After a long time of freezing temperatures, the weather finally became like spring this past week, and I was able to get a coat of paint on the whole deck and the hatches. I had sanded the deck earlier in the month - see the picture below - but I had to wait until this past Monday and then again today for it to be warm enough for paint to dry.
I had forgotten exactly how much work it took to paint the deck and cockpit. Between all the sanding, taping off hardware, vacuuming, and painting with a brush, it took about five hours and an entire quart of Pettit Easypoxy White. But it really needed to be done; the paint had become quite oxidized and beaten up since the last time I painted everything, which I believe was about eight years ago.
Now that everything is painted, I can start reassembling everything. I can finally install the new quarter cleats and round compass backing plate and re-install the hatches, wooden hatch slides, wooden coaming tops, solar vent, and put a bead of 5200 along the top of the rubrail. Target launch date: April 18th.