I realized that if I was going to paint the forward bulkhead, I needed to do it now, before I put the mattress back in, and before I work on trimming out the wall covering.
I decided to paint the bulkhead frame a dark brown to “sorta match” the outside with the panels painted an antique ivory to “sorta match” the hull liner fabric.
I don’t like to paint, so I try to do it as little as possible. So that means “do it once – do it right,” so I’m priming everything with oil-base primer, then putting on two coats of oil-base gloss enamel. Yeah, I know oil-base paint is a PITA but once you’re set up to clean everything with mineral spirits, and you have good brushes it’s almost as easy as latex. And it dries hard and can be sanded, and produces a glossy finish that’s hard to duplicate with latex.
The only serious downside to oil-base paint is drying time. I find that I should wait at least 24 hours between gloss coats, and even longer if I’m going to sand between coats. So painting the seven bulkhead panels is going to take a few days. Fortunately the primer is quick drying, so I was able to prime the front and back of the bulkhead panels in one day. I put the first coat of color on the fronts this morning and will do the backs tomorrow.
Bulkhead panels drying after first color coat
I put the first coat of the “chocolate” brown on the bulkhead frame this morning also. I’m very glad I wear gloves while painting because I put my hand in the wet paint twice while working on the frame. The brown covers the white primer quite well, and the missed spots and “holidays” certainly show up clearly. I’ll put a second coat on the bulkhead frame tomorrow morning and we’ll see how good a job I can do of finish painting in an enclosed, awkward space ;-)
Bulkhead frame after one coat of brown
You can see the primer on the electrical panel. I’ll come back and paint it after all the brown is thoroughly dry so I can mask it off to paint the panel.