The Gel Coat is Off

South winds have been rare as hens teeth this spring. They were blowing this morning so we got some time on Nellie. Phil had moved the stands and blocks giving us access to the only unfinished areas. After today's work there's just a little bit left around the through hulls to finish.

Among other things the picture shows the boot stripe and the black bottom paint below it. While the hull was being laid up it's pretty clear that the gel coat was applied at several different times because the barrier coat is below the gel coat in the lower part of this photo, and on top of the gel coat in the middle of the photo. Perhaps the white, below-the-waterline gel coat was put on first--but only to just above the waterline.  Then the barrier coat was applied over the gel coat and stopped just a little farther up the hull than where the gel coat stopped.  Finally, gel coat was sprayed the rest of the way up the bulwark.  The straight line of gel coat in the picture shows that they taped off the lower part of the hull before spraying gel coat on the bulwark.