A Day of Painting

Today started with sanding yesterday's epoxy coating on the coaming. All the shaping and grinding had already been done, so it was a quick and easy job.

I vacuumed the inside, then vacuumed it again. The spaces between the thwarts and deck are nearly inaccessible to everything except dust, but I was able to reach in and wipe them down too.

Most of the day's work consisted of repainting the entire inside except the thwarts and other trim, which are a darker shade of the same green color. As I worked, additional dust and debris appeared as if by magic, so the shop vac was kept busy.

The acrylic paint I'm using may be a problem. It dries quickly and cures hard over a period of weeks, but it does not seem to stand up to scrubbing very well. In use, it may not resist abrasion satisfactorily. I need more topside white paint anyway, so I'll talk with the paint people about my alternatives. Acrylic paint is sometimes used as an undercoat, with oil- or MEK-based paint over it, but whether I can get the same shade of color is another matter. I'll deal with it, but I'm not going to worry about it now.

Finally today, the deck got its first coat of paint. Painting reveals previously undetected faults in the surface, but in this case the only faults are small pinholes which can be filled easily before the next coat of paint. I did not paint the coaming today because it will be the darker trim color. Maybe tomorrow.