[PSUBS-MAILIST] DSV Aquatic Interior Refinishing

[Alec Smyth via Personal_Submersibles]

Congrats, and I can't wait to see her begin to come together! Just one
thing about the Macropoxy. Although it's super durable, it does yellow even
without sunlight. For a long time, each time I turned my attention to the
sub for a new season I found the Macropoxy in good condition but needing a
new coat just to keep it white. Now I've top-coated it, and it's stayed
white. I can't recall what I used as a top coat, but it was some
ordinary enamel rather than something with special marine industry prices.
Even a single top-coat layer is a really good idea that will cut down on
your work in the long term, if you want to keep it bright white.

Best,
Alec

On Sat, Mar 2, 2024 at 4:22 PM Jon Wallace via Personal_Submersibles <
personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:

> I have reached a milestone with the K600, interior prep and paint finish
> is complete. Total time was about three weeks spent grinding, wire
> brushing, prepping, priming, and painting.
> I found no significant rust issues that would cause me to call into
> question the integrity of the vessel. Most of the prep work involved using
> a wire brush on a grinder to loosen surface rust and feather the
> surrounding paint. The worst areas were below the main viewport, beneath
> the hatch area, and the bottom of the aft head. Using a wire brush cleaned
> the areas easily.
> The aft section of the vessel was in much better condition than the fore
> section and in the aft I only spot coated the problem areas with POR-15. In
> the fore section there was much more area showing surface rust and pin
> prick rust spots. By the time I was done grinding them down it just seemed
> to make more sense to completely prime with POR-15 rather than just spot
> coat each area.
> I used two coats of POR-15 as the primer and two coats of Macropoxy 646 as
> the finish coat. All very expensive paint but both providing a very durable
> and hard finish that I think will last a long time. I was impressed with
> the POR-15. After two coats it dried hard as a rock and felt extremely
> durable. I decided on an epoxy finish because I wanted something that would
> stick and bond to the POR-15, which the Macropoxy did without issue. The
> only thing I don't like about the Macropoxy is that it's a flat finish. I
> could have used Sher-Loxane instead but I didn't feel like spending another
> $240 for a glossy finish when I already had the Macropoxy available to me.
> The conning tower was in very good shape and required minimal wire
> brushing. Here again I spot coated those exposed areas with POR-15 however
> for the finish coat I wanted a gloss finish. While the original paint was
> obviously durable given it's condition, it showed dirt and scuff marks from
> years of people climbing in and out of the vessel. I decided I had to have
> a gloss finish on the conning tower but again didn't want to spend hundreds
> of dollars for a gallon of Sher-Loxane when I needed less than a quart, so
> I simply overcoated the existing finish with gloss white Rust-Oleum. We'll
> see how it holds up.
> The K600 now has $879 (US) in paint on it. Total cost to refinish the K600
> exterior and interior is $2,283 (US) including sandblasting, paint, and
> supplies.
> Plan going forward is to let everything harden over the next week and then
> I can start outfitting the vessel.
>
> For non-Facebook members you can view the photos at
> http://www.subdb.info/cgi/database/showvessel/albums/index.cgi?A=1320788990&B=1709412155&C=&D=Interior%20Refinishing
>
> Jon
>
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