# Painting Hull above waterline with Interlux Perfection



## bamachem (Oct 2, 2007)

I'm going to go ahead and start this thread now and document my progress and I prep and paint my 1994 Cape Horn 17 over the next couple weeks.



The gel coat is oxidized to a dull finish, but not beyond restoration. It's been in the sun for years and it shows. I originally just planned on removing the weathered and scratched decals, buff the gel coat to a nice gloss, then replace the stickers. However, once I started pulling some of them off, it was obvious that the gel coat needed some serious attention. The problem was that the areas below the stickers was pristine and the original thickness. Where there were no stickers - exposed gel coat - the sun and salt water had oxidized it enough to erode to a thinner consistency. Therefore, when I removed the stickers, there was a shiny raised portion remaining that was simply good material versus the surrounding that had worn over the years. 



The only way to "fix" this was to sand everything down to one level and then refinish by either wet-sanding and buffing or painting. I decided to go with a new color since I was already going to have to paint, and I chose Fighting Lady Yellow for several reasons. First, it's a nice color and gives some good contrast to the surrounding water for visibility by other boat operators. The older cape horn's didn't offer any colored gel coats, so adding a splash of color "updates" the look by at least 10-years. To be honest, once sanded, it's easier to prime and paint that it would be to wet sand down to a 1500-grit then polish with a buffer. Besides, once you paint, then that particular area requires much less maintenance than bare gel coat.



So, the decision to paint was easy. Picking the paint was not. I did tons of research and finally decided on Interlux Perfection based mostly on the reviews I read online as well as before/after pics of various projects. I was thinking of originally going with the Interlux Brightside, but after reading that it was a soft paint that easily scratched and/or chipped, I quickly ruled it out and pursued a tough-as-nails paint that would be durable and last at least 5 years without re-coating. 



I ended up ordering 2qts of Fighting Lady Yellow Perfection paint, 1qt of the 2333 thinner, and the matching Interlux primer all from http://www.wholesalemarine.com/ for $153 shipped. The paint is good for 260 sq.ft. per half-gallon when rolled. I figure that I have about 60 sq.ft. of surface that I want to cover. Would a quart have done the job? Probably. However, I'm going to also use some of the paint to tint the primer (better color depth), and I didn't want to run out w/ an incomplete job. 



Rolling and tipping with be my application method utilizing foam rollers like so many others have used with good results. 





OK, on to the progress pics:



I used my power washer to strip the vinyl stickers off the hull. 2600 PSI with a 0* Tip and it still took quite a while. After that, I hit the hull with a 3m foam sanding pad in "medium" grit, which is about 200-ish. I had to spend quite a bit of time where the "CAPE HORN" stickers were as well as the former FL registration numbers up front. I will have to go back and block-sand those areas w/ some 220 to get them perfectly smooth, but it's a start for now. I left my AL registration intact so that I can still put it on the water next weekend and do some fishing. After that, those numbers will be coming off for the final prep before priming and painting the first weekend of May.


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## xicablo (Dec 10, 2008)

Keep updating with your progress . . . I'm about to start a similar project and will be most interested with your results . . . 

Thanks.

Matt.


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