We lucked out! I originally scheduled 2 weekends for repainting (one weekend being a rain date). Fortunately for us, the first scheduled weekend was sunny and in the 60s! Perfect for painting. We arrived at SHM at 9:30am. Prior to that we stopped at West Marine where I exchanged $160 of my hard-earned cash for a quart of blue paint (for touching up the hull) and a gallon of white. Now to be honest I've never worked with topside paint before, but seeing how shoddy the last job was I figured we had nothing to lose! Chris joined me for this trip as usual, and I also brought my other best buddy Jesse (who owed me a favor).
According to Interlux, you first start by cleaning the surface with their 216 solvent. With this stuff being $59 for a small bottle, we decided to use good ol' fashioned acetone. In my opinion, this did the job just fine, so Jesse and I started the paint prep while Chris worked on my last remaining electrical projects. After the cleaning, we hit the old blue paint using 180 grit sandpaper and sanded the hull with orbital sanders. Needless to say, with the blue pain dust, we resembled smurfs at the end of our job! After that it was time for the acetone again. 
After our second round of cleaning, we started rolling on the paint. As I was told by Bob at Strictly Sail, it rolled on very easily. I decided to go with Interlux's Brightside 1-part polyurethane instead of a 2-part because it was cheaper, and is the same as what was used prior. The thing to watch with topsade paint is that it tacks up almost immediately, so WORK FAST! I trimmed in around the hardware while Jesse focused on rolling large areas of the deck.
While Jesse and I were making quick work of making the ugly blue decks disappear, Chris turned his attention to our electrical projects. First, he opened up the panel and cleaned up the spaghetti of wiring. He then worked on installing our new accent and locker lights. We decided to add accent lighting in the cockpit area, which will be illuminated with red light (to not attract bugs). We also added a light in each locker seat in order to make finding docklines, etc in the night a bit easier. After a few jumps in the lockers, he then worked on getting the new CD changer and speakers hooked up.
In no time at all Jesse and I reached the cockpit, which meant it was time for Chris to hang it up for the day. Painting the cockpit is a 1-person job, which I undertook. In the meantime, Jesse and Chris went back down and focused on the remaining hull graphics and pinstripe. A few minutes later, the blueberry decks were a thing of the past (or would be after our second coat the next day). 
With a few more pulls and sprays, Chris finally had the last of the hideous yellow SHAZAM graphic removed. As mentioned earlier, the decals took the paint off beneath them. After a wipe-down with acetone, Jesse hit the areas with the blue Interlux. With a few strokes of blue, and some spray paint on her name-bearing cradle, SHAZAM was a thing of the past.*
The next day, Jesse and I applied the second coat while Chris installed the new outdoor speakers. The magnetically shielded speakers worked brilliantly! The compass didn't even twitch when the cones were brought next to it. A few minutes later, the sound of mariachi music came from my cockpit. We had tunes!
I also placed the newly modified and heavily polyurethaned locker doors! Man does it look sharp! The contrast of red wood with white hull really brought a hit of classic beauty. With the second coat finished, we started cleaning up and prepared for the long trek home.
After this experience, I have learned a few tips regarding topside paint. First, as stated earlier WORK FAST!!!! Second, make sure you use a mohair roller. While the rollers I purchased were a good quality, they were better suited for the walls of your home. They left large drips and curtains that were constantly having to be smoother over (unfortunately some were missed until it was too late). Fortunately for us one of my marina neighbors was kind enough to spare us a mohair roller for the second coat! And by all means DO NOT USE CHEAP ROLLERS!!!! I made the mistake for our smaller trim roller, and my paint job was left with pubes! Fortunately most sanded out between coats and we trimmed in with our mohair roller. But in spite of these lessons, I am thrilled with the new paint job! Not a factory quality restoration, but for our purposes she looks great! Next blog: LAUNCH DAY!!!* So after we were finished, we decided to scour the boat for other places where SHAZAM could still be written (to remove them before renaming). For whatever reason, one of the previous owners decided to etch the name into the interior side of the compass!!!! So after a quick job with a dremel we'll be ready to go!
