Wednesday

Before starting on the finish primer for the hull, I had to remove the masking from the hull/deck joint, which protected the hull from overspray during the deck primer application, then move the staging down  a couple feet for better access to the hull.  Then, I had to do the final solvent-wash to the hull using the paint system’s proprietary solvent for this use, and tack off thereafter.

With these and the usual other preparations complete, I applied four coats of dark gray epoxy primer to the hull over the next several elapsed hours.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  29°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 38°

Tuesday

After final preparations including tacking off, I spray-applied three coats of epoxy finish primer to the deck and companionway hatch.  To better reach the center of the coachroof–both upper and lower sections–I began by spraying that area, standing on the port sidedeck.   I applied two relatively heavy coats to the centermost strip, including the area between the companionway hatch rails.

With good coverage from the two coats, and the ability to reach most of the area from the staging during the multiple coats ahead on the remaining deck, I removed the paper I’d put down to walk on, and proceeded with the three coats over the rest of the deck, including the center portion as much as possible.  I always wish this primer was the finished paint, because it goes on like buttah and really makes things look good.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Light rain, 35°.  Forecast for the day:  Rain and fog, 38°

Monday

I spent the first part of the day going over the hull and deck once more, sanding the fine filler as needed by machine and hand, and retouching any other areas I found along the way.   Where the new paint would intersect the “old” paint I’d applied in the cockpit during phase 1 a year before, at the aft ends of the cabin trunk and at the traveler platform, I removed an intentional and sacrificial piece of masking to expose a bit of the shiny paint (I’d previously masked right to the edge for the high-build), and now I sanded this transition smooth and remasked to prepare for the next layers of primer.

After the sanding, I blew down and vacuumed and solvent-washed the boat and shop to remove dust.  This brought the surfaces to nearly their state of readiness for finish primer.

Afterwards I rinsed off the staging and floor to settle dust and clean these surfaces.

For finish primer, I planned to do the decks and hull in separate operations spread over two days, starting with the decks.  I no longer wanted to adjust the staging in the midst of a spraying day, as I had sometimes done in the past, and while I’d managed to spray the high-build from the deck-height staging, it was not a process I cared to repeat for the much more important finish primer coats. With the substantial dual-round of sanding after high build, I could take some liberties with its application, but not so with the finish primer.

Because the deck primer and paint would cover the outside of the molded toerail down to the hull-deck seam, I masked off the hull just beneath to protect the prepared surfaces from overspray and make prepping and applying the hull primer easier the next day.  I made a few minor masking repairs here and there on deck, then cleaned the entire deck once more with the proprietary solvent wash, leaving things ready for finish primer next time.  Because I needed to get up on deck to better reach the centermost portions of the coachroof, I added some masking to the sidedeck so I could stand there without marring the clean deck beneath; once I sprayed the center portions, I’d remove that paper and spray the rest of the deck.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Fair, 12°.  Forecast for the day:  Chance of rain and snow , then rain and snow overnight, 36°

Friday

First thing, I finished up the hull sanding–the midships third (or so) of the boat on each side–along with the companionway hatch, with 220 grit paper.

With the sanding complete for now, I vacuumed the dust from the hull and deck, then solvent-washed the surfaces.

Next, I went over the entire boat carefully, using a light and (now-needed) magnifying glasses to mark with a pencil all the little pinholes, porosity, and other tiny nicks and dings that required fine filling or fine-tuning.  Small voids tend to show up in exposed laminate (especially old laminate from which the gelcoat has been sanded off), in new fairing compound, and in assorted other places that were highlighted by the fresh primer, like it was its job (it is).  On this boat, the toerails–both inside and out–were particular problem areas, with substantial areas full of porosity from oversanding that had exposed the mat-laden laminate beneath.

With all requiring attention duly marked, I mixed and applied gray epoxy fine fairing compound as needed, leaving it to cure over the weekend.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  20°, sleet, a couple inches down overnight.  Forecast for the day:  Sleet and snow, 4-8″, temperature falling to 14°

Thursday

I began the day’s sanding odyssey on deck, sanding the areas I couldn’t reach from the staging, including the upper and lower coachroof and the center part of the foredeck.  From there, I continued the deck sanding from the comfort of the staging, working my way around the whole area to sand and smooth the primer by machine and hand.

With the deck fully sanded for now, I moved on to the hull, beginning at the stern with the counter, transom, and the rest of the hull about as far forward as the after set of jackstands, or roughly about the after third of the boat; then, I sanded both sides of the bow, roughly the forward third of the hull in length, though greater in area.  With the ends done, this left me only the amidships sections of the boat–the easier parts–to finish on the morrow.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, overcast.  Forecast for the day:  Fog and clouds, then rain late, turning to sleet and snow overnight, 41°

Wednesday

After final preparations, I sprayed three coats of epoxy high-build primer, first on the decks, then on the hull.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  28°, overcast.  Forecast for the day:  Chance of freezing rain, then chance of rain, 37°

Tuesday

I finished on the masking on deck with the cockpit area, which needed to be entirely masked off since I’d painted it during phase 1 a year or so ago, along with a few pieces of remaining hardware.

During the rest of the day, I busied myself with preparing the paint and spray equipment and all related chores, along with a final solvent wash of hull and deck, leaving things ready for high-build primer next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -8°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 29°

Monday

Continuing work on the hull, I installed masking paper below the taped line at the waterline, just for some overspray protection beneath, then took the opportunity to solvent-wash again the hull from the waterline and as far up as I could reach while I had clear access.

Next, I reassembled the staging at a convenient height for the deck work.

Back on deck and inside, I finished the cleanup process there, wiping all areas of the interior to ensure that tape would stick, and solvent-washing the decks, which I’d only vacuumed during the earlier cleanup.

For the rest of the day, I masked as needed, mainly the port openings, hatches, and covering all the fastener holes from beneath.  By the end of the day, the masking was nearly complete, except for the cockpit, which I had to cover completely–but with several hours’ worth of other prep work still ahead before I could think about painting, I planned to finish next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -8°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 25°

Friday

Beginning once more on deck, I finish-sanded the coachroof recore project, now for the last time this go-round.  I was pretty pleased with the end results but once the high-build primer was on I was sure there’d be a few pinholes and minor additional filling needed.

And just like that, it was time to transition into primer prep for real.  I began this with a significant cleanup of the boat and shop:  Blowing down the boat and walls; vacuuming the boat inside and out; sweeping; and, since I planned to dismantle the staging and reinstall it at deck height again, took the opportunity to solvent-wash the hull first.  Finally, I rinsed off the staging and floor to settle the remaining dust.  Clear air once more.

Before moving back up to deck level to begin the final primer preparations there, I checked again the boat’s level and found it a bit off; I’d found a loose stand before and so it wasn’t a surprise that things had shifted a bit.  So I made the requisite adjustments to bring the boat back to level (side to side).

While the staging was in limbo, it was a great time to mark the waterline (in this case meaning the upper edge of the bottom paint, or lower edge of the hull paint to come).  When I’d made my reference measurements before beginning hull paint removal, I’d pre-determined and measured for the new line, so now it was  pretty simple matter to recreate these marks at the stem (40″ down from the bottom of the chainplate) and stern (18.5″ from the transom corner at the centerline).  I set up horizontal (level) beams stem and stern at these heights.

With a string tautly suspended between the two beams, I marked the new line, starting roughly amidships (or at maximum beam) and, bit by bit, bringing the string into touch the hull, taping it in place and making pencil marks above, starting first with the aft half (till the string reached the centerline at the counter), then from amidships forward to the stem in the same way, and repeating the processes on the other side of the boat.

After removing the paraphernalia, I masked to the pencil marks, fairing by eye and delineating the area to be primed above.  By now it was late in the day, and with the floor still wet in places I decided to await installing my habitual strip of masking paper beneath the tape till next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  19°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, 30°

Thursday

I began once more on the coachroof, this time with more of a detail sanding with finer materials and by hand as needed as the surfaces edged closer to completion.  The net result was still a bit shy of its final stages, with a few minor low areas that would require another round of fairing compound.  This was not unexpected, but one always hopes for the fewest rounds.

After cleanup and other preparation, I applied more epoxy fairing compound to those areas as required.

I had to take a break to attend to other business during the late morning, but after lunch I returned to work on the hull, sanding smooth the various epoxy repairs and fairing compound I’d started here and there, and then sanding the entire hull twice more, this time with 80-120 grit paper on a 6″ finishing sander, bringing the hull to its final state of readiness for primer.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  -9°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 21°