Final Painting

[Searay]

I'm ready to apply the final coat of paint to my restored OT 50 lb and I noticed in Rollin Thurlow's book that he puts on the outter gunwales and masks them so the bottom surface is painted rather than varnished. My gunwales are mahogany and I was planning to apply them after the canvas is painted.
Any recommendations from others?

Searay

 

[Steve Ambrose]

I did my first one as Rollin suggests but I've gone to more of a rounded edge that doesn't work well as a transition between paint and varnish. I still install the varnished gunwales prior to the final paint coat to avoid any chance of scratching the paint but I tape them off leaving about 1/8" to receive paint and seal the joint between the gunwale and canvas. Nice clean look, seals the joint, and more mahogany showing.

I pre-varnish with 2-3 coats to seal the gunwales, all but the top since it gets sanded down. Sand the tops flush, and apply several more coats to the rails and rib tips, wipe any excess off the paint. Once the rails dry I lightly sand any remaining varnish that I didn't get wiped off the paint, tape the gunwales as described above and apply the final paint.

 

[Searay]

Thanks for the info. the method described sounds like the path I'll be taking.

Regards,
Seray

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

Final painting? Are you planning to croak soon? Ain't no such thing as final painting, but that's part of the fun of the whole thing. The masking and little bit of a painted transition sounds good to me if you want maximum mahogany showing. I think the main advantage of the full-painted underside is probably UV protection (and eventually water protection) for boats that spend a lot of storage time outside and upside down. Paint is a far, far better UV blocker than varnish is. It will chalk and deteriorate somewhat on the surface, but usually stays pretty solid underneath and continues to do its job. Varnish deteriorates all the way through as the UV absorbers eventually break down and then fails all the way down to bare wood. Luckily, most of us store our boats pretty carefully (my dog gets more weather than my canoes do) so it's pretty safe to do whatever you like the looks of best.