Companionway Hood | Test Fit

When the gloss inside the companionway hood was good and hard I made a test fit to make sure that everything still lined up before getting out the epoxy.

Here it is held securely in place by temporary screws inside the cabin.

All was well, as it should be. But I have been caught out before by assuming that things are fine when a quick test fit would confirm it for sure.

Next step is to fit the hood permanently. Hooray!

Upper Hull | Lots More Primer

Lots of work, lots of time and very little of any visual interest to share... the only thing more tedious than watching paint dry is looking at photos of it in progress.

So I will keep this post short and sweet and to the point.

I initially thought that five coats of primer would be enough. I think that's what I did on the rudder.

Here is the upper hull after the five coats.

I took the opportunity of priming the drop boards and the tabernacle at the same time, to save time later. Here they are.

That's a gin and tonic in the centre of the table. A good antidote to the tedium of rolling on and tipping out many coats of paint.

Next task was to sand the upper hull to a smooth, flat surface using a P180 grit. This is what it looked like afterwards.

You can see that I sanded through the primer in quite a few places, albeit in only small patches. But previous experience taught me that those patches would show through the subsequent layers of gloss, no matter how many coats were applied.

So five more coats of primer were applied, making ten in all.

This is what the boat now looked like.

I am going to leave the primer to harden for a good long time before sending it again.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I intended to paint inside the companionway hood before installation, for ease of access.

You can see in the above pic that the interior of the hood and the exterior of the slide have received plenty of coats of gloss - ten, to be precise.

I did the same to the area of the cabin roof that will be covered by the hood. This is what it looked like.

Most of the hood's interior will not be visible, so it does not need to have the same high finish as the hull. So no polishing with wet and dry sandpaper, which is great news!

We are making satisfactory if somewhat slow progress. I want the finish to be as good as it can be, applying learnings made when painting the lower hull.

Onwards and upwards!

Upper Hull | Primer!

The long awaited day came when paint was finally applied to the upper hull.

The first coat of primer was predictably patchy, like this.

After two more coats the upper hull looked a lot smarter, as in this pic.

It will require at least one more coat of primer, and probably more. Then I will sand it with a P220 grit to get a smooth, solid colour base for the gloss.

The area on the cabin roof where the companionway hood will be fitted required more primer after I sanded it a bit too aggressively. Here it is after six coats, and still not good enough for gloss.

This leads me to think that six coats at least will be required on the rest of the upper hull. Thus far I have used up a 2.5 litre tin of primer, so it was inevitable that another one would be required. Luckily I had already purchased another tin in anticipation of running out!

Looking good ....

Upper Hull | Getting Ready For Paint

The entire upper hull needed to be made smooth and clean, ready for primer.

I had previously sanded all surfaces with a P80 grit after covering it with fibreglass cloth and three coats of clear resin, so not too much work was now required.

Half a day's work was required to sand the upper hull with a P120 grit, ready for paint.

Here we are sanding.

We're getting there!

Companionway Sill & Cabin Roof | More Primer

When painting the rudder I found that four coats of primer were enough to achieve a smooth undercoat with a solid colour base.

So a fourth coat was applied to the companionway sill and cabin roof where the hood would fit, like this.

That looks nice!

Drain Holes & Tiller Slot | Sealing Out

Various holes through the hull need to be sealed with epoxy resin before paint, to prevent the ingress of water.

These include the outer drain holes in the Dorade boxes, as here.

And the inner ones, in the forward deck well. Like this.

The tiller slot likewise needs to be sealed, as here.

As do the footwell drains. Like this.

Nearly ready for paint!

Portlight & Ventilator Holes | Masking Off

I did not want paint to drip or run through holes in the upper hull when painting got under way.

Accordingly I plugged the ventilator and portlight holes with cardboard by taping up the interior, like this.

And by then dropping a cardboard disk onto the tape, as on this ventilator hole.

That will keep out unwanted paint and debris.

I did the same to the portlight holes, as here.

Nearly ready for paint!