And while you wait, sand, sand, sand. Your paint and varnish, whatever the type or brand, will be much more likely to adhere correctly if you are patient and let the epoxy finish "blushing". Put a coat of UV inhibiting car wax on the boat after you put the last coat of epoxy on, then go paddle for awhile. Store the boat under a light colored tarp or in the garage. It's too hot to paint now anyway. :-)

After the epoxy has blushed, in a couple of weeks, even a month, sand some more. Wash the boat with dish soap and water, scrub with a scotchbrite pad, and rinse a lot. You can then de-grease (sorta) with a solvent such as acetone or a really safe, environmentally sound and cheap alternative: white vinegar ($2 a gallon from the grocery store).

If you use the Interlux Brightsides on the hull, use their Hi-Fill Primer first. CLC says you don't have to, but it helps with adhesion and fills lots of low spots. Mask the deck area with Painter's Masking tape, making sure to get a crisp, straight line. If you scrimp on the $1 difference in masking tapes, you will regret it while you try to remove the adhesive later. Put a pretty thick coat on, let dry for a couple of days at least, then sand most of it off. You'll notice that all the little places you didn't see before are now filled with white primer, and your hull is much fairer. You can put on another coat and do the same again--you may as well, you bought a quart of primer, and you can't store it that long.

Rinse the boat well, scrubbing with the scotchbrite pad, and you're ready to paint. Use a brush or spray, rollers suck. The texture of the painted surface is much smoother and has less bubbles with a brush. The one-part paints say to put it on until it almost starts to sag. It will, but this doesn't matter until the last coat, because, yes, you guessed it, you're going to sand some more!! Let the paint dry for a couple or three days between coats. I think Interlux says max. drying is in 72 hours. (too lazy to go out and check a can..) Use 180/220 grit, depending on how much you want to take off, but finish with 220. Wet sanding cuts down on concerns about toxicity of dust (wear a mask anyway), and makes for a smoother finish, supposedly. I don't know for sure. I liked the result I got using a foam brush for the last two of four coats on the hull on my latest boat, a CLC Cape Charles. These were really thin coats, and I got a nice finish. 'Course, I scraped it off already on oysterbeds and cypress knees.

In between hull coats, you can move your tape and put a coat of varnish on the deck if you are careful about padding the surface you put the hull on. The paint will rub off while it's still soft--or even make horribly ugly wrinkles. Use a pretty good brush for this. Several people on this bbs say just pitch it rather than trying to clean, as the cleaner costs more than the brush, and you're poisoning yourself or the environment. Give the deck as much time as the hull to dry, depending on the product you use. Interthane has given me good results on paddles and pirogues.

Put a good UV resistant boat or car wax on top of all of this.

If you can only remember one thing I've said, please remember to wait on the epoxy to finish blushing. I spent two days scraping off the first coat of paint that wouldn't adhere. I'd waited two weeks in +95 degree temps (over 100 many days), and still had blush problems. I didn't use primer with my first painting attempt either.

Good luck!

Wynne

Americus, GA USA