Painting My Plywood Trailer Sailor

[reiner]

I fitted a heavier lead keel to my plywood boat and now need to paint the hull.
After reading lots of stuff about painting boats I found this article which makes a lot of sense to me. A very interesting story and food for thought I think.How To Paint A Wooden Boat

cheers
Reiner

[Boracay]

I'm assuming that you have a Scuffie 16, a fine looking boat.

I built a plywood 21'6" centreboarder a while ago.
I had a look at the article you linked to and what he's written is good.
The following is my opinion and must be checked by contacting the designer or their agent.

Assuming that you have sanded back the original paint to pretty close to bare wood:-
* Plywood is particularly susceptible to delaminating and rot if water gets into it's edge. If your boat was not built using the WEST system or similar then a major repaint is a good time to address this.
My personal feeling is that one of the rotproofing saturating epoxys needs to be brushed into every edge and cranny, using multiple applications until you are quite certain that no bare wood will ever be exposed to water.
I'd suggest following that up with an epoxy putty so that all is smooth.
* Others may have different opinions but for mine unless weight is an issue I'd go for a layer of epoxy fibreglass over the cabintop, deck and hull. Heavier fibreglass cloth could give a rougher finish on the deck and cabintop, while lighter cloth that will give a smooth finsh when painted may suit the hull. You may need to remove the ballast and centreboard to do this, and it is a big job, but doing it could considerably extend the lifespan of your boat.
* The interior will also need attention unless it is in excellent condition. Again multiple coats of penetrating epoxy (please pay particular attention to all safety instructions when working with solvents in a confined space) and I'd suggest going with one or more good coats of unthinned epoxy resin anywhere that water could pool. Topcoating to protect the epoxy from sunlight is necessary here. If the woodwork is already clear finished a UV protected varnish would look nice.
* Some hardware store paints are of excellent quality, but it is hard to know this from the label or customer service. Marine paints of a reputable brand are not much more expensive than quality household paint and come with an assurance of quality and consistency.
My opinion again is that two pack polyurethanes are not necessary for a good finish and that single packs are much easier and safer.

[reiner]

Yes it is a Sruffie 16. We love it and bought it sec hand from a very fussy private builder. The only thing he didn't do was putting glass tape along the seems.
After hitting some big waves I found a very small crack about 2ft long on one side. So I fixed that problem and painted it yellow again.
While I had it upside down I thought this would be a good time to fit a lead keel to the existing one. I had the keel made in a foundry up north ( Mathilda great people). I raised the trailer about 3 inches to accommodate for the bigger keel.
All we need now finish the paint job and do the test sail.
We bought H28 but decided to keep Scruffie. It is just to good and looks beautiful. Derek( and Annette) the designer has been great in helping us to set it up right and get things sorted.
Cheers
Reiner