At some point I decided to use a gray primer instead of white. I’m not really sure even now why I decided this. I guess I was thinking that white primer would be better for the yellow that I’m planning to use inside the boat and gray would be better for the red that I’m planning to use on the outside. But no way am I going to buy two different primers, so I figured the gray would be okay for the yellow as well, while I didn’t think the white would be okay with the red. So that’s it. Probably.
Home Depot did not stock the acrylic exterior gray primer that I wanted, so I ordered it, hoping it would arrive for the weekend before Halloween. It did not arrive for the weekend. As a backup alternative to painting, I thought I would buy the 1× material I’ll be using to make oars, but it was an otherwise busy weekend and I didn’t buy anything. I didn’t do anything for the boat.
So the next weekend brought a very busy Sunday, but I did have time on Saturday to tape the wales and apply a first coat of primer to the inside of the boat. I was quite surprised by how much wood grain still showed through after the first coat. I’d always planned on applying more than one coat, so it’s not a huge problem, but I really thought the first coat would cover better, especially with the gray primer. Also, the marine caulk didn’t take the paint nearly as well as I expected, despite being labelled as being paintable.
Unless I can find time on weeknights, it’s going to be like a month of painting. I’m worried about the weather, since I need it to be above freezing for the paint. The garage was in the upper fifties on Saturday. Let’s hope for warm autumn weekends.
Lesson 1: Painting hard-to-access areas
I’m not sure what the solution to this is, but it was hard to paint underneath the breast hook. Also hard was in the bottom, and especially the drain holes, of the mast step.
Maybe a spray primer? That might work. I’m not hugely concerned about the color in these places.