And after about 2.5 hours of work, there was white! We* primed the deck bits and then painted them today, and then put on the final coat of paint as well as non-skid inside the boat. One more coat on the floorboards and deck tomorrow. We’re getting there! 
* That “we” should be “he” – I was inside with the munchkins, their friends (and cool air) while Wayne painted.
Ten Johnsons and a boat 
Amazing what a transformation that first coat of paint makes, isn’t it? Looking good!
-Joel
By: Joel Bergen on July 27, 2011
at 23:12
that first painting was such a milestone for me! My ‘munchkins’ were old enough to help…….so quite a lot of paint ended up on walls, floor and me due to ‘fun’ paint fights (funny what teenagers class as ‘fun’ isn’t it!).
My only tip here, if you can afford it, put on a couple more coats that you think you need. I did 4 of alumininum flake paint, 4 of undercoat and 4 topcoats and it was well worth the effort and expense. where teh rollers have rubbed off paint or i’ve inadvertently hit the pontoon…….it may have scrapped off a couple of layers but not down to wood! It makes touching up much easier.
the boat is looking brilliant Wayne – not long to go before the launch. Well done !
Steve
Arwen’s meanderings
By: steve on July 28, 2011
at 05:49
I second what Steve said. I bought a gallon of paint and kept on applying coats until I used up all the paint. About 12 coats as I recall. The more coats the better but apply thin coats. Thin coats dry in 24 hours whereas thick coats can take a week or more to dry (don’t ask how I found that out). Also, if you are painting over epoxy, be sure and sand the epoxy well. Most paints won’t stick to unsanded epoxy.
By: Joel Bergen on July 28, 2011
at 21:12
Joel:
How many gallons of topcoat did you use to paint your entire boat? 12 coats seems a bit optimistic. We are just going to get 2 full coats on the inside of the hull (including inside buoyancy tanks) out of a gallon. This actually seems pretty close to manufacturers recommended coverage, based on back of the envelope calculations.
So far, the paint seems to be drying pretty close to published rates, so I think we are about where we should be for coat thickness.
God bless!
By: donumvitae on July 28, 2011
at 22:07
I epoxy encapsulate with two to four coats of epoxy, well sanded between coats, as a primer/sealer and for filling the grain. I use a cabinet scraper in lieu of sandpaper wherever possible. It produces much better results much faster than sandpaper. Then I applied ordinary hardware store oil-based porch and floor enamel with a foam roller, rolled on as thinly as possible. I don’t use primers or topcoats – just epoxy and enamel. I didn’t paint the insides of the buoyancy tanks. I just leave them epoxy coated. They don’t need UV protection and I prefer to keep them clear epoxy for easier inspection and repair. I was able to get 10-12 coats on the hull and about 6 coats on the interior from one gallon. I didn’t paint the seat tops either. They were epoxy coated and then had the mahogany decking glued on. One time I tried brushing but quickly discovered that thick coats took nearly a week to dry but rolled-on thin coats dried overnight. The decks and coaming took a quart.
By: Joel Bergen on July 28, 2011
at 23:54