Which Part of Hull to Paint First ?

[gchabs]

We own a Morgan Out Island. We plan on painting the hull in Spring ourselves. Here is how our Morgan's hull looks like currently. Starting at the toe rail and working downward toward the keel, you have an area of white hull approximately 3" wide running the length of the hull; then a blue stripe approximately 8" wide running the length of the hull; followed by more white hull (about 3-4 feet wide) running the length of the hull; and ending with a matching blue boot stripe of about 6" wide running the length of the hull. Below that is the bottom paint. The blue stripes appear to be part of the gelcoat, not painted on.

When prepping the hull, does one prep the white and blue together ie. sand them all at the same time, or does one do it separately. When painting, does one paint the stripes first, then paint the white parts; paint the white areas first, then the stripe; paint the entire hull white then go back and apply blue over the areas where the stripes were (assuming they can still be seen through the new white paint)? Thanks for your help on this. George - Papagayo.

[James S]

Well George...I'm no expert, but when we painted our hull, we prepared it all at the same time including the boot stripe....then painted everything white....then taped and painted the boot stripe.
Good luck with it....let us know what you end up doing.

[Blue Stocking]

I think a lot depends on whether you spray, brush , or roll-and- tip. I just painted Bluestocking with white Imron, which included a new corrected waterline.
We sanded the previous LPU, rolled on 2 coats of epoxy primer, and then 2 coats of Imron. Took it right down to the anti-fouling.
White is popular because it can support a higher percentage of solids, and usually goes on over a white primer, so normally goes on first.
Blues, greens and reds don't suspend solid pigments very well, and therefore are often put on over grey primer to help with the opacity of the color.
For paint jobs of 2 contrasting colors, the tape line is often buffed out, and clearcoated.
The above, I learned from a professional painter, who worked with me on my boat.