Light at the end of the tunnel

Two days into the red oil paint and things are looking up. Coat number (three) four is on the boat and it looks dramatically better than it did after five coats of latex. Since it IS red paint, it is going to take a couple more coats to completely even out the color, but the dark gray primer really is an improvement on the light pink.

I've been able to do two coats per day. It takes about 30-40 minutes per complete cycle, sanding and then wiping down the boat with paint thinner, drying it and then painting & clean up. Then wait for 14 hours and repeat. The 400 grit sanding pass needs to be light, as without 24 hours it would be possible to go too far and cause problems. I've been storing the foam roller in a Ziplock bag between coats and cleaning the bristle brush and wrapping it in Varsol dampened paper towels and storing it in a Ziplock as well.

The oil-based paint is flatter, harder and better to work with in every way. Sands like real paint. The roll & tip works much better with the oil paint, and I'm using Penetrol as a flow enhancer with the paint. I'm going to switch to a flat foam brush tomorrow from the bristle one I'm using to see if the brush strokes are reduced. It will be interesting to see how good I can get the surface before I switch to spraying the paint.

I don't want to use the spray until necessary as I have a healthy respect for the damage that can be done with overspray.