Express 27 deck repainting

Crazy winter in Rhode Island. Great time to have a heated shop for the boats.

Kincora still had her original gelcoat from 1986 which was showing its age. So a visit to the Spa was needed to make her shine. The non-skid was very slippery and the smooth color was in need of paint. .

I stripped all the hardware off. This is pretty easy by yourself on a boat this small. A few tricks with fender washers being loaded up, and vise-grips, and all the hardware came off with ease. Most of the hardware has barrel nuts so they held well in most cases making the fasteners easy to pull. I will be making some changes to the deck plan for short handed sailing. Mostly to simplified which is always my goal. Those pics will show up prior to launch early May.

Once the hardware was stripped off it was time to pull out the new Festool sanders and dust extractor. What great tools keeping the shop mostly dust free.. Once I sanded the whole deck down to 220 grit it was time to check the deck core. With all metal off the deck this is the time to comb the deck for wet core. Luckily the hull is foam core. So out comes the moisture meter and my special hammer to tap away on the surfaces. I found one new spot on the starboard cockpit seat that was wet. Right where the traveler fasteners go through. It was easy to see all season from below where the water came through. So a quick fix, bagging in new core along with new top and bottom skins. Right tools for the job make it easy.

Then I decided on the new non-skid pattern and smooth white paint. When using Kiwigrip it is important to break up the deck into smaller sections so the tape can be pulled while painting. See this tip on a video I did painting our 1938 Marlin deck a few years ago. Kiwigrip is and acrylic that dries fast. You need to pull the tape in the first 5-8 min at 65 deg while keeping a wet edge. Not hard to do just needs great prep as with any job.
The tan stock deck color was OK, but I really like white smooth surfaces and gray non-skid. It works for me in all light and gives a nice contrast to the boat. Also it will match the hull color well.

The white paint is Interlux Brightside and non-skid will be gray Kiwigrip. This is the fourth boat I have refinished with this combination. Both products perform very well and are easy to use. Paint is rolled on with West Systems foam roller then tipped with Badger Hair brush. I use to use foam brushes but once you try a great Badger Hair Brush you will never use foam brushes to tip again. The Kiwigrip will be applied with 4″ chip brush then rolled out with their proprietary rollers three times to get the air out and texture I like. Sure you could go with epoxy paints and two part paints and maybe I would on a much bigger boat. But from my experience this will last 6-8 years no problem.
I will post a couple of pictures next week when the deck if finished. But for now you can go to Kincora 2015 work so see the progress.