| Bolero
Project |
Friday, June 20, 2008 It was the day for the topcoats in the cockpit. With other work on board at a virtual standstill till the paint was done, I spent the morning finishing another project and moving that boat out of the shop. In the afternoon, I sanded the primer from yesterday and cleaned up. Then, I made a few reference marks a couple inches or so away from the hull along the outer edges of the cockpit and struck a new tape line along the marks, fairing it by eye on each side: this would be the boundary between the white paint and the eventual nonskid in the cockpit. My chosen width was arbitrary, but based on the various conditions existing at the cockpit edges--fairings around the bases of the cockpit seat supports, undulations and inconsistencies in the hull-to-cockpit sole interface, overall aesthetics, and so forth. Then, I covered the remaining sole with paper. |
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After final cleanup, I prepared a batch of Alexseal snow white topcoat, mixed with a flattening agent to reduce the gloss for this application since the cockpit interior was far from perfect thanks to the pre-existing liner and other factors; the lower gloss would look better here, and actually fit the situation better than high gloss would have in any event. I chose the Alexseal, however, for its hardness and durability in this exterior application, rather than use some other sort of paint. Following the product directions, I mixed in an equal part of the flattening agent to bring the sheen down to roughly a matte finish. Then, I sprayed three coats of the finish paint, waiting the appropriate amount of time between each coat. When cured, the flattened paint resembled more of a pleasing satin finish rather than truly matte, which was OK by me. I thought it looked excellent in this application. |
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