Hull Prep Continues

|Peter Johnson
Hull prep continues on the schooner build

With the hull fully sheathed in epoxy and cloth, the next stage was to get it ready for paint. That meant a thorough sanding to key the surface, followed by three coats of primer filler to protect the epoxy underneath and build up a fair, smooth base to work from.

Masking Up

Before any primer went anywhere near the hull, we spent a good while masking off everything that didn't need spraying. It's not the most exciting part of the job, but time spent here pays off in a cleaner finish and a lot less cleanup afterwards.

masking the hull ahead of sprayingmore masking of the hull

Spraying the Primer

With the spray gun set up and the workshop as dust-free as we could manage, we started laying down the first coat of primer filler.

our spray gun set up for the primer coatsfirst coat of primer appliedsecond coat of primer applied

Each coat was left to cure before going back over it, building up the primer filler in stages rather than trying to get it right in one pass.

masking the hull before spraying primerprimer being sprayed onto the hullprimer coat drying on the hullprimer coat drying on the hull

Finished Coats

By the third coat the hull was starting to look the part, with a smooth, even surface ready for sanding back and moving on to top coats.

primer dried on the hullfinished primer coat on the hullfinished primer coat on the hullhull being prepped for spraying
Peter Johnson

Written by

Peter Johnson

Pete Johnson is the owner of Epoxy Ltd, trading since the late 1990s and supplying MAS epoxy and boatbuilding materials to professional and DIY builders alike, all under the philosophy of "Simple Perfection". When he's not helping customers, he's usually elbow-deep in one of his own projects, from building the 38ft schooner Iracunda from scratch to restoring boats like Junior, a 1950s Yachting Monthly dinghy rescued from the scrap heap. He writes the workshop blog to share the practical, often hard-won lessons learned building and repairing boats with epoxy.