Hull Paint Project, Part 4R (Reject)

Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage, Port Charlotte, FL

Ay ay ay,  I have to eat my words from yesterday's post when I said all went well.

I inspected the work last night before sunset.  IT WAS TERRIBLE! :-(.    We missed several spots entirely.  There were ripples, drips,  brush marks, and "orange peeling" everywhere.  It was certainly far from the mirror finish we hoped for.    I tried hand sanding the imperfections with 400 grit sandpaper.  But that top paint dries hard as diamonds.  The hand sanding did nothing.  

I decided, "No painting Saturday.  I'll take a day to sand off the imperfections before continuing."

This morning I went to Home Depot to get some sanding discs finer than the 220 grit that I already have.  Turns out that 220 is the finest grit they sell.

I started sanding with the 220 grit paper.  After 5 minutes I noticed a spot the size of a dime where I over sanded through 3 coats of paint, all the way down to the grey primer.

WAIT!  SLOW DOWN!  I WAS ACTING AND REACING TOO HASTILY. 

OK, what the root cause?  After reflection, I see that we were in too much of a hurry.   We painted the entire hull in the 3.5 hour time window from 0730 to 1100 when the sun angle and temperatures were within limits.   Clearly that was too fast.  We hastened to roll, then tip, then move the scaffolds and ladders to the next spot, and we barely finished by 1100.  That did not leave enough time to revisit the spots previously painted to look for drips or ripples forming, and to tip them away with thinner before they dried.  I now realize that each section needs to be revisted and potentially re-tipped every 10 minutes up to an hour.  We were going much too fast.

Also, I realized that with white-on-white, that neither Libby or I could see the missed spots in the bright-bright Florida sunshine.  They only became visible in the weaker light before sunset.  Again, a symptom of being hurried.    In sunlight, we need to get down at the ladders and peer at the hull from all possible angles to see missed spots.

What to do now?   I don't want to be too hasty again  If I over sand, it will make a bad situation worse.  We are going to take 2-3 days off, go to visit Darrick & Sharon and I'll think this through before continuing.   That also gives time for any blog readers to respond to this with advice.  I need good advice.

p.s.  I've been taking pictures every day, but I was planning on publishing them at the end.  The imperfections aren't visible in my pictures.

Sigh

Edit: I was able to find 320 grid discs on amazon.com even though the local stores don't carry them.

Edit: I should also mention that Libby and I are very adverse to living in a boat yard.  That contributes to our hurry-up-and-get-the-job-done disposition.