Third Coat of Topsides

     The evening of April 9th, I went over Froonie's topsides 2nd coat with 220 grit paper in preparation for her third coat of Interlux Brightsides custom blend - pretty in pink.  I will no doubt have heads turning when out for sails on Froonie...all for Skylar!  I completed the sanding and wiped the topsides down with rags wetted with just water.  Using just rags wetted with water was to get most of the sanding residue, I would wipe with solvent just prior to paint application.  The last thing to do prior to leaving Froonie was to set the tarps so to be ready first thing in the morning for painting.  I awoke early on the morning of the 10th, grabbed the standard coffee and vanilla cream donut, and headed down to paint.  Upon arriving, I immediately set to solvent washing Froonie's topsides in an effort to remove any remaining residue from the sanding.  It is amazing how tenacious the paint dust can be - even though I thought I had taken all the dust from using wetted rags, the solvent grabbed even more dust.  Once the surface was clean, I went ahead and mixed the Brightsides paint:  16 ounces of Blue-Glo White to 1/2 ounce Fire Red...thinned with brushing thinner Interlux 333.  The following pictures show the result of the 3rd coat of topsides paint.

Aft starboard...

         

Stern and port view...

Starboard view...

The evening prior to the 10th, I also took the opportunity to again sand the engine well - Petit Easypoxy applied to the engine well on the morning of the 10th.

     A few days later, I went back down to Froonie and ran over her 3rd coat of topsides with 220 grit paper to be ready for the fourth and final topsides coat of paint.  The fourth coat was necessary, especially around the waterline, as I had had some adhesion issues over the Interlux Interprotect 2000E epoxy-based bottom sealer.  Issues resolved, I welcomed the fourth coat.  Froonie, shown below, ready for her final topsides coat.