re-painting a mirror dingy

[oldbones]

bit of a beginner in this area.....

bought last year for my kids, the eldest one (okay, me) spent many a happy hour over the warm times scooting across the water in the fun mirror dingy. i feel i now owe the old girl a favour as what appears to be white house paint is well cracked and peeling off the hull.
(great news - no rot, mold etc)

i'm not necessarily after a cosmetic job and would preffer a solid and robust finish given the ongoing hammering it's likely to endure. what i dont want is to apply a coating eg varnish where water will soon "get behind" it and cause unsightly crazing (and hard yakka re-sanding later!). not sure whether an oil is appropriate. epoxy ??

any and all suggestions on preparation and subsequent coating(s) appreciated.

[Daddles]

Use a heat gun and scraper to get the old paint off. Having done that job to a similar sized dinghy and having tried a heap of options, the heat gun was far and away the best option.

With a new build, many people recommend coating with epoxy first and the painting or varnishing over the top. The problem with an old boat is that you will not get the timber dry and will trap moisture below the epoxy so you are probably best served by repainting with good quality enamel or varnish. That'd be my tip anyway. Now I'll sit back and wait for Mik to come along and contradict me :D

Richard

[onthebeachalone]

Before he does...

Having fixed up two Mirror dinghys (most recently a Mirror 16), I agree. A heat gun is by far the easiest way to get off old paint, glue and epoxy.

The difficult part is finding and fixing what is going on in the under-seat bouancy compartments. It is all taped together and, if the boat is old and amateur built. May not be very strong.

On our little Mirror we have noticed that, where the front of the seat meets the hull bottom it is beginning to move. Clearly the tape is separating from the plywood.

I'll have to get in there and sort it out.

[meerkat]

hi,

i'm in the process of doing up a cadet mk2 http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=29435

The biggest thing I had to decide on was is it worth putting a heap of work into it or not. Will a quick slap of whatever do or not. Once I worked that out the rest of the decisions were pretty straight forward.

Have a look at miks site, he explains a few things worth knowing.

Oh, and if you are using a heat gun (which worked great for me) make sure you are wearing the approriate safety gear coz burning paint will shorten your life.

Andrew

[mat]

Agree with the heat gun - the only way to go but you will need to only use just enough heat otherwise you will burn the ply. As previously suggested you will encounter loose fibreglass tape and possble previous repairs. You will need to learn the art of fibreglassing also.
Use a proper marine enamel after doing all the hard yards with the preparation. Inside you can use a proprietary paint product with particulate matter (not sure if it is sand) to provide a bit of grip for the feet.

[onthebeachalone]

Another tool we have found great is a companion to the heat gun is a Skarsten scraper. The (UK based) manufacturer has gone out of business, but there are still a few floating around in retail shops and garage sales.

By the way, have you read Jack deCrow?

[jmk89]

Jack de Crow is a great read - a guy who set off to sail down an English canal in a Mirror dinghy and who just kept going. He sailed down the Thames, crossed the English Channel and then sailed across Europe to the Black Sea. (He is now a teacher in Melbourne). Throughly recommended.

[Boatmik]

Hey Richard,

What you probably don't realise is that I always partially agree with you!
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If not using epoxy to recoat.

Hot air gun - perfecto. But if you want to preserve the integrity of the glass tape I would keep the heat an inch or so away from the tape.

Fried resin doesn't work particularly well in any way at all.

Just sand the tape areas to remove most of the paint - don't try to remove ALL the paint or you will have removed too much glass!
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If using epoxy to recoat
ADVANTAGES - It will reduce maintenance significantly - saves money
DISADVANTAGES - Initial Cost - though there is not much extra labour if it is applied wet-on-wet in one process.
COUNTERINDICATIONS - if the ply is badly checked - ie top veneer cracking - over a significant proportion of surface - it will continue to check even with epoxy over the top. You can stop it with some very light glass (<2oz woven cloth - NOT CHOPPED STRAND MATT - heavy and weak)

it is probably worth removing the glass tape too (from one side of each join at a time! The glass is all that holds a Mirror together!) as it can be replaced with very little labour when the boat is coated with epoxy.
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Which way to go
It depends on the boat and yourself.

There are two logical ways to restore the boat
Minimally - just get it going with as little work and expenditure as possible.
More than that - invest in the boat to keep maintenance down to a minimum in future.

Perhaps there is an in between course of just doing the minimum now and see how the boat fits into your lifestyle - if it is frequently used then it is worth spending more after you have owned it for a year - or to look at getting a different boat if it is not quite suitable.
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Odd thoughts

If the boat is worth money - considering epoxying - but if you have bought a $500 mirror and repaint it you will almost certainly get your $500 back after a couple of years of use. Don't overcapitalize in any way. Only replace cheap things like stainless steel rigging and paint. Get second hand sails from the racing guys if they are needed at all.

If the boat is going to be kept in the long term - I would strongly recommend epoxy.

If you want to use the boat now - if the boat is a goiing concern - why mess with it too much - a lick of paint and use it rather than start taking it to bits and making it into a longer project than it needs to be.

If the glass tape needs replacing - I would probably epoxy - as you really are delving into the nuts and bolts of the boat anyhow.

If you are the sort of person who enjoys having a project to do - consider epoxy.

There is quite a bit of relevant info in my FAQ
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~storerm/Faq/faqindex.html

Also read the article there about sailing fast without too much effort - it gives an example of a boat I did a minimal restore on so I could go racing.

Best Regards
Michael