November 22, 2017
Steadfast 21
Wednesday
With 45 hours’ cure time on the hull, now I could proceed to mask off the fresh green paint so I could finish up the boottop. To begin, I applied a narrow strip of solvent-resistant vinyl fine-line tape along the top edge of the boottop area; this tape would help create a crisp paint transition and avoid tape bleed-through between the colors. Afterwards, I masked over the vinyl with regular masking tape.
I draped the entire hull in sheet plastic, securing it at the caprails and elsewhere as needed. Along the bottom edge, where I’d be spraying later, I applied masking paper as additional protection against overspray and because the plastic alone, being non-absorbent, might allow paint to run and drip onto the boottop below. At the bow, I made up the difference between the 3′ wide plastic sheeting and the top of the boottop with additional paper, masking everything thoroughly.
After a final solvent wash and tack-off, I spray applied four coats of Alexseal snow white gloss topcoat to the boottop area.
Total time billed on this job today: 5.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation: Cloudy, 32°. Forecast for the day: clouds, advancing showers and rain, 40s