Repair/Paint question

[MGC]

I just sanded my Morris to prepare for a fresh paint job. I see that some of the "dings" are into the filler or at least down to it. There is one particular gouge that is about four inches long and 3/8th wide that is not sanding out (I dare not actually).
The question is what the best and easiest fill will be? The damage is to the three coats of paint that are currently on the boat. Should I try to build paint up in these spots or is there another trick?

The current paint is old Pettit Topside enamel. I am putting (a gorgeous) Epiphane enamel over this.

I am not looking for 100% perfection. This old girl get's used on trips and has some dings to show for it. That said, I would like to get it close to right.

Also, what issue was the article about restoring an older canvas in?

 

[Brad Fisher]

Same question!

 

[MGC]

I had forgotten about this. I rolled the Epiphanes on over the lightly sanded hull. That paint cures pretty quickly so what I did was I used a trick I learned from working on restoring cars. After a couple coats of rolled (and tipped) paint I went back to the spots that needed to be filled and blopped a bit of thickened paint into each site. I followed over the still wet paint with a small plastic bondo blade. That leveled the paint out with the rest of the paint. I let it dry and then rolled more coats on and repeated filling until I was satisfied. It worked out perfectly. It's been ten years and it still looks pretty good.
You could also use bondo glazing and spot filler to build up the dings.
The same trick works when you are filling paint chips on your car hood. Blop on the touch up paint and then pull it level with a very flat, clean and somewhat firm piece of plastic. Rub off any paint from the area surrounding the divot before it hardens and then repeat until the divot is filled....no sanding, no touch up blobs on the hood.

 

[Brad Fisher]

Thanks! I’m working with a first finish coat. Thin! Dings happened during assembly and go through the primer. I’m trying Bondo. Thanks!

 

[MGC]

If you are this early in the process perhaps you don't need to resort to Bondo. The paint will fill and level. Has your filler completely hardened? It should be pretty impervious to dings.

 

[Greg Nolan]

If using Bondo, use the Bondo spot putty -- one part, comes in a tube -- not the 2-part stuff used for serious fender-bender repair.

 

[MGC]

If using Bondo, use the Bondo spot putty -- one part, comes in a tube -- not the 2-part stuff used for serious fender-bender repair.

If using Bondo, use the Bondo spot putty -- one part, comes in a tube -- not the 2-part stuff used for serious fender-bender repair.

Yes, as was previously noted. The product is Bondo is called glazing and spot filler.