I usually clear coat/paint the interior of a kayak when I paint the exterior. It seemed logical. On the 2006.11 Black Pearl I coated the holds with a mixture of epoxy and graphite to protect the underlying fiberglass from abrasion and what little UV light will get in. The cockpit was painted and it was a royal pain in the back (literally… you really have to cotort yourself to reach the bulkhead, even with a brush on a stick). The paint came out OK and will be adequate, but there must be an easier, better way.

John wanted a white interior for this BP which meant the entire inside would need to be painted. It would have been next to impossible to paint the fore and aft holds after joining (ie through the 8″ hatches). I thought the cockpit was tight! So I hit on the idea of saving myself most of the hassle (keyword: most, not all) by painting the interior before joining the deck to the hull. The only spot I will have to paint after joining is the interior seam inside the cockpit where I apply the FG tape.

I masked off any areas which would not be painted at this time (sheers, cockpit coaming, etc) and brushed on a coat of primer. I could have sprayed it and I will for the exterior. The next day it had cured enough to apply the paint. I roughed it up with a non-woven grey hand pad and sprayed on three coats of System Three Orca White WR-LPU, the same paint to be used on the exterior, with my conversion HVLP gun. The white seemed to spray better than the clear. Each coat was dry to the touch in less than 30 minutes. Nice… When cured I removed the masking tape and put the boat on slings. Time to join the deck to the hull…