I had planned to go down to Massachusetts today to pick up the new aluminum fuel tank for Kaholee, but unfortunately the welding shop was delayed and the tank wasn't ready. Perhaps I'll be able to go later in the week.

This meant that I could proceed with the deck preparation ahead of schedule, and advance the whole process by an entire day--always a good thing.  I began by sanding the gray fairing compound that I applied late yesterday over some of the small pinholes.  This went well, except for two adjacent areas on a fillet at the aft end of the cabin trunk, which had not cured enough to sand.  I set up a heat lamp, and in an hour or two the material was hard enough to sand.

I went over the entire deck with a flashlight held at an oblique angle so that I could see any areas that might need additional smoothing, particularly on the areas that would eventually be painted with gloss white.  The quality of the topcoat is directly related to the quality of the substrate, beginning with the high build primer.  I spot sanded as required, and then moved on to cleaning up the boat and shop to prepare for finishing primer tomorrow, assuming it arrived on the truck (it did).  I vacuumed the boat, staging, and floor, and then rinsed off the plastic overspray protection and other areas with a hose.  I left final solvent washing and tacking for right before painting.

I decided to prepare the primer in advance, as all the Alexseal I have received from this supplier has tended to be very well settled and hard to stir.  The finish primer base was no exception; the settled material was so thick and dense that my drill spinner broke somewhere in the depths, leaving me with just a shaft.  Fortunately, I had several others and I was able to complete the mixing after some time.  I even recovered the broken spinner from the mess. 

Total Time on This Job Today:  About 2.5

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