Penance

I've sanded away the latex paint as punishment for my childlike belief in things I read on the Internet. As much of my life is on-line both work and after hours, I should know better. Since I'm publishing this on the Internet for others to read and learn from, a cautious reader may be inclined to believe none of this.

Went to see Benny Moore yesterday and bought some GOOD dark gray primer. It took a good chunk of the last two days to sand the latex off Thomas' boat. Not fun. Sanding is the long, endless dark tunnel you must go through in building a boat and I have been through the tunnel twice on this project. Once getting the boat prepped for the latex red, and now once getting the boat prepped for the next try with alkyd (oil based) paint.

One of the benefits of making mistakes like this is that the boat gets sanded a lot more than would have if I had been happy with the first try at red latex. The boat is much better off in the fairness and smoothness department. I'm also getting better due to practice. One of the important lessons learned in painting is knowing when to stop, and avoiding putting too much paint on just because there is a little left in the tray.

Today I'll skim the gray with 400 grit and then put on the first coat of red paint.

<pause of several hours>

The first coat of red paint is on. It looks far better on the dark gray than it did on the pink. Being oil paint, it is slow to dry and has already captured a few hairs and a couple bugs. I've used tweezers to remove the stuff I noticed, but it is what it is. I'll skim the first coat of red with the 400 tomorrow morning early and put another coat on. Oil based paint is a patience game - it is going to take 4 to 5 more days to get where we need to be. It is still red paint after all.

This paint is drying harder, flatter and with more sheen than the latex did after five coats. I'm happy so far.