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Thursday

Now that the fresh topcoat had had nearly 24 hours’ cure time, and the exterior painting complete, I went ahead and removed all the masking tape from the boat, revealing the clean paint lines and giving a hint to the final appearance of the boat.  I also took the chance to clean up from the recent painting efforts, stowing away the various equipment and returning the shop to more or less normal order.  I’d give the fresh gloss paint another day before overmasking for the nonskid portion of the deck.

Total time billed on this job today:   3.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
20 °, snow, about 4-5″ overnight.  Forecast for the day:  Snow ending, then clearing, low 30s.

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Wednesday

After final preparations, paint mixing, and tacking off, I applied three coats of Alexseal off-white gloss topcoat to the deck areas.   I sprayed the decks in two stages this time (I’d been able to do the primers all at once), to avoid leaning into fresh paint:  first the cockpit well and seating areas, as well as the coachroof and hatch tops, then, after three coats in those areas, I continued with three coats on the cabin trunk channels, and other areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
Mostly clear, 20°.  Forecast for the day:  Snow beginning late in the afternoon, perhaps another 8-12″ overnight.

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Tuesday

After spending the morning clearing snow and preparing for the next round in another day or so, I got to work in the shop with final preparations for the gloss topcoats on the deck.  During the afternoon, I laid out and masked off the eventual nonskid areas, leaving borders around the edges as necessary for appearance and function.  I covered the field areas with paper to protect against overspray.

Afterwards, I cleaned up the shop and washed down, and finished up with a final vacuum and solvent-wash along with early preparations for the paint and spray equipment.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
12°, clear.  24″ or so of snow yesterday..  Forecast for the day:  sunny, high 20s.

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Monday

Starting in the cockpit, and moving outboard, I lightly sanded the fresh primer by hand and machine, smoothing the surface and preparing it for the next steps.  Afterwards, I vacuumed up the dust and performed an initial solvent wash to clean the surfaces for the next stage of masking.

Normally, I’d have continued work, but with heavy snowfall outside I had to turn my attention to plowing staying ahead of the snowfall rates.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
20°, heavy snow, maybe 10-12″ since inception.    Forecast for the day:  snow all day, very heavy all morning and into the afternoon.

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Sunday

With a major winter storm predicted for Sunday night and Monday, I changed my painting plans a bit and chose to spray the finish primer coats on Sunday morning instead of Monday, rather than run the risk of losing power at some critical moment during the storm on Monday, as well as to keep my schedule more or less on track.  Even ignoring the sensationalistic hype surrounding the snowstorm, it looked to be significant, and windy, and during the height of the storm wouldn’t be the ideal time to be in the middle of spraying.

So, after final preparations and tack-off, I applied three sprayed coats of epoxy-based finish primer to the deck areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  4 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
12°, cloudy, 4-5″ light, fluffy snow yesterday and overnight.  Forecast for the day:  heavy snow late, overnight, and Monday, 18-24″ predicted

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Thursday

The fine fairing compound had cured overnight, and now I sanded the decks again, concentrating on the areas I’d filled and touching up elsewhere as needed.  Afterwards, I did the cleanup rounds, preparing the boat and shop for the next round of primer, along with sundry tasks like repairing a few areas where the masking tape had been damaged by the sanding.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
22°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  snow, 8″ or so predicted

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Wednesday

By machine and hand as necessary, I sanded the decks to smooth and prepare the freshly-applied high-build primer for the next steps.

This primer step highlighted various areas requiring a bit of final attention, mainly pinholes in the old gelcoat or laminate, minor crazing, and similar minor flaws that the high-build didn’t fill on its own.  So after cleanup, vacuum, and solvent wash, I applied fine epoxy fairing compound around the deck as needed, focusing mainly on the areas that would eventually be finished with gloss paint, but also in the field areas where necessary.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
14°, light sleet and freezing rain, 4-6″ of snow and sleet overnight.  Forecast for the day:  snow ending, warming to the 40s briefly.

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Tuesday

After final preparations, over the course of several hours I spray-applied three coats of Alexseal high-build epoxy primer to all the deck areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:

14°, light snow, a dusting.  Forecast for the day:  light snow in the morning, then heavier snow in the afternoon and overnight.

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Monday

I spent the morning on the final tasks required to prepare for high-build primer, starting with masking off the brightwork and whatever else needed it.  I thought the all-green look for the brightwork was an interesting one.  (Maybe if the boat were Bahamian.)

With the masking complete, I did my final deck cleaning, vacuuming as necessary and a final solvent wash with the paint system’s proprietary wipe-down solvent.

I spent the rest of the day preparing the paint and spray equipment and all the other little things I do to transform from workshop to paint shop.  I turned up the heat to bring up the shop temperature overnight, and looked forward to applying the primer next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
Missed the temperature observation.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, 20s

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Friday

With the exterior wood refinishing complete, I removed the masking tape from all areas except the outside edges of the toerail, which was still holding the protective plastic in place over the hull.

Armed with a finishing sander and various sandpaper, I sanded all the woodwork in the cabin as needed, including the trim that I’d stripped, plus all the other trim and bulkheads to prepare them either for paint or new varnish work.  My patchwork on the lower bulkheads would require some additional filling in a second round a bit later, but for now at least I had the heaviest sanding out of the way, and after cleaning up the interior was basically ready for new work.

While I still had the sanding vibe going on, I sanded the fairing compound over the repaired through hull on the bottom, more or less completing that area as well.  Later, marked and drilled small pilot holes for some of the deck hardware, including the bow pulpit and lifeline stanchions, to aid me in relocating the hardware later after the painting was complete.

Now, with this final of the “dirtiest” chores complete, I could turn to the beginnings of preparation for deck primer and paint, starting with thoroughly cleaning up the boat and shop, blowing, sweeping, and vacuuming up dust from the various work over the past weeks and, later, washing down the floor and staging to settle and remove the final bits of dust.

After solvent-washing portions of the interior, I masked off some of the openings, including some hardware holes in the foredeck, the cockpit scuppers, and the insides of the port openings in the cabin.  Though I was running out of time, it was still tempting to start masking some of the woodwork and deck areas to advance the project a little more before the weekend, but in the end I decided I really wannted to (as I’d planned all along) leave the fresh brightwork for several days before overmasking, so I called it a day–and a week.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:

6°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sun, increasing clouds, maybe a snow shower, 28°