Primer!
For the first time in this project something new is going onto the bus rather than coming off. (patch metal doesn’t count) Everything inside & out above the trim line was coated with epoxy primer. The epoxy primer creates a barrier between the bare metal and the surfacing layers and topcoats that will follow. Despite careful cleaning and tack cloth usage a good bit of lint/trash ended up embedded in the epoxy. This contamination was caused by the roughness of the bare metal pulling lint off of the cleaning clothes; since the epoxy is smooth this shouldn’t be a problem with the remaining coats.