Alberg 30 sailboat project: Painting on Deck

Once the second coat of epoxy primer on the cabin and deck was cured we sanded it with 220 grit production paper. The surface was cleaned and we applied a thin coat of Pettit easypoxy semigloss white. Its very important to apply this paint in very thin coats. If applied to thickly the paint film will never fully harden and will result in a permanent soft paint film.

The next day it was sanded with 220 grit paper and wiped down.

I was not entirely happy with the results we obtained by applying the paint by brush so I headed out shopping for an HVLP paint sprayer. We have high pressure sprayers at the shop but with other boats in the shop I dare not risk damaging them with overspray. HVLP stand's for High Volume Low Pressure. The low pressure greatly reduces the amount of overspray. I bought an Earlex 3000 HVLP system, it had gotten rave reviews online and was reasonably priced. We erected two huge blue tarps in the shop from floor to ceiling on the outside of the wall surrounding my boat. I had never used an HVLP gun and was taking no chances with the overspray. I practiced with the gun on some large pieces of cardboard and was very pleased with the simplicity of the gun. Its very easy to adjust and there was very little overspray, the tarps were unnecessary.

If you would like large sheets of thin, firm, clean cardboard for making mock-ups, templates, and rolling out fiberglass on; Head for your nearest Costco store and then go to the pallets of paper towel and toilet paper. The paper products have these lovely sheets of cardboard separating the levels. There are two types of sheets, one is a better quality so be sure you become familiar with both so you get the good ones. They usually have stacks of em not far from the paper products and if you ask they will give you as many as you want for free. Don't say "I'll take all you have" unless you've come in an empty moving van! I said that the first time and the fellow chuckled as he led me to a stack that would have filled my pickup truck box a good two or three times. You can have it all, he said with a smirk.

The boat was papered and masked and I sprayed a coat of paint onto the cabin and areas of the deck that won't be nonskid. The paint job went OK, but I still have a little more practicing to do before I will be happy with the results. The gun performed well, but I need a little more experience to lay the coat down evenly.