Motorwell and Transom

Prepping the Cockpit for the motor well...

Carling build up sprung in.

Getting the Carlings in along the cockpit was a little tough but nothing that judicious clamping and coercion couldn't accomplish.  I also have to hand it to 6" lags for their ability to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling that what I have put in place, will stay in place.  This is a build up of the 1 x 2 let into the notches just like the cabin carlings; however, I added a 1x3 piece on top of that to move the coamings slightly inboard so the rail cap wouldn't land outboard too far once applied. 

Deck beam cambered to match deck slope angle.

The deck beam that crosses the cockpit is built up of two layers of 1" yellow pine.  The top layer is tapered from the middle and this creates the camber that is just an extension of the deck angle.  There was then a piece of 1x6 attached at a right angle.  This was actually not needed as the motor well took shape so could have been omitted.

 

 

The Moment of Truth...

Transom cut to final shape...

This is where we had some decisions to make about the transom.  We were getting ready to cut a large notch in that big, beautiful piece of boat and had struggled with whether to use a 25" High Thrust or standard 20" (much more common).  We decided on the 20" for versatility which is basically the perpendicular measurement from the top of the C clamp notch (horizontal notch) to the cavitation plate of the outboard.  This is transferred to the transom and a line was struck.  Following the ABYC standard for motor wells we gave the transom notch 26" across the bottom then just created a parallel line following the hull's sides..  the top of the transom is just 1" above the finished deck, and there you have your transom cut.  I made it freehand with a circular saw and jig saw.  Dressed it up with a belt sander.  The fabric covering will extend over the edges and be fully encapsulated.

Framing the Motor well...



The motor well framing begins with deck supports tying the deck beam to the transom. Also note the vertical nailers screwed in place for the sides of the motor well which I'll walk through pictorially...



Using short chunks of cardboard, we hot glued them to each other and aligned them to
angles as dictated by the framing members.  The only 90 degree joint is the one along the floor.

Hot glued pieces ready for transferring.

Both of these have been cut from doubled up 1/2" ply. Screwed in place and coated on the hidden side which also acts to glue it somewhat.
All pieces are essentially doubled in this area.  I used the same pieces for the opposite side but tore them apart and re-glued them as they were slightly
different and I wanted a tight fit.

Back coaming installed.  The notch will accommodate a 12 gallon fuel tank which will fill from the motor well. I have extended this an inch and a half under the carling so that I can attach a nailer for the corner joint formed by the coaming.

Here is the motor well boxed in.  The bottom of the well rests on cleats attached to the sides and a cleat attached to the transom wall.
This will get a heavy fillet and cloth when the deck is attached.

Coaming installed.

Coaming...
The coaming deals with a problem we created by raising the deck so high and that is having enough cockpit height to prevent falling overboard easily.  The lowest part hits above the knee and that is kind of the unwritten rule regarding comfort at sea.  The cockpit will be filleted and glassed.  The corners are reinforced with 1" quarter round made an hour prior.  The nailers attached to the deck and rear coaming serve their purpose on tying this together. The following pictures show the process which is pretty easy once the measurements are gathered.  The coaming once glassed will get a top cap of Mahogany.  Probably laminated, maybe steam bent... we'll see.

Both coamings installed.

Coaming Profile

Pilothouse and Cockpit Sole

But first some plumbing and framing...

The sole is basically the floor of the boat.  We will plan to teak the exposed walking area but will start with a subfloor of 1/2" Marine Ply. That's the game plan, more about the teak later...

Now, before that is done, we need to decide a few things (already decided but we are walking through the process). The biggest question is to foam or not to foam. Profound question if you go out and read internet posts where some folks will not venture out on a boat without it and others swear it is the source of all evil and should be avoided.  Well, I can tell you it isn't cheap and that may be where some of the disparaging comments come from.  You know, convince yourself its a bad idea and save a few bucks. By observing the notches in the frames you can guess that at one time, my intention was to leave the bilges open and pump them out as needed.  If I holed the hull, I would hope my bulkheads and pumps would suffice till I got some help.
The USCG requires positive flotation for a reason and it nagged at me.

Installing PVC drain and electrical wiring sleeves

After tossing it around, I put the question before my buddy Brad (who has helped guide some of these types of decisions) and based on the fact that:

• 1. I really don't have much of a bilge in the pilothouse (4 to 5 inches)
• 2. I can't easily access it for inspection, and
• 3. I would really wish I had it if things went really bad.
• I took his advise and dropped the $600 for 20 gallons.  The real trick is to seal all wood surfaces well and seal these areas in. This means (as Ruel Parker suggests) coat all surfaces of any wood in the boat. 
• The foam also provides structural support to the floor so we eliminated some of the framing that would have been necessary.  We intend to foam as much of the hull as possible to the deck level to help her remain upright if swamped, so as we pour the floor, we continue along the hull walls, letting the foam creep up to the sheer line.

Finished installation under pilothouse floor.

We still needed a way to rid water from the pilothouse if it should ever find its way in and we needed to drain the shower as well.  The answer was to frame a sump in the companionway and one in the shower, then plumb out of the floor to transition to PVC hose, then out a through hull fitting.

Shims Installed to level, cleats on the bulkheads, and sumps framed.

But, we are getting ahead of ourselves... The subfloor must attach to the frames and since the frames for the hull are rockered, forming an arc from front to back, then we need to level each frames top by adding shims of various thicknesses  to create a level surface. 

Spacers being added on top of frames in cockpit.

This was derived from my CAD drawing and I used ripped yellow pine screwed to the frames as the shims.  These only amounted to perhaps 5/8" to 1-1/2" thick. 

That covers the pilothouse shims.  The cockpit was much more extensive in framing.  The reason is that we made another safety decision.  That was to create what is called a self draining cockpit.  What this means is a cockpit floor that is well above the waterline (loaded plus 5 to 6 inches) with scuppers (holes through the transom with one way valves in case of backing or unloading at the ramp) that will rapidly drain any water that finds its way into the cockpit by either wave (green water) or rain (sweet water). This meant that the frames had to be raised by a good margin (13" along the back pilothouse wall). and around 8" at the transom.  We did this with yellow pine lagged to the frames. 



Battery box looking Starboard...
Lower pipe is a vent, upper is the
chase into the cockpit to route the cables.

This got us to thinking that maybe we should use some of this for something heavy and obtrusive.  Batteries came to mind.  We could move this weight back toward the boats midpoint, helping the trim. The only thing that we were hesitant about was water intrusion and venting.  For the water we will use Armstrong Deck Plates and a bilge pump.  I hope that we will find them bone dry.  The venting will be handled by 2" PVC cross vented to port and starboard. It seems that we only need passive venting to relieve Hydrogen gas buildup when charging.  Hopefully with a good three stage charger, this won't be much of an issue.
With this done, its time to coat all surfaces liberally with epoxy and let cure.



Finished compartment and ducting.  All duct will be epoxy sealed after the box is cloth lined and waterproofed and surrounding compartment areas will be foamed, essentially locking the duct in place. Two hatch openings will be located on either side of the center support.



Installed Pilothouse sole - sump stub outs are visible and have yet to be glassed in. Also note
the plywood ceiling attached on the inside of the frame surface.

The actual sole install is pretty straightforward. 
Measure from one wall or surface to the other, noting the distances to each frame, then from a centerline mark on each frame to the intersection of the horizontal and vertical upright frame member.  You will end up with a grid of measurements that will be transferred to the plywood, then cut with the circular saw (even the arc). We sprung a spline along the curved portion of the plywood panel intersecting the grid points and struck a pencil line that was cut to.
Before we installed them permanently, we checked them for fit and cut outs around the sumps, then coated the bottom side with epoxy.  While still wet, we laid down a bead of thickened epoxy from a decorator bag and then screwed the panels down.  I will mention that this extra glue step was only done on the cockpit sole, not the pilothouse.  I have to say that there is a noticeable difference in the stiffness of the cockpit versus the pilothouse.  Of course, once the foam is poured and allowed to expand through holes cut in the floor, there will be no "oil canning".  It is just interesting to note how much difference the epoxy glue mix makes versus a thin coat of epoxy that is obviously gluing but not to that extent.

Cockpit sole installed with cleats attached at the bottom edge and pilothouse walls to receive the coaming. Carling installed as well seen above the conduit.  By the way, the 3" conduit is a chase for all steering and control cables that pass from pilothouse to engine well.

Same deal with the cockpit.  Same process except we will cut out the battery compartment hatches later. Engine well and transom are next...

Cabin and Anchor Well...

Anchor Well...

The anchor well is located at the forepeak, between the stem and the first frame (#2). 


Horizontal windlass

So here's the thought process...  I'm standing on a bar stool sized piece of deck, slimy anchor rode in hand, co-pilot is easing the boat forward as I gather in the scope that is piling up in an open locker below me as I straddle the open pit.  This is precarious enough but we are now straight over the anchor and I attempt to break her free, all back, as if I am trying to take off my "tenny shoes" while still standing in them. 



 

I have a better solution but it'll cost a few bucks, an anchor windlass. This is basically a winch that mounts on the deck and feeds the anchor rode (line) and or chain trough a hole on deck (hawsehole) into a locker.  The Lewmar Profish is one option, kind of fits my boat's size bur is a.  The only problems are the amperage requirements which are steep and the cost.  I'll have to save my pennies to get this purchased but anchoring is a daily chore that can be made much more tolerable with the right equipment and I think in the boat's daily use it is money well spent. Especially in the use that I anticipate which is multi-day cruising. My son in law Adam made a suggestion that I look into a vertical windlass.  We were discussing it the last time he was here and said that they can be useful in docking when current or wind is pushing you off.  It was something they did in the CG and it sounds like a great idea and a solid suggestion when we are shorthanded.



Epoxied anchor well

So the anchor line needs a home.  Of course the anchor itself can't go through the hawsehole so to deal with that we will store it on a bow roller, ready to drop at a moment's notice.  The anchor locker was constructed out of marine ply and will be lined with Xynole fabric. heavy fillets on all seams and will have two drains at the bottom above waterline. Here is what it looks like so far.  The milky look is attributed to some white pigment I was experimenting with as an epoxy colorant.  





    

Cabin Construction...

To start this portion of the build let me first say that I jumped around a little in construction.  You will see portions of this build out of sequence, things constructed that haven't been covered but we are bringing all of this up to date.  I had taken a week off of work and was fortunate enough to be able to spend most of it working on the boat.  Now it's time to get this blog sync'd with construction.

Because the frames were not beveled and there was such a steep angled leaving a large gap between the hull side and the frame, we filled the gap with thickened epoxy and taped with 24oz biaxial cloth/mat on the worst joints.  probably not needed but gave piece of mind with only edge contact and fasteners.

Carling sprung in place

Coating all surfaces.  Undersides of panels are coated then
installed, wet side down.

Water tanks will be stored under the V-Berth along with the water heater at the forepeak right behind the anchor well; a 46 and 36.  Also the fresh water pump will be installed under the berth. To provide support for the tanks and the mattress deck we installed bulkheads separating them. The 1x2 mattress support is let into the plywood bulkheads and sprung to the frames.  The water tanks will be installed on level surfaces with cleats to hold them in place.  All surfaces were coated in un-thickened epoxy, both inside and out of areas that will be foam filled. At this point we were ready to start up with the cabin sides and  needed the carlings sprung in place to attach the tortured  ply in place for a smooth bend.  The 1x2 carlings were glued and screwed into pre-notched deck members that were part of the original frame build. Once accomplished we needed to mill the mahogany strips that will form part of the finished cabin interior.  This will be the part of the berth wall that follows the hull curvature that the perpendicular sides slightly overlap.  We milled these 1/2" x 2" and rounded over one side, the other lies flat against the frames.  Before attaching them we stapled (SS staples) landscape fabric over the area to contain the eventual foam pour and to create a black background if seen.
Oddly enough I failed to take any photos of the installation process but it was pretty straightforward with six strips on each side being sprung into place and countersink screwed at each frame location.

Starboard cabin side in place

Bead board liner attached.  You can just see the mahogany strips below.

From here we moved on to the actual cabin sides themselves.  1/2" marine ply is the material and must be bent into place. I will also line this with the same bead board material. Now, getting this in place was tough.  Real tough.  We screwed a cleat in place at the pilothouse front wall and secured that edge to that cleat.  Standing in the cabin we tried throwing a hip into the ply as it grabbed and held itself against the anchor well. That got it started but needed more.  We used some 6" timber screws (the kind used to secure landscape ties together) with a cleat to spread the force and jacked the ply in with an impact driver at frames #4 & #6.  Once in place the ply was permanently affixed to the carling every 4" with #8 screws.  The bead board was then cut and attached with glue and staples. Clamps were used to temporarily hold it in place. 



Cabin Deck...

Cabin Deck (1st layer of 3/8" Ply-bead) installed.

1-3/4" Mahogany beam (needs a bottom arc and hanging knees)
Will update with picture below...

The cabin deck was the next step and for this we start with bead board again, but first we installed a center support cabin beam with the proper arc struck on it, as well as, a support cleat with the same arc attached at the pilot house wall. Both of these are "show" pieces and are cut from mahogany stock. The deck itself will fall against the slanted windshield so needs to be scribed to the arc formed as the windshield falls back and the decking arcs down.  We did this by sliding the deck against the windshield as far it would go, centered halfway down the cabin running fore and aft and using a compass, marked the arc holding one side against the windshield and the pencil part of the compass on the deck.  Once cut it was put back in place and the panel was scribed along the outside dimensions of the cabin side and cut to final shape.  Thickened epoxy to peanut butter consistency and dropped into a disposable Wilton cake decorator bag (buy them by the tear away 50 pack at Wal-Mart) was spread along all edges and screwed down, wiping up all of the squeeze out.
By the way, we had already  installed the windshield panel prior so it was in place for the cabin roof to attach to.  At this point we will come back later and installed two 1/2" layers of polystyrene sheet insulation with a 1/4" marine ply layer. All layers epoxied in place. We will build up the outer inch and a half of the deck with solid plywood strips that will be rounded over. Pocket lights will be installed in the deck for interior lighting.  We have also decided that the mahogany beam needs a bottom arc and hanging knees to look right so we'll fix that and post an updated picture when finished.  Moving on to the sole (floor) of the pilot house and cockpit next.

The Cabin so far... we will have trim and molding added once the bead board is primed and painted gloss white.
We will also have to install plugs in the Mahogany strips.  There will be an access panel in the bulkhead wall to get to the anchor well in case of a tangle. There will also be inspection ports to get to hardware installed in the boat deck (cleats and railing) right above the mahogany.

                                                                                                    










Pilothouse

Clean hull ready for here own single bedroom apartment addition...

Starting the Pilothouse Structure...

Now that the Redwing is right side up, we are on to the construction of the pilothouse and begin to see Miss Addy take shape.
the hull had to be cleared of all bracing and 100's of screw tips ground down inside the boat.  A lot of the screws were long and fully penetrated past the parts they were joining.  I also had to trim the keel bolts that stuck up from below and smooth those out.  Now that the prep work was done it was time to cut some plywood!

Plywood clamped together, Marine Fir facing up.

The sides of the pilothouse are actually a laminate of two sheets of ply, 1 - 1/2" sheet of marine fir and 1 - 3/8" sheet of yellow pine bead board.  Laying out the plybead facing down I crossed the two sheets of marine fir, oriented 90 degrees to the underlying plybead.  I clamped the pieces around the edges and laid out full size patterns that I had plotted out to cut by.  It could have been laid out on the board easily since there isn't any complicated round bilge to cut to but this made it just a little easier to position the door and window cutouts without a lot of extra measuring.

The plotter was only 36" wide so we had to use match lines
to join them together.  Lead filled shot bags holding the
prints down... thanks Brad!

Finished Pilothouse Back Wall Bulkhead cut out and ready to glue up

A homemade saw guide and hole cutter started the door opening.
Note the bead board facing up

Now that the parts were cut, I used a copious amount of PL Premium adhesive to join them together along with 5/8" narrow crown staples.  This is all above the waterline and am basically just adding a decorative interior finish to the pilothouse anyway with the beadboard installation.  I could have constructed the pilothouse out of 1/2" and added the ply afterward but thought I would kill two birds with one sawcut.

A pair of finished cabin sides ready to install.

Assembly...

Station 16 Bulkhead

the assembly proved one important point that had nagged me since we laid out the stations and that was, "How square had we managed to keep it?"  The pilothouse sits between Stations 8 and 16.  My wife and I, diagonal measuring team from way back, pulled measurements from frame to frame and found a 1/16" difference.  the true test came when these walls went up...

First the back bulkhead...  It fit well and we secured it every 6" with 10 x 2" 316 stainless steel screws.

Then the front bulkhead, secured in the same manner at Station 8.  So far so good.

Front Wall and rear wall installed

Side walls in place.

We tied them together for now with 2-1/2" stainless pocket hole screws on 8" centers.  They will be epoxied and covered in glass when complete.  I ran out of time to cut the windshield and am glad I did.  I had originally designed a solid, one piece windshield.  I have since decided on a two piece split windshield.  Smaller glass and prettier I think.  At least more retro than the single piece windshield.
I am sitting in my living room getting ready to post this and have left it unpublished for weeks until the windshield is cut.  My plywood cut table is outside the shop and it has been extremely rainy in Georgia.  We are waterlogged this year, so I moved on to other things and just haven't got back to the last windshield panel.  Decided to go ahead and publish this to keep true to the actual sequence of events.  At some point you guys will see the panel magically appear, but for now, I will hit the "Publish" button and on we go!

UPDATE... 4/12/15

With quarter round installed

Notch to be filled

The windshield panel is in.
Using shop made 7/8" yellow pine quarter round, we epoxied a piece to the inside edge and attached the windshield to it. We then epoxied in the same size quarter round to the outside notch that formed the rounded windshield piller support. The overall effect is a nice clean rounded corner with plenty of extra support in a fairly small profile.
The windshield has a large area below the glass that the cabin deck will fall against.
 

FLIP IT!!!!

The Time has come...

Momentus occasion folks.  Talked and talked about this day forever.  Schemed and dreamed of apparatus and technique to get this #1400+ plywood and epoxy bowl flipped over.  Finally settled on building a cradle, lag bolted to the frame, carpet lined and will be left in place (bottom portion only) until shes rolled out for good.

Steps:

So here is how this post will go.  Mostly pictures with comments. Not much else. Its mostly action so a long, drawn out explanation makes little sense...

Here you see the cradle constructed out of a combination of 2" x 6" and 2" x 12" scrap lumber.  the 12" stuff is notched for the keel and the bottom, green 2" x 6" is bolted to the frame via a stub piece of  2" x 4" bolted to a frame (you will see better in last photo.  Jacks are being used to lift the boat off of the ladder frame underneath which must be wrecked out before turning.

Here is the opposite side with a large tie down ring bolted to the 2" x 6" and the hoist attached.

Can't see the chain hoist but it is hooked into a piece of chain looped around the truss above the hole that was bored into the ceiling.  We made new holes in the ceiling later.  Lots of ventilation now!

She's up and starting to slide a little to the right, like we want but needed help.  using a come along we winched the bottom toward the right and continued to lift straight up.  the chain hoists were slow which gave us a lot of control.

Another view of the same angle.  In this view you can see that the far upper right corner of the cradle has embedded itself in the ceiling.  sawzall came in handy to remove "offending corners".  The cradle ended up being trimmed back quite a bit.

My brother Joe sliding the boat with the help of the come along 

as we prepare to pull it over to its natural position

Here it is.  Its bottom to never see the sun again (we hope).  The process took us around 3 hours and could have gone faster but had to regroup a few times to figure out what to do next or how to address a problem or two (mainly ceiling height).  Time for construction again.

How about a little color?

Its time to do a little painting folks.  Tired of looking at a blotchy, splotchy, indistinguishable hulk?  Me too and we're going to take care of that right now...
A quick rundown on what types of paints are used, where they are used and why they are different.  First is the paint that sits at and below the waterline, the Bottom Paint.  This is a paint that must be able to sit for extended periods of time, submerged, in a marine environment subjected to lots of marine organisms that would just love to eat your pretty little boat hull.  Now, painting a hull with bottom paint isn't always a given.  Generally speaking, its a matter of the boat's intended purpose and one (such as this project) will spend most of its time on a trailer and really doesn't need the benefits (and some drawbacks) of the bottom paint.  Now that leads to the possible alternatives of bottom paint.  One of those being what we call Topside Paint.  This kind of paint is intended generally for the areas above the waterline.  It states right there in black and white not intended for "prolonged use below the waterline".  No one can tell me just what "prolonged" means so we were a little hesitant to use it on a boat that may see up to a week in the water.  So... what to do.  There is another alternative that get us by for now and can be painted later if need be and that is a graphite filled epoxy bottom.  Used typically on kayaks and smaller boats, I decided to give it a try.  Folks tout that it will create a slick-as-snot barrier to rocks and such but I sort of doubt this.  It does seem to be a little slicker than epoxy alone and more importantly leaves a nice black color, I mean jet black.  For my topside paint, I used a 2 part marine urethane paint made by System 3, called WR-LPU.  What's great about this paint is that it is a water based poly which I have used or years building furniture.  Standard respiration and water cleanup are big bonuses for a small shop that can't afford fresh air respiration.  So, on to the process...

Striking the Waterline...
So this waterline is basically the level line that the boat should sit at in the water, loaded..  The designed waterline is the unloaded line that the boat would theoretically sit at which was basically at the corner of the back or the boat and at the front as well.  My calculated Loaded Waterline is the green taped line in the picture to the left.  Its about 3" lower than the DWL.  I used a rotary laser level to establish this and marked the boat all around at that level.  By the way, I decided to try a new tape on the market.  Marketed as Frog Tape, it proved fantastic in both resistance to bleed through of paint and bleed under of paint.  I used both the yellow and green versions and both worked equally well.  There's not much beyond this to say, only that it was pretty easy to get it wavy if you aren't careful.

I found that it was easier to get a nice fair line if I pulled three to four feet at a time and keep that much out as I pulled, letting the tape "fall" in the correct spot.  Not too bad once you get the hang of it.

Graphite Bottom...
The bottom epoxy coating is pretty simple.  It is just a matter of  mixing around 2 teaspoons per ounce of graphite powder (available at epoxy supply houses) with the needed amount of epoxy and roll it on. Put graphite in a clean cup and pour the mixed epoxy in it.  Much easier to mix. The one thing you won't get is a particularly smooth finish and I didn't think it was any problem as this will spend its life resting on a trailer bunk or submerged. 

The bottom received a total of 3 coats and looked pretty decent, or so I thought until I sprayed topside paint and compared the two next to each other.  It definitely looked like a homogenous structure and we could really see a final product emerge.

Primer...

In keeping with the System 3 line of product I used their epoxy primer formulated  for the WR-LPU line of  topcoats and masked up the boat to protect the mahogany transom and the newly epoxied bottom. Craft paper for the back and painter's plastic film for the bottom. I masked off a 1" border on the transom to be painted in what would be a traditional plank-edge fashion; as if the boat were traditionally planked and the ends of the boards were visible to the viewer from the transom.

Here you see the primed boat, ready for its white Bootstripe coat and "striking off" of the Bootstripe itself.  This Bootstripe I speak of is a design element originally meant to separate the topside and bottom paint and adds a sleek look to the boat. 

Now the paint...

My brilliant idea was to paint the white bootstripe paint and the white stem letting the paint spray past the intended line.  What this did was show up as an irregular thick edge in the color coat and eventually required sanding to smooth down, but we'll cover that later...

Once again we used the rotary laser to strike the line and I somehow managed to catch it as it pulsed by.  One thing to note here is that the boat hull's angle changes the width to the human eye.  the more angular, the thinner it will look, the more vertical, the thicker it will look.  That's why you just can't pull a 2" wide piece of tape and have it look the same thickness along the hull.

With the white painted bootstripe and stem masked off, we got ready to spray the color and you folks already know its a very, very retro green (57 Chevy Surf Green or as close as I can get).  S3 doesn't stock the color but the good folks at Sherwin Williams was good enough to sell me the BASF pigment necessary to get close (12oz of Jargon Jade) and  it was a matter of trial and error to get the gallon of white pigmented to the point that we were happy.  Wife loves the color and it looks like something that you would find in the Gulf.

Before re-sand, dull reflection....

 Here's the "almost final" product.  I say this because when it was all said and done we sanded this all back and recoated it.  Now, I know that sounds crazy but the finish was orange peeled like crazy.  You can see a sheen but the surface was too rough and I'll explain why...


 This particular paint is very temperature and pressure sensitive.  My mistake was threefold...
1. Shop temp was too low (60's).
2. Gun tip was too small (should have been 1.8 not 1.3) and was having to spray at 40psi vs. the recommended 25 to 30psi.
3. Paint wasn't thin enough (20% and should have been more like 30% water added).

Not to mention that the bottom looked like crap and was too rough to live with.  So, we climbed back on the bottom and sanded what must be the nastiest epoxy finish to sand ever.  We looked like coal miners but the bottom was smooth.  As we sanded out the sides, we sanded through the sides in places using 220G and 320G paper.  More color, more taping and much better results...

Reflective after 2 clear coats

White Stem which I've been told isn't traditional but is flashy, hell I wore yellow parachute pants in high school and breakdanced for God's sake!

You can still see orange-peel but what a tough finish!  My experience with Waterborne is that once cured, it is much tougher than solvent based.