Painting Question

[cofooter]

Having my boat painted this weekend and had a question about laying out the cap. Before I stripped and primered it, I measured the distance at the bow and stern where the bottom of the cap should be. Looks like the line on the bottom of the cap is straight in this example. Can't exactly snap a line around the hull contour, so what do you use? Maybe a laser? The picture is an example of the cap I want to copy, like the original. Thanks View attachment 748211

 

[Gelcoater]

Can’t see the pic

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

getting the first line down is the most important because everything is built off that. If you start putting a laser or measuring side to side you will quickly see that the measurements from side to side are probably not the same. I made a big compass and made a pencil mark to pull tape along. I watched Ken Meyers lay out tape lines since I was a kid and watching someone who did it for 50 years is awesome but frustrating when you try to replicate. be patient and ready to throw a lot of tape away.

 

[spectracular]

When I did the 32 I had a similar issue. Here is what I did. Get a pencil and freehand what you thing is a good line from center out to one side. Don’t worry about the other side. After you get the pencil line looking acceptable, grab your 1/8” tape and lay it down. Rough at first, and just work the shape until you get it right. There is no compass or anything that you can use to do it and get it to look right.

Once one half looks good, use transfer paper to copy the good side. Cut it out, and then flip it onto the other side of the boat. I used this method for the top paint as well as for the ghost flames. Never did flames before, but I’ve had great feedback from some old school painters, that I did a good job. They also told me that it is so rare that you will ever see both sides at once and to not stress too much about it.

Granted this was years ago. If I were to do it again, I’d get a projector that hooks up to a laptop and place it up above the boat and aim it straight down. Not sure it would work, but seems like an easy way to project the lines you want.