Larry, it looks good.  Are you going to put another coat of paint on?

It really makes the bow look aggressive!

Larry, I noticed a decided lack of steel wool mentioned both on this forum and the CLC manuals.  When I asked I was told that it can leave behind little bits of steel that rust.  I steel wooled all the varnish work on my SOF and approaching one year with no troubles.  I did use tack rags.

That said, I am going to try the sand paper route on my WD12 and then decide which on my C18.  Besides, I have to try out the new RO sander.

P.S. love the paint skeme, reminds me of the camo patern on WW2 warships, they tried to make them look shorter to throw off the torpedo aiming, good thing we do not have to worry about that ;)  Hope you enjoy your creation!

Jeff,

Only going with the two coats of paint, for now.  Re-taping that beast isn't something I'd like to do over... at least until next summer, maybe!  And yeah, after I pealed all the tape off, it looked kinda "racey!"

David,

I always avoided steel wool in my wood projects for exactly that reason.  I'm just soooo over sanding.   I may opt for a 320 wet-sand between coats, but I'm worried about sanding those thin stripes and getting a bunch of dust on the clear wood.  Still thinking.....

Thanks for the compliments, I'm looking forward to launch-day!

Larry

Larry nice paint job -what color green did you use? Is it standard practice to varnish over the paint ? Is this done so that you do not have to mask off the paint or are their oyher reasons?---Thanks CZ

CZ,

The paint is the "Sea Green" Interlux that CLC sells.  Nice, a little lighter than I anticipated, but still a very nice green.

I'm varnishing over for exactly the reason you state... ain't tapin' any more on that boat!  Besides, for the bow and stern, I'll extend the varnish down under for about 2 feet; that'll give me 3 more coats of abrasion resistance, if nothing else.

More pics to follow, hopefully soon!

Thanks for the compliments,

Larry

Larry, although I understand your reluctance to continue taping, I'd caution against varnishing over paint.  Now, my experience is on ocean-going sailboats, not kayaks, but typically you will be refinishing your varnish more often then you will be repainting.  The other issue is that you will notice a yellow hue to your green paint, especially after several years in the sun.  

My $.02 is that the extra 45 minutes it will take to tape off the paint is going to save you time and refinishing headaches down the road.  Plus, that blue tape can stay on for at least 7 days without leaving a residue... which was enough time for me to put 6 coats of varnish on my deck, and have a nice crisp line with no edge pull-out.  

Either way you'll have yourself a nice looking boat.

~Chris 

Chris,

I appreciate your advice (seriously), but I'm a little confused.  If I tape the paint seams, I have to be extremely careful when I re-finish the varnish and/or paint (sanding, taping, etc.).  If I run the varnish over the paint I can simply lightly sand the varnish and re-varnish.  I understand about the yellow heue, but that seams more acceptable than having to refinish both the paint and the varnish, separately... (I'm guessing the paint will need touching up as often as the varnish, due to scratches, fading, etc.). 

This leaves mean in a quandry, as I figured it would be easy at this point to just rough up the paint with steel wool (or wet sanding) and varnish away, but now I'm thinking I've got a lot more work ahead of me.

Thanks for the tips/advice, I'll definitely take it under advisement before moving forward!

Larry

Larry,

 You bring up a good point about having to tape all the seams when it comes time for refinishing.   I guess I was thinking that if you only needed to strip all the varnish down without repainting, it may be difficult to not sand into the paint.  If you feel as though you'll be repainting down the road too (and I guess that's inevitable with beach landings and all) then it wouldn't be an issue.  Heck, even as I'm putting the finishing coats of varnishing on my 16, I'm thinking that I should have painted the hull instead.  My plan is that in a few years when I need to strip down varnish in order to fix the scratches and gouges, I'll go the paint or graphite route. 

Like I said, either way you will have a gorgeous boat when you get 'er done!

~Chris