On Friday night I used the random orbital to sand the Easypoxy undercoat (primer) with 220 grit. If I were doing this again, I’d roll and tip the primer. I just rolled it and spent a little more time sanding to get the primer nice and smooth. But oh well, now I know.
The next morning I pick Thomas up and we went about doing a little bit of finish sanding along the cove strip and the edges at the bow and stern. We washed the hull real good wit plain old water and let that dry, then taped off the waterline. We put some paint in the tray and started painting. Thomas was armed with the 6” roller with a smooth surface foam nap. I had a 3” china bristle brush. We both had short saw horses to stand on, and used one of the taller ones to keep the paint tray within reach. Then it was just the basic roll and tip painting, however I did come up with a few tips. Have more than one brush available. By the time we finished one side of the boat the brush was starting to leave some light streaks from the paint that was setting up on the brush itself. Also, don’t let the roller get too far ahead of the tipper, if you can tip immediately after rolling the paint is still really wet. In the 80 degree sun the paint starts to get tacky really quick.
This is how the boat looked when Thomas and I were finished with the 1st coat. The actual painting went pretty quick, and hour tops.
The next morning I got down to the yard early and started lightly sanding the cured paint with 220 again. There were some vertical lines from the tipping that were visible from 5 feet or so. I used the orbital to hit the whole boat, and then used 220 on a backing pad to hand sand a few more spots. Then more washing with the hose and a quick trip to the head before Eric was to arrive. Eric owns a Big 32 foot gaff rig cutter and had painted above his waterline last October. We spent some time catching up, and then went to work. I picked up a second brush for today, but I accidently grabbed a synthetic one rather than the china bristle, but this turned out to be a good thing. This brush just felt a lot lighter than the china bristle. So we started on the starboard side because it was in the shade. I figured we’d add thinner as we went and moved into the sun. I had the thinner, but did not use any on Saturday, in hindsight I think the thinner would have helped the paint lay down smoother. Anyways, back to Sunday. Eric rolled and I again tipped. I really liked the synthetic brush, it floated a lot better than the China and felt smooth in my hand. However, there was no visual benefit, I could not see a difference. We added a cap full of thinner half way through the shaded side. By the time we got to the bow we had come up with a system, rather than the roller rolling out a 12-24” section and me tipping, Eric would roll out 6-8” and I’d tip immediately, then he’d roll out another 6-8 inches. This system kept the wet edge much better, but again, I can’t say that it laid the paint any smoother. Again the painting went really quick. I’m happy with how it turned out. I have one small dry spot and a couple finger prints to touch up, but luckily they are pretty close together and I can just blend in the whole area.
Still having a lot of day left I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a 6” bench grinder and some buffing wheels. I’m buffing out all the hardware before it goes back on. So far I’m only having so-so results with the aluminum, but the stainless is coming out like a mirror!
I went back down to the Yard last night after work and put another coat on the cabin sides. I want to get the windows in soon so I don’t have to keep tarping the boat every time it rains. I’m going to get one more coat on tonight, and then I can work on cleaning up the aluminum window frames on the buffer. I’ve read some good things about 3m’s aluminum marine restorer. I might pick some up and see what happens.
So far I’m very happy with the outcomes. I can’t wait to get the waterline and cove strip finished. I’m really digging the black and white. I find it really classy, Ace does too!
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