Wax on, Wax off

Wax on wax off.

It seems never ending sometimes.

First, before the pictures, let me say that I had a moment of learning. Not like last fall, this was a minor moment of learning. The instructions from Awl-Grip say to let the high build primer sit overnight (12-24 hours) before sanding. What they really meant to say is only a fool would let the primer sit more than 24 hours before sanding. This stuff hardens up fast. Hand sanding was out of the question. The primer almost fell off laughing when I approached it with my palm sander. The only viable option was the DA sander; not the best tool for final fairing but it was the only thing that would work. Well, my belt sander would probably have done a job too but that would have been rediculous.

So I went at it aggressively with the DA. I burned through in places but not too bad. The hull looks and feels fair but I need to check it more carefully before I call it 'Done'.

Okay, pictures. Oh, one more disclaimer, I only put two coats on the non-skid areas of the deck as the non-skid paint really doesn't need primer. I just wanted something down to highlight any issues and provide some UV protection. Most of the non-skid areas are pretty opaque after sanding which is fine. It might look worse in the photos but I am happy with it. The edges I sanded with the palm sander but I still burned through quite a bit. It was tough finding the right mixture of aggresive caution required to remove some primer but not too much. I will be doing a detailed inspection tomorrow and if I need to I can apply another coat (now that I am so much better learned) but I am thinking I am okay. The high build primer is not the final pre-paint primer so I am not terribly concerned yet. Even if I do decide to coat again it should go quick.

Pictures:









By the way, I have no idea what I am doing. I read what I can and I experiment. If someone sees me making a gross error please feel free to correct me. It is tricky doing it 'right' the first time when I really don't know what 'right' is supposed to look like. I am just winging it and hoping for the best and expecting to learn along the way.

The high build did the job of highlighting a few areas I missed or needs a little more attention. Tomorrow I plan on spending a good deal of time slowly and patiently going over every inch and writing down what needs touching up. That way I won't forget until I am coming by with the paint roller.

There were a few minor fairing spots but not really anything to worry about. Some areas with pinholes but the high build did a good job of covering up most of them. I found a few dings I had forgotten about. And then there were the outer edges of the deck. Getting the cracked gelcoat off without damaging the underlying laminate was pretty near impossible so I decided to grind aggresively and rebuild the edges with fairing compound. For the most part it worked but that leaves a pretty soft corner to sand and with the primer sanding so hard it was pretty tricky sanding it smooth without gouging the lip of the deck edge. I really should have taken a picture to explain. There is a slight raised edge all around the late model Triton deck where the toerail attaches. The inner edge is a curved shape that is tricky in the best of times to sand well. I may or may not take the time to make this pretty. In the big scheme of things it really isn't a big deal and with paint I might not even notice and I really doubt anyone else every will.

Now it is all about deciding how fussy to be. At some point I will say 'good enough' and move on with the final priming. That should happen by the end of the week. That will be nice.

em tasol