<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Great news Jon. It’s a great feeling getting over certain hurdles!<div>I just finished welding on the aft hemisphere and then completely wiping down the whole inside and hooking three ss 1/2” tubes that I couldn’t do until done with my internal pass. </div><div><br><div><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Mar 2, 2024, at 11:22 AM, Jon Wallace via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles@psubs.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><div class="ydpb400b9b4xdj266r ydpb400b9b4x11i5rnm ydpb400b9b4xat24cr ydpb400b9b4x1mh8g0r ydpb400b9b4x1vvkbs ydpb400b9b4x126k92a" style="margin: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">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. </font></div></div><div class="ydpb400b9b4x11i5rnm ydpb400b9b4xat24cr ydpb400b9b4x1mh8g0r ydpb400b9b4x1vvkbs ydpb400b9b4xtlvy1s ydpb400b9b4x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">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.</font></div></div><div class="ydpb400b9b4x11i5rnm ydpb400b9b4xat24cr ydpb400b9b4x1mh8g0r ydpb400b9b4x1vvkbs ydpb400b9b4xtlvy1s ydpb400b9b4x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">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.</font></div></div><div class="ydpb400b9b4x11i5rnm ydpb400b9b4xat24cr ydpb400b9b4x1mh8g0r ydpb400b9b4x1vvkbs ydpb400b9b4xtlvy1s ydpb400b9b4x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">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.</font></div></div><div class="ydpb400b9b4x11i5rnm ydpb400b9b4xat24cr ydpb400b9b4x1mh8g0r ydpb400b9b4x1vvkbs ydpb400b9b4xtlvy1s ydpb400b9b4x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">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.</font></div></div><div class="ydpb400b9b4x11i5rnm ydpb400b9b4xat24cr ydpb400b9b4x1mh8g0r ydpb400b9b4x1vvkbs ydpb400b9b4xtlvy1s ydpb400b9b4x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">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.</font></div></div><div class="ydpb400b9b4x11i5rnm ydpb400b9b4xat24cr ydpb400b9b4x1mh8g0r ydpb400b9b4x1vvkbs ydpb400b9b4xtlvy1s ydpb400b9b4x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Plan going forward is to let everything harden over the next week and then I can start outfitting the vessel.</font></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><font size="3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: inherit;" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><font size="3">For non-Facebook members you can view the photos at </font><a href="http://www.subdb.info/cgi/database/showvessel/albums/index.cgi?A=1320788990&B=1709412155&C=&D=Interior%20Refinishing" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.subdb.info/cgi/database/showvessel/albums/index.cgi?A=1320788990&B=1709412155&C=&D=Interior%20Refinishing</a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div style="font-family: inherit;" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Jon</div></div></div><br></div></div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Personal_Submersibles mailing list</span><br><span>Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</span><br><span>http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</span><br></div></blockquote></div></div></body></html>