Which Paint?

Sometimes I have to remind myself that one day this boat will get finished and look something like this:

In the meantime, I need to prepare the hull for painting.

Preparing the surface will involve filling and patching (see previous post) followed by degreasing.

Degreasing

The outer shell of the glassfibre/ epoxy has a layer of gelcoat. This will need to cleansed using a degreasing fluid.

Sanding (or Abrading).

Every video I see involves the use of a 'random orbital sander'. I take particular notice of :

This is a really wonderful (US) site and worth subscribing to: full of advice and practical videos on small boats. So I bought a sander & sanding disks on their say-so.  

Quantity of Paint Required (Areas to be Painted)

It's no good guessing at the quantity of paint, firstly, one needs to know the areas to be covered - I used this formula from the suppliers of my boat plans

SELWAY  FISHER DESIGN

There are two areas I'm interested in are,
 (a) below the waterline (the Load Water Line, LWL) which is the green area in the top photo.

        ....and...

  (b) above the waterline: from the top of the green area to the gunwale. Here the Length used with be the Length Over All  (LOA) ... not forgetting there are two sides! Where 'B' is the Beam (width at fattest part!) 

     Above             (LOA x B) x 2 x (Average Freeboard)

                                              (4.57 x 1.8) x 2 x (0.48)  = 7.8969 rounded to 8 sq mt

    Below               (LWL) x (B x D)

                                             4 x 1.8 x 0.5  =  3.6 rounded to 4 sq mt

....... and then the problems started ....

I got so much information on different types of paints I didn't know where to turn next ..... this video got me pointed in the right direction

http://www.offcenterharbor.com/videos/painting-a-wooden-boat-simple-techniques-professional-finish/

The next problem was locating the paint. typically, if they had the paint they didn't have the colour (color), or in the right quantity. Then, by pure chance whilst browsing deck fittings on the site from whom I bought most of the materials for Seagull, I found they do the paint... further, if they didn't have it they would get it in 4 days.

Using the areas I calculated and using the area a pot of paint covered in square metres (sorry US friends, I prefer square footage too) I was able to come up with this list, plus all the extras:

Size	Quantity	Description	Colour
750 mm	2	Epifanes Multi Marine Primer	Grey
750 mm	4	Epifanes Mono urethane	Dark Blue equivalent to 214 on Enamel Paint Chart
1 litre	1	Epifanes Paint & Varnish Thinner
750mm	1	Epifanes Interimcoat
Small	1	Epifanes D-601 Thinner
750mm	1	Epifanes Foul-Away.	Red

Here's the quote in British Pounds (US multiply by 1.3)

UPDATE ON BUILD
To finish steam-bending the outer stem I adapted my drain pipe - which bent under the steam, by taping it to some stout timber ....it worked out (below)