I spent the morning sanding the hull primer with 320 grit paper, by machine and hand as required.  The power went out at 1000, but I was able to continue on generator power for the remainder of the day and get through what I needed to.

Afterwards, I went through my normal cleaning procedures (blowdown, vacuum, solvent wash, shop rinse and cleaning) to prepare the boat and shop for the next step, which would be to mask off the sheer strake and new boottop.  But with the primer only just over 24 hours old, it was too soon to mask on top, so that task would await the morning.

 

Over the course of the morning hours, I sprayed four coats of epoxy finish primer on the hull.  For this boat, I mixed equal parts of white and gray primer bases to lighten the primer a bit, hoping it’d be a good base for the final hull color.

After a full weekend, there was no problem this time with the fine filler curing in time.  It didn’t take long to sand the various areas I’d filled, after which I went through the usual steps:  vacuum; solvent wash; clean up and wash down shop and staging.

For the remainder of the day, I completed all the other items on the finish primer prep list (as it were), including a final solvent-wash with the fancy solvent, preparing paint and spray equipment, tacking off the hull, and other sundry.   Next:  finish primer.

To prepare the hull, I vacuumed, then solvent-washed all areas.

With a strong light, I went carefully over the hull and marked with a pencil various minor areas requiring additional attention, mainly  open porosity in exposed laminate or fairing compound, or other small nicks or pinholes.  These photos show a couple examples (other photos I took didn’t come out clearly).

I mixed a small batch of the epoxy fine filling compound I like for this stage, and troweled it on where needed, filling the voids.  This was all I could do to move the project forward for the moment. The slow-curing material would have the full weekend to cure sufficiently before sanding again.

At some fairly recent point in time over the course of many projects over the years, I decided that I liked sanding bow sections the least of any on the boat–less enjoyable than even the uncomfortable counter sections, mainly because the bows just go on and on, with the highest freeboard and those pesky angled stems–so now I started sanding there, to finish them first.  I began on the port bow, at the aft end of the first staging section, and, using 220 grit by machine and hand, sanded the fresh high build primer as needed to smooth and prepare the surface for the next steps.  Then, I worked around the bow and down the starboard side.  I had only a few hours available, as I had to go to the airport later, so I planned to keep sanding till I had to depart.  I made it through the counter, and started back up the port side.

As it happened, I managed to finish the entire hull in the allotted time, which was a pleasant surprise.  I left things here for now, happy with the progress.  Next time, I’d clean the hull and then mark and fill any areas requiring additional work as highlighted by the primer.

After final preparations, I applied three sprayed coats of epoxy high-build primer to the hull.

Before beginning the final hull preparations, I checked the boat for level.  Though I’d leveled the boat at the beginning of the project, things can easily move during the work and vibrations, and indeed I needed to make some minor adjustments to bring the boat back to level.  Then, while the staging was still at deck height, I masked off the decks, covering them with plastic sheeting and taping securely all around at the toerail.  I brought the tape down to the bottom edge of the white-painted section of the sheer strake, where I’d masked earlier to spray the gloss white on the decks.

Next, I broke down the staging, removing all the brackets, planks, blocking, and other accoutrements as needed, and reset the planks at a comfortable height for working on the hull. Before setting back up, I took advantage of good hull access and installed a strip of masking paper below the waterline (which I’d marked and taped much earlier in the project).   Note that later on, I moved the forwardmost plank down one notch so it was even with the others, as I found it was too high where I’d set it initially.

Now I had to sand the exposed strips of high build and finish primer near the gunwales all around, in order to ease the hard edges left from previous taping and blend the two primers into the unpainted sections below.  This was all hand work and didn’t take too long.

Throughout the rest of the day, I finished up all the other details required to prepare for paint, including solvent-washing the hull a couple times (first to remove dust from the light sanding at the gunwale, then again with the final, proprietary solvent), preparing paint and spray equipment, masking off two bronze through hulls in the counter, and sundry other tasks, leaving the boat ready for high build primer in the morning.

I wanted to give the new decks ample cure time before I covered them in plastic for several weeks while I worked on the hull, so I’d planned an extra day for this purpose–this day, and I’d made arrangements to do other things in the meantime.  But I spent the early part of the morning removing all the masking tape from the decks before I departed.

After allowing the first coat to cure overnight, I applied a second coat in the same way, hopefully (and presumably) completing the nonskid finish.  It was much easier getting around on deck with the first coat in place; primer sanded with 320 grit does not make for a secure surface in stocking feet.

With over 40 hours on the cure clock, now I could get started on masking off the fresh gloss paint so I could finish the nonskid areas.  Following the lines I’d masked (and painted to) earlier, I applied new tape to protect the white paint and define the nonskid field areas.  This went pleasantly quickly, more quickly than I’d expected.  I added a quick strip of paper to protect the sides of the cabin trunk from any drips from above, since there was a pretty good camber at the edge where the tape ended, and it felt safest to hedge against gravity.

After final cleanup and paint preparation, I applied the first of two coats of light gray nonskid to all areas, beginning with the loose hatches hatches (so I didn’t forget them), then moving on to the cockpit and coachroof, and finally the sidedecks and foredeck.