Boot Line Question

[Hamsandwich]

Ok all you C-22 Gurus I have a question, may be a stupid question, but I never painted a boat before so here goes. I am going to paint the bottomsides and then eventually the above the water line topsides. Do I roll the bottom coat(using awlgrip 545) up over the boot stripe or do I tape it off at the bottom edge of the stripe and just come up to it? And if I do roll up over it won't I lose where it is? I won't have any reference. Ideally what I would like to do is epoxy all at once the bottom and topsides all the way up to the rubrail, the bootline will be gone. Of course then going over the topsides with awlgrip white. If you get the boot line wrong it can really look awful, crooked or like your boat isn't sitting right in the water. Probably a simple solution, not sure why I am grinding on this. Any ideas?

 

[Chris Patterson]

Not a problem. Level your boat on stands, using a water level to ascertain that the line is level all the way around the boat. Drive a stake in the ground near the boat that you can leave untouched during the painting. Establish the line level on the stake by swinging your level around to it, and put an upper, and lower line level on the stake. Then you can easily re-establish exactly where the line used to be. It'll take two people. And beer.

 

[hewebb]

Buy abut 30 to 40 feet of clear plastic line. (1/4 or 3/8 inch vinyl works well) Fill with water with ends up until water is a few inches from the ends. Level boat in pitch & roll attitude using the water level in the clear hose. Place a bench mark somewhere that you can get to after the paint work is done and use to locate the stripe elevation. You can fix one end of the water line and walk all around the boat and use the water level to mark elevation, tape off and paint. (Old fashion laser level)

 

[agprice22]

Won't you be able to see the old stripe under the new paint? I imagine you'll see the outline of the old stripe as a raised line / band unless you totally sand it off , which is unnecessary. You could test it by painting a small swath of it. Then I would chalk it, so you can see where your boot stripe goes.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[agprice22]

You can also watch this youtube video by Sail Magazine:

http://youtu.be/-pw3VOs3wLg

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[watercolors II]

Former sign painter

Before you paint place a tape marker every 12 to 18 inches on your rub rail. Take a measurement from the bottom of the rub rail straight down along the hull to your present stripe, record each measurement at each tape rub rail marker.

Paint the hull.

Use the same measurements at each location to reestablish the waterline stripe.

 

[Ken Secor]

Or,,,

On a hot day, jump in the calm, shallow water surrounding the boat, use a pencil or magic marker - with the boat weighted as it would be normally be but sans crew, place dots every 6" or so - on the hull at that water line.

Pull the boat, add an inch upwards (to offset crew weight etc.) and connect the dots with masking tape.

Just make sure the boat is rigged with all the gear on board. Not to mention that port side stowage is in place - as is starboard stuff.

Unless of course you love the existing line's location. If it's good, simply tape to the existing line.

 

[kpgraci]

Gee, I just paint over it a bit, top and bottom, then when time to do the stripe mask just above and below what's showing. My stripe probably grows and shrinks each year but no one has complained yet.

 

[Ken Secor]

 

[Hamsandwich]

Thanks guys, some good ideas there. I think I gotter!

By the way KPGRACI is that awlgrip on your topsides there. I like the blue, looks sharp!

 

[Nrmlspeed]

I second that...The blue is sharp!

 

[kpgraci]

The PO went to Lowes and bought some marine paint they sold there, I was able to find it two years ago at Lowes, but now I can't. It's a darker blue than the sapphire blue commonly sold as topside paint.

I do like the classic look of the blue over red, but I don't think it makes me very visible on the water. at least judging by the number of people that try to run me over.

 

[Hamsandwich]

Thin boot line.

I was sanding the bottom paint off today and I touched the blue boot line with the sander and found something out. The blue boot line is just the blue undercoat of the white gel-coat on the rest of the boat. I know there is blue under the gel coat because I completely sanded down the rudder to bare glass and I used the blue to know when I was getting close to sanding through, it was a nice gauge. They just didn't put white gel-coat over the boot line. Under that thin layer of blue boot line is bare fiberglass. Seems a little cheesy. I have a hunch the blue stripe on the top sides below the rub rail is the same thing. No matter it's all getting epoxied and awlgripped. I guess that must mean it's a very original boat, nobody ever painted the bottom or the boot line after the factory.