Primer/Filler

[thegammas]

Greetings all,

I am doing some maintenance on the bottom of my Sea Lancer. There is an area where the plywood is....checked. Meaning, it is not delaminating, but there are small checks in the top layer. I sanded down to the wood to check it out (no pun intended), and the wood is solid. So I want to first prime with a nice material that will fill the checks. They are not severe enough to warrant filling with Smiths Fill it or other putty.

Note that in the next season or two I plan to roll the boat and do a complete outer hull refinish. Strip, pop all the old putty bungs, re-putty, CPES, re-putty, primer, paint etc etc. SO! What I need is a good primer that will fill the checks and last me a few season minimum.

Any suggestions?

[W Guy]

Pete,
I'm eager to hear the answers to your questions because I just bought a '60 Sea Coaster that seems to be solid, but it would be good to know just what the proper hull refinishing procedure is in case I (she) needs it.
Verne

PS: Ill send you some photos.

[thegammas]

Well - I visited West Marine and another (far better) Marine shop in my area (easternmarine - find them at easternmarine.com) and neither had anything for my boat. All both places had were primers meant for plastic boats, and all the various expoxy systems

So, since I was repairing a spot of delamination and some popped bug holes with my Smith's Fill-it, I applied a very thin coat to the checked areas and then scraped it off back down to the wood leaving only the checked areas filled. With a few good coats of bottom paint I'm comfortable there will be no more damage or infiltration.

Note thought that I consider this a two, three season fix. When I roll it, I'll do it up right with CPES, assuming I don't end up replacing the garboard panels all together (in which case I'd use CPES anyway....)

I'll let you now how it works out.