Internal Undercoat

The ‘high-build’ undercoat is sprayed on with a large nozzle (around 2.5mm – 3mm), anything smaller tends to take too long with this type of undercoat and the undercoat needs to be further thinned prior to spraying.

They (the Wattyl paint technical advisors) are fairly particular with the thinners used too, as a stronger type is required with the resin based paints, a small blow as this now has doubled the thinners cost.

The undercoat was laid on thickly too (using the 2.8mm spray nozzle). The advantage with this was that all the blemishes were covered and small timber indentations / marks would be covered and when sanded back should come out reasonably smooth, which it did.

The disadvantage is the cost due to the increased amount of undercoat. We have chosen to sand this initial coat back to a smooth surface (using 120 grit paper) even if it meant coming back to the timber in places. This did take a very long time, in fact four days longer than planned and we are not after a car gloss finish either.

The initial undercoat took four full days to apply, which completed 95% of the internal fittings and what a magical difference.

All of a sudden the small imperfections had mysteriously gone and the white undercoat had done two things:
> Made the boat look larger internally, and
> Definitely lightened up the darker areas.

 

There are many more tips and tricks contained in the Pure Majek Dairy.