CAL 2-27 Interior

The interior of my 1980 2-27 finally got to me so I decide to see what was under that ugly vinyl that was hanging off the sides of the cabin top as I suspected it was ugly fiberglass, now I've got to do something to make it look decent and eventually good. I'm planning to paint the exposed area for at least this season, if it looks good it might stay that way. My questions involve surface prep and the type of paint I should use. Over the last several years people have said that a roto-zip was the best tool to finish this off, what no one has said was what kind of abrasive they used with the tool I can see that a wire wheel might work or the red abrasive pad that they sell for it, help on this selection would be appreciated (BTW 98% of the foam came off just by scraping with a razor blade.) For paint I thinking about using a one part epoxy, I had some success with this on my 25 many years ago but I'm open to suggestions. If anyone has left the fiberglass exposed did you skim coat it with a filled epoxy first or just paint over what was there? Comments and ideas are appreciated, our first race is in three weeks and I will be there. John Boyce CAL 2-27 #650

--- In Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com, "John Boyce" <jecyob@...> wrote: > > The interior of my 1980 2-27 finally got to me so I decide to see what was > under that ugly vinyl that was hanging off the sides of the cabin top as I > suspected it was ugly fiberglass, now I've got to do something to make it > look decent and eventually good. I'm planning to paint the exposed area for > at least this season, if it looks good it might stay that way. My questions > involve surface prep and the type of paint I should use. Over the last > several years people have said that a roto-zip was the best tool to finish > this off, what no one has said was what kind of abrasive they used with the > tool I can see that a wire wheel might work or the red abrasive pad that > they sell for it, help on this selection would be appreciated (BTW 98% of > the foam came off just by scraping with a razor blade.) I have applied a grinder with 100 grit pad liberally to the inside. It makes an awful mess, of course, but it does take loose stuff off. > For paint I > thinking about using a one part epoxy, I had some success with this on my 25 > many years ago but I'm open to suggestions. I used Kilz primer and Sears bathroom and kitchen paint over that. The Sears paint is alleged to be mildew resistant. Years ago, when I painted the Cal 34, I used one-part epoxy inside. It worked fine. I could have prepped it better and did have new pieces peel off from time to time. > If anyone has left the > fiberglass exposed did you skim coat it with a filled epoxy first or just > paint over what was there? I painted over the glass. Fin has faired in his overhead with epoxy and filler. He would be best equipped to describe how he did it. It looks like a lot of work to me. I like exposed bolts and nuts so it was no big deal. > Comments and ideas are appreciated, our first > race is in three weeks and I will be there. Good luck, Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96 > > > > John Boyce > > CAL 2-27 #650 >

John Boyce wrote: > For paint I thinking about using a one part epoxy, I had some > success with this on my 25 many years ago but I'm open to suggestions. > > John: I'm not sure what surface prep you'll need just for basic fairness, but for paint, I've been pleased with Pettit's special boat interior paint, called something like Ultrawhite or something-white. Go to Pettit's web site. They advertise that it will adhere to any clean surface without special prep, even if the surface is glossy. I remain a bit skeptical just on general principles, but that's what they say. The paint also has some sort of mildewicide or mildew discourager, and is a semigloss I used it on the bare interior of my Cal 20 after removing the old interior finish, or at least that part of the old finish that was still adhering tenaciously after the rest flaked off in big chunks. I had the white paint tinted at a paint store to match the original Cal 20 interior color, a warm beige that looked good with the teak veneers. So far I'm happy, although I found that the paint store's shaker had not run long enough to mix up all the pigment at the bottom of the can. I'll not make that mistake again. As a picky painter, I like to do a good job and have it last a long time. Paying more for a high quality paint designed for a specific service makes sense to me, so I'm happy to pay a bit more for the Pettit. Chris Campbell

John, You may know this, or someone may have told you already, but before painting you'll need to remove ALL of the old adhesive used to attach the crappy vinyl to the hull. On my former 2-27 the old adhesive was very aggressive and extremely hard to remove. After trying a few different solvents to remove the glue I finally gave up on the painting idea and ground off what I could of the adhesive using a wire wheel, then glued up outdoor carpet (looked like berber). I was very pleased with the results. It looked nice and provided a small amount of insulation too. Hope this helps. Chris Chris Collins '63 Cal 20 #323 "don't know yet" Nashville, TN