the original gelcoat stripe, but frankly I didn't know if I could trust any of them. Plus the most recent boot stripe was grossly uneven port to starboard. So, what to do?

After doing some measuring and lots of eye-balling, it looked like the boot stripe on the port side was closest to reality, so I dropped a tape measure from every other toe rail bolt to the bottom of the stripe (before I sanded it off!) and recorded those measurements. Before the final primer coats I need to tape off the stripe location, so I marked the previous measurements both port and starboard and taped them off. Step back and look, rip off the tape and scratch head! Really wavy. The hull curvature won't allow a straight tape pull. Back to the drawing board.

Next try - I had a roll of construction paper that I cut down to 12" and taped the edge to the marks all the way around the hull as I unrolled it. The idea being that the paper would hold a straight edge if it hung straight down:



Worked ok except we had to wait at times for the wind to die down. A lot of eyeballing and adjusting and finally it looked pretty close. Mark the edge with a pencil, take the paper off and tape to the line. More eyeballing and adjusting and finally the bottom edge of the boot stripe looks right.

I wanted to tape off the stripe in its entirety to make sure it was right, so I marked the upper edge (technique for that in the next post) and filled in the gaps to come up with this:





I taped beneath that and pulled the taped stripe and mixed up some more primer! Yay, getting close to real paint!

Cheers,

Mark
 
  • Like
Likes: Captmayhem
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
Shiny!!!!!

Topcoat . . . . . Done!









Due to the location of the boat (first row, right next to the office and the constant flow of sightseers) I couldn't spray the topcoat. I initially thought about having the guys move me to a better location but finally decided it wasn't worth the trouble. After the constant barrage of onlookers and sightseers I'm wondering if I should have moved! So the decision to roll & tip - except the tipping part was a colossal failure. More on that down the narrative.

After getting the multiple coats of primer sanded and leveled, I ran out of excuses and it was time. I had a pretty good weather window the last few days and went for it. I used Interlux Perfection two-part urethane - my painting expertise is with automotive so I don't have any basis for comparison with other marine paints - but the Interlux was easy to work with.

Other materials - velour rollers. Recommended by our resident contract painter here and a great choice with one possible caveat - the rollers don't hold much paint and have a really short nap - which might have been the source of the tipping problems. For the life of me I could not get a technique down with the brush. Streaks, lines and generally poor results no matter what brush I used. I tried several different brush types and all of them had the same results. So I bagged the tipping part altogether and just rolled the paint.

Interestingly, as I was trying to diagnose the problem, one of the guys here posited that perhaps the paint was going on so thin that there wasn't enough paint being laid down to tip. Sounds as good an explanation to me as any other than operator error!

One of the nice things about the paint is that there was a window for overcoating without needing to sand between coats so I took advantage of that. I rolled on the first coat in the afternoon and the second the next morning (last Thurs/Fri). Saturday morning I did a light scuff/sand over the whole boat to knock out the bugs and (only two!) small runs and Saturday afternoon rolled on the third coat. Yesterday morning the fourth and final coat went on. I'm pretty happy with it and pleasantly surprised at the results!

Next up - a day of rest (and rain!) then tomorrow I'll paint the bootstripe. Wednesday for the cove stripe, then lettering when I find a graphics place that an make some stencils.

Cheers,

Mark
 
Sep 11, 2011
390
Hunter 41AC Bayfield WI, Lake Superior
Mark looks great. Curious how much paint was used, and how much time per coat? Thanks
 
Oct 29, 2016
1,915
Hunter 41 DS Port Huron
This has to be the all time most interesting vain of documented information on a boat rebuild I have ever seen, well done sir you certainly have a bag full of talent for both performing the work and then documenting the work!
 
  • Like
Likes: meb135

JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,331
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
More great work, Mark!

So, you going to rename it "Survivor" ? ;-)
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Shiny!!!!!

... which might have been the source of the tipping problems. For the life of me I could not get a technique down with the brush. Streaks, lines and generally poor results no matter what brush I used. I tried several different brush types and all of them had the same results. So I bagged the tipping part altogether and just rolled the paint.

Interestingly, as I was trying to diagnose the problem, one of the guys here posited that perhaps the paint was going on so thin that there wasn't enough paint being laid down to tip. Sounds as good an explanation to me as any other than operator error!...
Mark
Beautiful job Mark. I have roll and tipped with both Brightside and Perfection and they are both very user friendly. Were you painting by your self or with a helper (or 2)? I found that I could not get any good results with the tipping when working alone. I then tried it with my wife tipping right behind the final roll and it worked much better. I basically found that the time that it takes to set down the roller and pick up the brush was too long.
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Shiny!!!!!
...Wednesday for the cove stripe, then lettering when I find a graphics place that an make some stencils.
Cheers,
Mark
Have you thought about vinyl graphics? My boat has had "Papillon" on both sides since before I got her in 1998 and they still look great.
 
May 8, 2013
629
Hunter 40 Dataw Island, SC
This has to be the all time most interesting vain of documented information on a boat rebuild I have ever seen, well done sir you certainly have a bag full of talent for both performing the work and then documenting the work!
Thanks!!