Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

sterling L.P. topcoats and primers
MattZ
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Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by MattZ »

I'm still in the sanding and fairing stage but am beginning to think through priming and painting. I have a couple questions that folks here might be able to help with -
1) How much paint will I need? The boat is a beach catamaran, like a Hobie cat on steroids. There are 2 separate hulls, each hull is 23' long, 21 inches wide at the widest part, 3 1/2 feet high at the highest part, tapering to about 3' high in front and 2' high in back. I'll be painting it white, over white primer so color coverage shouldn't be an issue

2) I plan to paint the entire boat with Sterling LPU, rolled and tipped. It'll be dry sailed, won't spend more than a day in the water. The problem is that there is no seam, rub rail, lip or boot stripe, no natural break from the bottom, up to and including the topsides. The topsides are more or less flat, no features running front to rear that would that would constitute a break.
What I'm struggling with is how to paint this. Should I try to start at the front, go all the way around top to bottom, up the other side back to the top, moving back a couple feet at a time, or should I try and mask it somewhere and hope the line won't be noticeable afterwards?

Any advice is appreciated,

Thanks,
Matt

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Re: Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by tech_support »

The hull sounds small enough that you could try to paint in "rings" around the hull. Roll/tip in small rings from stem to stern.

A picture of the hull may inspire a better idea :wink:

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Re: Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by MattZ »

Yes, I should have thought to post pics. Here are a couple I just took with my phone. The quality's not great since it's in the shade on a sunny day. While it looks like there is a hull / deck seam, it's been faired smooth. The working in rings idea sounds like it would work, probably even better if I could hang it from the patio ceiling.

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Re: Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by ks8 »

Can you plan a trim detail that will overlap some sort of *break* line? :)

And can we see a photo of the entire structure put together? :D

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Re: Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by tech_support »

Its worth s try, if it doesn't work, you can always come back with a tape line for coat #2. I doubt you will need more than 2 coats if you working over a good primer base

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Re: Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by MattZ »

Thanks for the advice gents. Below is a pic of a different Stiletto 23, this guy has done a stellar paint job. I've never had mine together, it was on the trailer when I bought it. I figured I'd paint it before putting it together, how long could that possibly take, a few weeks? 3 months later I'm still fairing and sanding.
It's a pretty rare boat, way ahead of its time. There were about 60 of this model made from 84 to 89. In 84 and 85 they were made of Kevlar with a Nomex core, super light, strong and fast. There's no gel coat. There's a thin 'veil coat' of fiberglass over the Kevlar, then primer and paint. Mine's the Kevlar version. I painted a gel coated boat once and it wasn't bad. Sanding off the paint and as much primer as I dare, without getting into the Kevlar on this one is a chore. You have a mess on your hands if you hit Kevlar. It gets fuzzy and won't lay down.

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Re: Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by TomW »

Yea getting into the Kevlar is a real PIA. If you do you can cover it with a light weight 2-4oz fiberglass and fair that in. Once you get it all fair you will want to coat the fairing compound with an epoxy primer like that sold here. The System 3 Epoxy High Build Primer works very well under Sterling LPU.
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Re: Sterling LPU on Entire Boat

Post by tech_support »

thats a cool boat, there is one docked somewhere on Hilton Head, SC. Its a charter boat, and interestingly enough, its name is "Stiletto" :)

I would make liberal use of epoxy primer so that I was sure to not sand through.

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