I got another couple of evenings work on the lid. I am still in doubt to have it finished (including spraying it with top coat gloss white) by next Monday but I am gonna give it a good try. I sanded the back filled edged back to square and slightly bigger than it was before with the edges overfilled. I also got the sides as close to flat as I could but because I cut it slightly out the top step is, when on its side, a little lower on one side and higher on the other by about 5mm, what the really means is that the top step tread is a little to one side than the other 2 which are directly in line. Almost imperceptible unless you are really looking for it, and of course so long as the cut out in the rest of the steps is also in the same configuration, which of course it is because the lid has been cut from it, then it will all fit together and open and close properly and be close to invisible.

Once the edges were all square and flat as I could get them I gave the back (the inside underside) of the engine bay lid a sand to smooth out the tapes under there and then gave it a thick coat of white epoxy. Some people fair the inside of hatch lids and inside hatches but I am not going to. I don’t feel it is needed. So long as the surface is smooth to touch and there are not jagged tape edges to splinter, I am not concerned with how it looks. I need it to be sealed and be smooth. The white epoxy is a perfect liner for inside hatches. It is thick and self levelling, dries to a high gloss finish and hides most tapes so that whilst you can see them you cant feel them, and the high gloss finish means it is easy to wipe clean.

Tonight I gave the outside of the steps one more go over with some instant filler (car bog) for the few tiny dents and blemishes left on them and then gave them as thick a coat of high build as I could apply using a spray gun. I gave it a coat, let it dry off a little (about 10 minutes) and gave it another coat as I still had some paint left in the pot and as it is a 2 pack, once mixed you either use it or lose it. I had enough for another coat and then just a drop left. I did get some runs, so I could not paint this way if it was top coat but knowing that I will be sanding this off again I was not too concerned by the runs. What the gloss of wet paint does is lets you know if the surface is fair or not. It will dry to a matt finish but while wet I got a good look at the surface and apart from pinholes in the bog that the highbuild fills the surface was pretty good, the coves neat, the fronts pretty fair and the tops very fair.

I am quite pleased with the way it is looking. It means that so far I am getting fairing right and it gives me confidence that I will get the fairing all over the boat pretty right.