Just one picture today. Sanding and sanding. I'd smoothed down everything and here and there broke completely through the paint to bare metal This was driving me batty! What you see in the picture is the finished smoothed out primer surface. The greenish splotches are where the primer has been sanded through to the zinc undercoating.
As stated on the last page, I'd decided to sand it smooth, recoat the top primer and sand again. The thinking was that; Now, having the zinc surface flattened out, I could get a nice smooth primer surface painted on here. A smooth surface could be sanded without breaking through.
But then, of course, it rained for a week or so. Floods and everything. The flooding was kinda' fun and all, but it did no favors for the mast project.
Sun breaks out and the last coat of primer goes on. It was a total nightmare! This time I thinned it more than the last time. Maybe that was the cause for all the trouble? Donno'. But it came out looking just like chicken skin. The paint would not coat at all, it just kinda streaked and beaded up. Lord! Today I sanded it all smooth again and it looks just as bad as when I started. What a complete waste!
Possibly buy an air compressor and a spray gun so I can spray it? Maybe then I could get a smooth coat on there? It was close, but no, I decided to ship it back to Nelson's. I'll let them fix up what needs fixing and spray it. I'm so sick of this mast project I think I'd scream if anyone even mentions sailboat masts to me!