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.

I spent the morning removing all the masking from the hull and deck, always a nice step to reveal the (more or less) final appearance.

On the hull, above the sheer strake, the actual final paint line was roughly 1″ above the bottom edge of the primer coats, which I’d intentionally kept lower at the onset to allow flexibility and easier blending with the hull primers.  So the sheer strake, once painted, would be a bit wider than it would appear from these photos.

Since it was too soon after painting to think about masking over the fresh paint so I could do the nonskid, there was little else I could do for the moment to advance the project other than to collect and set up masking materials for next time.  The nonskid would be the final task before I could rebuild the staging at hull height and begin the primers and paint there.

After final preparations, I applied three coats of snow white gloss topcoat (LPU) to the deck areas, beginning once more with the inboard areas of the coachroof, along with the cockpit and cockpit well.  With three coats on all those areas, I could continue with three coats on all remaining deck areas and the loose hatches.

First thing, I finished up the masking on the coachroof.  At the edges, I held a rigid straightedge against the cabin side, and marked 1-1/2″ inboard from there to establish the nonskid line.  I covered the nonskid field areas with masking paper to prevent against overspray.

Next, I moved to the sidedecks and remainder of the boat.  I chose a 3/4″ border around the raised stanchion and pulpit base pads, as well as around the windlass on the foredeck, and 1-1/2″ borders along the toerails and cabin sides (and elsewhere as needed).  At the aft end of the sidedecks, I struck a line following the curvature of the inside of the cockpit coaming to mark the end of the nonskid there.  I rounded all corners with a 1/2″ radius, and covered the field areas with masking paper to protect against overspray.

The final masking task was to strike and mask the final paint line on the outside of the toerails, which would reestablish the visual demarcation of the hull-deck joint.  I made up a simple marking jig from 3/4″ plywood that I could rest flat on the top of the toerail, and use the bottom edge for the mark.  I determined the height at the bow, where there was a clear knuckle in the profile between hull and deck, and marked just above the knuckle itself.

Because about half the toerails were a slightly different (lower) height, where the long sail tracks would be installed, I had to make up a little spacer from plywood to keep the jig at the same height along the entire length of the boat.

In this way, I made a series of marks along both sides of the boat, about 12″ or so apart, then masked up to this line from below, fairing by eye as needed.

With the masking complete, I used up the rest of the day on final preparations for topcoat, including setting up paint and spray equipment, a final solvent wash of the deck areas, and other related tasks.