Centreboard & Drop Boards | Gloss Paint

I decided to gloss the drop boards and the centreboard, leaving the companionway slide and tabernacle until much later.

I need the centreboard to be installed in the keel so I can finish painting the bottom of the hull, and I want to to test the resilience of the latest paint job by leaving the drop boards outside in the weather. If the paint is going to blister again I want to know now.

Here I am sanding the primed drop boards with a P320 grit and a work light to show up the brush marks.

These are the drop boards after their first coat of gloss.

Taking no chances I washed them with water to remove the dust, and when dry wiped them with thinners to get rid of any contamination before applying gloss paint.

I did the same thing with the centreboard.

Here are the centreboard and the drop boards after the recommended three coats of gloss.

The instructions from the paint manufacturer are to sand between coats of gloss with a P400 grit.

I did this with the lower drop board but only sanded the second coat on the centreboard and the upper drop board, to see if it makes any difference.

I couldn't see any difference in the finished articles, so I think one final sanding will suffice.