I started this morning with some of my least favorite work:  blowing down and cleaning the shop for painting.  I blew the dust off the walls and ceiling, then blew much of the dust out from beneath the trailer so that I could reach it from the sides.  Then, with the garage door open, I did the first coarse sweep of the floor, trying to clean up the worst of the dust there.

Once the dust settled--a task made quicker with the door wide open--I vacuumed the floor to pick up residual dust, and then vac'd off the entire trailer, staging, and other areas as required.  Finally, with a clean, new filter installed on the vacuum, I vacuumed the boat yet again to remove the dust that had settled there.  I washed the decks with solvent so that the masking tape would stick, and moved on to taping.

I began with some plastic to protect the hull and trailer from overspray.  I taped the plastic to the hull just below the hull-deck joint, and then returned with silver masking tape and taped off the very top of the joint where I wanted the deck paint to end.  I chose heavy-duty silver masking tape for this task because it holds up so well to the multiple layers of primer and paint during the whole process.

Then, I used tape and paper to close off the ports and other openings into the interior to protect from overspray.  I also taped the inside of the port cutouts so that paint couldn't run between the paper and the inside of the cabin; you can see in a couple of the pictures that I auditioned two types of masking tape for this chore, trying to decide which one stuck better to the narrow flange and which one conformed better to the curves.  I think the silver tape won, though not by much.

I didn't quite manage to finish the taping before the end of the day.  There's a bit more to do tomorrow.

Total Time on This Job Today:  5.75 hours

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