Fighting Lady Yellow

The KathyD is is well on its way to a new paint job. The Interlux Perfection Two Part Epoxy is a great product and the results look great. The old rule of thumb applies here, "Painting is 80% preperation and 20% painting". The topside decks were done in Perfection Snow White and the Hull was done in Perfection Fighting Lady Yellow. We started the painting project on New Years Eve and it's now the 2nd of February and we still have the striping to do. The boat had already had its initial sanding prior to New Years Eve so we went right into the primimg. We put two coats of Interlux Two Part Epoxy Primecoat over the hull and topsides. Between each coat it was sanded with 220 sandpaper, blown off with an air compressor and wiped down with Interlux Thinner 2333N. The primer dried quicker than the paint did so we were able to complete the priming in three days. The painting took the remaining time. After the primimg, we went back and fixed some areas that needed attention and then wiped the hull down and began the painting. We concentrated on the topside first, rolling and tipping as we went. The progress was slow, it took about 4 hours to paint the snowwhite on the topside. We allowed the paint to harden for two days before we even thought about putting a piece of sandpaper on it. At this stage I found it better to hand sand between coats rather than use an orbital tool. I ended up taking the sheet of 400 sandpaper, cutting it in half and wrapping it around one of those 3M Sponge sanding blocks and went to town sanding. The next couple days were spent close to an Advil bottle. The same procedure was used to apply the Fighting Lady Yellow on the hull. I ended up putting 4 coats of paint and two coats of primer on both topside and the hull. Every coat we put on was light, so the fourth coat really made the difference. I highly recommend applying Perfection in light coats. Also, do not thin it if rolling and tipping unless your going for the runny look. Running is not as much a problem as sagging was. Applying the paint in light coats and retipping it was the key. Always look back over your work to be sure sags are not forming. All of the hull pieces that were removed for this project, the rudders, console, hatchs etc were also primed and painted at the same time. In terms of materials, we used 1 1/2 gallons of Primer, 1 1/2 gallons of Snowwhite and 1 gallon of Fighting Lady Yellow. We will put a coat of bottom paint on right before we launch, but looking at the project list, that might not be until fall! We are scheduled to do the topside, hull and boot stripes this weekend. We will update the blog with the results!