Starr Refit Blog #11 – Weeks 13-16
Weeks of December 20-January 10 – We are starting to see Results . . .
We are starting to see the results of hundreds of hours of backbreaking work. The fairing is mostly completed. Last weekend APM (All Points Marine) sprayed on the epoxy high-build primer; we are using AwlGrip’s Ultra Build.
http://www.awlgrip.com/products/primers/ultra-build-epoxy-primer.aspx
This high-build primer goes on thick (28mil), and then will be sanded down for the finished surface.
High-Build Primer ready to sand to as “smooth as silk”
Fred Jahaske, one hard working guy who is happy to be moving onto the painting stage
I stewed over what bottom paint to use, and finally decided to use AkzoNobel’s International Commercial Paint, rather than their Yacht Paint (which they sell under the name of Interlux). We used the international Interspeed bottom paint when we last did the bottom, two years ago in Honolulu and that worked OK.
Our International Paint Rep suggested we get advice regarding the particulars in applying International’s commercial bottom paint from Taylor Pennock. Taylor has applied this bottom paint on hundreds of fish boats, and knows what to do and what not to do. It is great to have experts like Taylor who freely share their knowledge.
Dana consulting with Pacific Fishermen’s (Pac Fish) Dock Master and Paint expert Taylor Pennock
We sprayed the barrier coat using 15 gallons of Intershield 300-Bronze at a thickness of 8-10 mil wet, which dries to about 5-6mil dry. We followed that with 15 gallons of Intershield-Aluminum. (I mil is equal to 0.0254mm, or 0.001 inch.)
Wet Film Thickness Gauge
Second layer of epoxy barrier coat Aluminum.
http://www.international-pc.com/PDS/2407-P-eng-A4.pdf Immediately after applying the Intershield 300-Aluminum, while the epoxy was still thumbprint tacky, we applied 15 gallons of Interspeed 640-Red at 10-12 mil., followed the next day by 15 gallons of Interspeed 642-Black, again at 10-12 mil wet thickness. The dry thickness of each coat is about 8 mil. We will wait a few days for the paint solvents to vent off, and then we will apply the final 15 gallons of Interspeed 641-Blue.
Dana is very, very happy that he is mostly done with the dusty grinding and is finally applying paint.
The first coat of Interspeed BRA 640 red
The second coat of Interspeed BRA 642 Black
So there you have it: Bronze followed by Aluminum for the barrier coat , followed by antifouling in Black and Red, and finally the top coat will be Blue.
http://www.international-marine.com/products/info/interspeed-640.aspx Inside in the Wheelhouse Tom Moore is installing box after box of new electronic gear. Our radar and navigation systems are all “Black Box” but we are using off the shelf NEC monitors, the brains are still big boxes that are taking a lot of space under the dash.
In the Engine Room, Dave Schmidt and I opened the port fuel tank and we were assuming that we would be opening all four fuel tanks and would have to climb into them to clean them. I had last opened and cleaned the tanks in 2009, and at that time they were like a dirty bathtub that a muddy football player bathed in for a year without ever cleaning up after himself.
Starr’s fuel tank in 2009
What we found this week was a very clean tank where a wipe-down produced nothing more than a dirty hand towel.
Port tank access hatch
The port tank is 17 feet long
Dave climbing out of a very clean tank
Up topside Sharry is going over the new wallpaper selections with Richard Liepelt.
Sharry and Richard. “Humm…I think this might work!”
We have retained Richard to help us with our finishes. Richard is VP of Operations at Citadel Marine Center in Tacoma; Kevin Jaffe, owner of Marama, a Delta 124 Full Displacement Expedition Trideck, referred Richard to us. SBMC was Marama’s Homeport during the winter of last year.
http://www.deltamarine.com/PR/Megayachts%20Marama.pdf Marama has the finest paint job that I have ever seen on a yacht, and Richard Liepelt was Kevin’s Project and Paint Manager on his last three boats, including Marama. Diamond Painting painted Marama at Delta Marine. We wanted to have our work done at Delta by Diamond, and we were on their schedule to paint in 2015, but we decided that the paint was deteriorating rapidly in the tropical sun of Hawaii and we needed to do it sooner, rather than later. Delta and Diamond were both booked out over a year on their paint commitments, so we figured out how to get it done NOW. We told Richard that we wanted paint quality very close to what they achieved on Marama, but we didn’t want to wait another year. Richard said he had just the guy to produce the quality that we are after, and introduced us to Dana Lebo and his partner Bill Kennedy at All Points Marine.
Richard Liepelt, Dana and me
Back in the Engine Room, I’m getting hydraulic layout advice from Paul Hoffman, owner of Pacific Marine Hydraulics.
Paul Hoffman in Starr’s ER
I’ve mentioned Paul before and I’m going to again say that Paul is probably the best hydraulic stainless tube guy in the Pacific Northwest!
Paul Hoffman on a Combination Seiner next to his work
Paul commented on our hoses being over 5-years old. On some of the boats Paul works on, like Starbound, the owners have their hydraulic hoses replaced every 5 years.
Starbound, a 240′ Catcher-Processor owned by Aleutian Spray Fisheries.
Paul does all of Starbound’s hyraulic work
The dates on our hoses read that they were manufactured in the first quarter of 2008.
Our hydraulic hoses manufacture date says 1st quarter 2008 (1Q08)
Speaking of when things were manufactured:
Where and when was our Cummins NTA 855 main engine built?
The label on the engine says the engine was manufactured in 1996.
Cummins Mfg Label in Engine frame
Dave was under the engine this Friday and looked up to the bottom of the Cummins oil pan and here is what he found.
Stamped on the bottom of the oil pan of the engine: Made In Japan 1936
It’s a conundrum!!!!
There has to be an interesting story about this; I wonder how to find out what it means?
Does anyone have any ideas?
AND THE WORK GOES ON:
This week we will be installing the wheelhouse cowling, sealing up the fuel tanks, and prepping the exterior hull for it’s primer coat of paint.
DON
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