Trojan Boat Forum

The progress is looking good!

Looking good Mark...

While you are in there I would suggest that you replace the wooden swim platform backing plates with Starboard.

easy for you to do at this point in th eproject and not expensive

also, check those brackets for hairline cracks, I found a couple on mine and had them welded at a local machine shop.

So can you share color, bootstripe, transom plans?

RWS

The bottom paint is a dark blue. I'm going to stay with a white hull. I'm planning on maybe doing a blue bootstripe but haven't decided for sure or what the color would be. I don't think I'll do a upper stripe but not entirely sure. Probably something like below except I haven't nailed down the bootstripe color. I'm open to suggestions of what would look good with the blue bottom paint. Sorry, but I kinda suck at photoshop.

If I ever paint a boat again.....it will be too soon!

What a weekend. I’ve been working feverishly on the mino as the clock for a summer launch is ticking away. The weather hasn’t been cooperating, especially for painting conditions. There was finally a break to make it happen so I did. I primed on Saturday and painted on Sunday. To say it was a lot of work is a vast understatement. This boat has a lot of surface area! First I had to wash the whole boat down, top to bottom, with a good commet type cleaner. I did this on Thursday. Then I had to mask the whole thing which of course takes much longer than you would think. I did this on Friday. Then I had to wipe the whole boat down with a special de-greaser to get ready for primer. Spraying the primer went pretty good except my little compressor was barely keeping up. After the primer cured I had to sand the whole boat yet again. The term rubber arms come into mind. Then another total wipe down with the de-greaser was required before paint. The painting started off really well with the first coat being a mist coat for good adhesion of subsequent coats. The second coat started off really good with a great smooth gloss starting to show. This paint is good stuff. Then the problems started to come. My little compressor just couldn’t keep up and it was causing problems because the spray pattern would change so much as the tank would deplete its capacity. My newly best friend Mitch quickly went home to get his bigger/better compressor. That worked better but after a while we realized it still just wasn’t adequate. We tried to then use both compressors but we ended up just tripping the breaker. And to top things off, the outlets wouldn’t come back on even though we reset the breaker! So we had to find another circuit. All of this was in the middle of trying to paint. In order to apply the 3rd and final top coat we knew we needed something so my friend Mitch went and borrowed a friend’s much bigger compressor while I prepped for the 3rd coat. The 3rd compressor worked great and kept up with the demand fine. However, now it’s late in the day, the wind is picking up and ohhh by the way it’s supposed to rain. The time crunch is on and reminds me of my corporate days of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Stress….yuck. So I start applying the finial top coat. The gun and compressor is working great but because the boat is now white and it’s late in the day and probably because my eyes aren’t what they used to be, it’s virtually impossible to see and judge my spray pattern. Those of you that have ever painted realize how important this is especially when applying the final coat. There is a very fine line between a nice wet glossy coat and what they call orange peel. You need to see what/where your gun pattern is spraying so you can apply just the right amount of paint and properly overlapping each pass. Well, I did the best I could do and it eventually worked out ok. It was like painting by brail. I got some runs in a particular area I will need to fix but all in all it came out pretty good. After the whole thing and basically working the entire weekend I was spent. I want to really thank my friend Mitch, he was a tremendous help!

WHOLLY EPA BATMAN.........

You're my hero !

RWS

I bet you are glad you do not own a 13 meter right now.

What are you using for paint?

Incredible work! I've been fixing up a lot of things on my 1987 Trojan 10 Meter Mid-Cabin the last two years and posts like yours and others really keep me going. I have the same Onan MCCK generator and had issues with it staying running last year and about to get into it the next week or so. I want to at least tune it up and maybe pull off the carb and rebuild it or just clean it because it hasn't been run in a few years. Are there any parts other than plugs, filters, etc you can think of that I should automatically replace? Where did you get the parts for yours?
Any tips you can provide would be most helpful and greatly appreciated. I hope you get to enjoy your soon! Take care.

Mike

Nice work

I think you did good considering the air flow issues, being a painter its hard. Main concern is air flow. Your ok to fight battles until its time for gloss. You have to have constant airflow at full power to even paint a car!. A boat of this size! well you know now. You did good. spent alot of $ in prep, you would have a better day with adaquite air but you pulled it off! hands down! great job! on a car CFI must stay at 135. I keep mine around 140-145 constant at the house. I am over working my compressor system but I do unusual maintenace. as a painter if I lose air flow, I lose my job. Air is so important it can be tough to deal with.

Mike Kulp wrote:I bet you are glad you do not own a 13 meter right now.

Now.....yes. When I finally get it in the water....maybe

RWS wrote:WHOLLY EPA BATMAN.........You're my hero !

RWS

Thanks RWS, you know your boat has been quite the inspiration for me! I was pretty stressed about the neighbors and the overspray but sometimes you just have to roll the dice.

todd brinkerhoff wrote:What are you using for paint?

Awlcraft 545 primer and Awlcraft 2000 Top Coat

Unchained wrote:Where did you get the parts for yours?
Any tips you can provide would be most helpful and greatly appreciated. I hope you get to enjoy your soon! Take care. Mike

I have a list of places I used, when you get to that point let me know and I'll dig them up. You definately need to check out smokstak.com

Mark,

You should start your own show..."Pimp my yacht" Awesome work. You and RWS's passion for the trojan international restoration projects are very inspirational.

Now, if you can do me a favor and throw a couple of the new Yanmar 8LV 340 or 370 lightweight diesels in that boat and let me know what you think, it would help me decide what to do. These new diesels are apparently marinized Toyota 4.4 Liters. Thanks for doing that. LOL

todd brinkerhoff wrote:Now, if you can do me a favor and throw a couple of the new Yanmar 8LV 340 or 370 lightweight diesels in that boat and let me know what you think, it would help me decide what to do. These new diesels are apparently marinized Toyota 4.4 Liters. Thanks for doing that. LOL

I'll save you the time and report what I think now.... I want them. I looked into diesels when I started the project. The numbers just don't pan out and certainly are not in "my" budget. I wish they were. If I were to do it I would marinize some diesels myself. There is no magic to it if you do your homework. I can design, fabricate and machine most of the components needed but even with that its a very expensive proposition. From what I have read the Yanmars start with a toyota landcruiser motor and go from there. I haven't been able to really narrow down specific models/years to research further. The Cummins 6BT's are another good alternative from what I read and they are very available.

there is nothing wrong with the 454's.

the diesels allow for a different kind of useage.

essentially a higher cruise speed that is most efficient.

This allows for more and different kinds of adventures in a given period of time.

Our most efficient cruise with the 454's was 14-15.5 knots and we documented this with the flowscan at .78 - .82 NMPG

With the yannies, we believe that is at 19 - 22 kts burning nearly half the fuel.

A run to Key West with the gassers would require a fuel stop. Given the speed and time required to go in and back out for the fuel, this makes for a 2 day trip. With the yannies, leave by 6 AM and we're there by 2 PM.

This is just an example.

The other issues are safety and reliability.

These 6LP's are NOT electronic.

No computers, no common rail, no real electronics. Clean fuel, clean air and if she starts, she will run.

It's all about reliability.

So with the refit we did, we get all the benefits of a new diesel powered boat plus far less if any depreciation costs.

When it is time to sell her she will sell far more quickly and command a far better price than if we had repowered with new Crusaders, which by that time would simply be un-remarkable, old crusaders.

The International hull is certainly worthy of this refit and delivers the ride, performance and ergonomics standing on solid engineering, design and build quality.

Does the math work?

probably not now, that the market has changed.

You can buy a whole lot more used boat today for far less than in 2005-2006.


RWS

RWS,

I love the idea of your 6LP's not being all electronic. Sounds like just the right setup.