This is a subject that has been ignored by everyone including myself. So many of these boats have been built and are revered by the rough water boaters of the Great Lakes, coastal areas, and just by plain big water boats. Nothing rides better in rough water than a round chine lapstrake boat from Chris Craft, Lyman, Thompson, Cruisers Inc., Penn Yan etc…

These are the procedures that we follow here at The Wooden Boat Shop in Cincinnati:

1. Remove all hardware, thru-hull fittings, and trim pieces from the hullsides.

2. Now mix two hand fulls of tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) into a 2-gallon bucket of warm water and mix well. Wash down one side of the boat making sure you wash the lower lip of the strake, rinse with clear water and towel dry then do the other side.

3. Sand hullside strakes with 180 grit sandpaper using an electric dual action sander or a orbital sander. Do not burn through the paint film. With a block wrapped with sandpaper sand the bottom of the strakes.

4. Vacuum off all dust from the hullsides then go over all areas with a tack cloth. Make sure you tack the bottom of the strakes so any trapped dust won’t mess up the paint job.

5. Now get a four-inch roller and then, cut down a thin foam roller cover (they are made by Wooster Brush Co., the foam is 1/8 inch thick to four inches).

6. Also get a two-inch Badger Hair brush (made by Red Tree).

7. Pour paint from Interlux, Pettit or Z-Spar into a roller pan uncut (do not thin). Start from the bottom strake using your brush paint the bottom edge of the strake above. Then apply paint on the flat surface with your roller then lightly brush the paint one direction to the back. Paint about 3 feet at a time and one strake at a time. When you roll the next stretch, roll into the area you have been about a foot and then back and lightly brush the rolled area back. By doing this you will always have a wet edge.

8. Let the paint dry a day or so before sanding and repainting. Two coats are always the best way to go.

Strip and Refinish a Lapstrake Hull

1. Again remove all hardware and thru hull fitting form the hullsides.

2. Take some 60-grit sandpaper and a air dual action sand or a electric orbital sander and sand the gloss off the hullsides. Just take the gloss off.

3. Using a good marine stripper and a 3” scrapper that you have rounded the sharp corners off of you will apply the stripper by a heavy brush and brush it on in one direction only. The old finish will crinkle up. Scrape off the loose paint or varnish. Note: Make sure you round off the sharp corners of your scraper. It is important that you do not gouge the wood.

4. Reapply the stripper and repeat the process until the old paint becomes translucent with the wood.

5. Next using 3M Grill scrubber and alcohol, scrub down the hullsides. This process will wash any paint out of the grain of the wood and also neutralize the chemical paint remover.

6. Now block-sand the strakes using 80 grit sandpaper. Note: If your plywood hullside have a paper coating do not burn through it.

7. Now block sand again with 120-grit sandpaper. Again make sure if you have a paper coating on the plywood don’t sand through it.

8. Next, repair any gouges, unwanted screw holes and any missing filler with either Famowood or West Epoxy mixed with West #410 fairing compound. Let it cure overnight and block sand flat with 120-grit paper.

9. Now using a 4-inch roller with 1/8 inch foam roller cover and a brush apply two coats of Interlux #1026 clear sealer, hand sanding between coats.

10. Mask off for your boot stripe or the water line for your anti-fouling bottom.

11. Apply three coats of the Interlux, Pettit, or Z-Spar paint, hand sanding between coats using 180 grit sandpaper.

This should give you a good job if you follow my painting instructions using a brush and foam roller. If you have any questions about your particular boat just call me- Jack McCarthy at the Wooden Boat Shop in Cincinnati at 1-800-807-7281. Note: We sell all supplies necessary to complete your job.