Outside Fairing Done, Priming Begun

It seems I have been fairing forever.  For the last month, I have rushed home from work everyday, carried or rolled the canoe out into the driveway, and sanded.  And sanded.  And sanded.  Then, I wiped down the entire canoe, a dried it.  And then, mix up a batch of fairing putty (a sort of bondo for boats), try to spread it all out where it is needed before it is too stiff, and even spread some after it is too stiff.  Everyday. And this is the outside only.  The inside will come later.

For fairing the outside, I used blended filler of microballoons and colloidal silica in epoxy.  The microballoons are very fine, and so is the silica, so I wear a good respirator for mixing, fairing, sanding, and cleaning up.  At first, I purchased blended filler from BoatBuilderCentral.com, but after I discovered how much I would need, I mixed my own.  It's cheaper.

A lot of fairing has been required to cover up my early  mistakes.  I had misaligned the panels in several places.  I built up the hollow areas in several layers.

Covered in fairing compound.

Staying safe.   The dust is fine, and contains silica.

Now that the fairing appears finished,  I am going to prime the outside to seal the fairing in anticipation of a test launch of the canoe.  I am using System Three Silver Tip Yacht Primer.

I applied two coats of primer (so far) with a foam roller.  I used the Whizz brand from Lowe's.  Two rollers were required to roll on a full coat of primer onto the canoe. The primer went on well.  I rolled and tipped (probably not necessary, but it didn't hurt).

Priming exposed a few imperfections I will fix later.  Here is the primed canoe.