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Painting a 54' Donzi Sportfish

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by DOCKMASTER, Dec 12, 2022.

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  1. wdrzal

    wdrzal Senior Member

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    Thats what I was thinking .
    cleanslate likes this.
  2. Scallywag

    Scallywag Member

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    Additionally... the last 10% of a project takes 90% of the effort!
  3. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    The hardest part of painting this boat was making the tent and scaffolding.
    Then, taking it down with out a scratch on the boat.
    Remembering this is in Alaska, I would think the next hardest part is getting out of a warm bed.

    Having dealt with auto body repair/paint, house painting, boat painting and even (UG) varnishing;
    The hardest part is doing what your not good at.

    The body man has done most of just body work his life, no wreck is difficult to smooth out.
    The better synthetic tech can re-core, re-shape and smooth out any surface.
    The experienced tape/paper guy can cover the Eiffel Tower in a day perfectly.
    The painter shoots / rolls-tips a masterpiece.
    The varnisher, Well he's a nut case but still does wonderful work as had, most of his life.

    Every part takes hours. It goes by easily when you know what you are doing.
    Skill set, mind set, ethics.
    I think a great crew was found here. Found some extra boo boos, overcame all and never slowed down.

    Just like my favorite job, Arm Chair Quarterbacking over my keyboard, I can type aweigh for hours..:cool::cool:
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2023
    alvareza and unsinker like this.
  4. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    The hardest part of painting this boat was making the tent and scaffolding.

    Kind of hard for me to say that given it is inside a heated building. The tent is for dust control and so we can bring the heat up higher than the whole building. I'm fortunate to have access to this type of facility.

    I'm headed up there again tomorrow and will try to get progress photos.
    gr8trn and cleanslate like this.
  5. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    I couldn't get any real meaningful photos last Friday as nearly everything is covered. The only thing I could get was the front of the house which is now in final primer and ready for 1st color coat. The painters say they will be done in the next few days and all the protections and covering will start to come off. Once that happens I can hopefully get some better pictures.

    FWD House in Final Primer.jpg
  6. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Wow, even with just primer, that looks great.
  7. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Reminds me of one of my first cars. Never got to paint it for a couple of years. Kept getting dings, I'd fix it, and prime with da ole red/brown primer of that time.
    Finally gave up on a final paint job.
    Da Bondo Bomber did run and ride great. People would ask about the custom paint. Oh, new convertable white top did help it look better.
  8. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    Agreed!

    Btw, this last photo makes me even more convinced of what I already suggested in post #13:
    Why not keep the front windscreen mask in the same colour of the rest of the boat, rather than dark blue?
  9. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    To each his own but that sounds - Boring! :):) I prefer a the color to give it some pop. I really like the way the dark blue ties in to the windows on the side. The blue is carried around into the window post and insets. Then the blue stripe on the top and the boot top tie it all together. Just my opinion. But heck, since it's my boat and I'm paying for it, I guess my opinion is the one that counts :);)
    JadePanama and chesapeake46 like this.
  10. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Something about that mask lots of folk like.
    It works for me both ways.
    I would enjoy a lil mod to a mask one day, like a Racoon. Ha
  11. Donzi 54

    Donzi 54 Member

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    I like the painted mask also. Although we opted for the black mask over Donzi painted emerald, green that she came with. Back then they did like their color masks.
  12. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    Absolutely no doubt about it! :)

    BTW, one of the reasons why I'm not keen on dark colours just about anywhere on a boat, i.e. the fact that it gets very hot and prone to fading over time in strong sunshine, is no big deal at your latitude! :cool:
  13. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    The end is near! House sides are painted now and area around windows and forward mask should be getting Flag Blue applied today. The bow deck has 1st color coat on it and will get non-skid in next day or two.

    Bow Deck with Color.jpg FWD Mask Ready For Blue.jpg Port Side Window Area.jpg Port Window Aft.jpg STBD Windows Ready For Blue.jpg
  14. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    Unwrapping has commenced. All areas are fully painted now. There will be touch-ups and corrections as needed of course. We are down to just the lead supervisor remaining now. He will stay until all corrections are complete and we sign-off as 100% satisfied.


    Bow 2.jpg Bow.jpg FWD House.jpg Mask.jpg FWD House.jpg
  15. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    More photos of unwrapping:

    Port Window FWD.jpg Port Window Aft.jpg Port Window FWD.jpg Stbd House.jpg STBD Window 2.jpg
  16. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    Final Unwrapping photos:

    Cockpit Freezer.jpg Tackle Station.jpg
    Scallywag, mapism, bayoubud and 4 others like this.
  17. cleanslate

    cleanslate Senior Member

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    Looks great ! That sure is an incredible amount to tape and paper coverage . Wow, big job.
    bayoubud likes this.
  18. chesapeake46

    chesapeake46 Senior Member

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    Looks like you got the right contractor for the job.
    It is a pretty good feeling when you see the final result.
    Congrats on a nice job.
  19. CWV

    CWV Member

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    Any final pics?
  20. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    It's complete but the scaffolding is still up so can't really get any decent pics yet. Still need the scaffolding to put all the stuff back on. Main challenge is welding back the two hard top strut pipes in the center/front of the flybridge. Have to have the scaffolding to get to those.