Painting Done
Well, title says it all – I finished painting. Finally.
It was a bit tricky as the kiwi-grip non-skid I was using takes over 3 days to dry hard enough to walk on with shoes – before that it appears hard, but standing on it with shoes leaves a dirty dent in it. My answer to this was to leave a small gap that I could step on and off the boat
I had to go to Ottawa for work for a week, so on the morning of my departure I ‘painted myself off the boat’, doing the cockpit floor, the lazarette lid and that square of side deck.
Here is the result!
It’s not perfect, as it was a bit of a rush job so some of the white surfaces could have been smoothed down a lot better, and there are odd splashes of paint in various places.
The most improvement is probably the chimney which looks a million times better
compared to
as seen here Installing the heater Flue part a million – Finishing off the chimney install
The only thing I’ve really got left to do is finish screwing the last couple of bits and bobs onto the cockpit, and figure out how to cover the massive holes left by the broken speakers I removed.
Some quick thoughts:
- Interlux Brightsides is really easy to apply, and roll/tip is pretty easy once you give it a go. It really shows up any imperfections though, so sand sand sand!
- Kiwi-grip is also easy to apply, although the long drying time is a real pain. I also heard it retains dirt very easily and is hard to clean, but I guess we will see
- That was a SHITLOAD of work and I never would have started if I had known how much. Ignorance is bliss.
Marina Move
In other news, I moved marinas.
The new marina saves me around 100 a month, and is RIGHT downtown, so maybe I’ll be less of a hermit. I’ll miss my neighbours at Fishermans though, and it was a bit weird moving as I’d been there three years – by far the longest I’ve lived anywhere!
Gudge in her new home:
The washrooms etc are a lot further away which is a huge pain, and it’s bull rails instead of cleats which don’t lend themselves to single-handed docking too well but I’ll manage. Last winter in Victoria! Eeeek!
New mobile view
I switched to a new view for mobile devices – if you look at this website through a mobile device, it should all be a bit clearer. Let me know if it breaks anything!
A million times better! You are going to have to scrupulous about foot gear now to keep the shiny new boat look.
I don’t know if they fixed it but the coin box on the last shower on the right hand side as you went in (going west… I think it was #4) was broken and would give you endless water for just one coin. Always a bonus 🙂
Thanks! Yeah I may actually need to get boat shoes now 😉
Thanks for the shower tip – I’ll have to check it out. The showers last a lot less long than they did at the other place…
Looks amazing, I am sure the improvement was worth the effort. Mobile upgrade looks fine.
Thanks Chris!
Hi Mathew,
Thank you for sharing. Stumbled on the YouTube video. I share the world cruising thing. Looks like the boat is almost ready to do some passages. After all that hard work you deserve some serious island time.
My third boat on mooring balls in the middle of the harbor in southern California is 32 foot downEaster cutter (after little boats/scored the world cruiser). Just paid it and mooring off and now can do what you just did, so a little behind but have been doing a lot of floating, little sailing for many years.
Couple things come to mind (sorry for going on and on): Also Don Casey -this old boat third edition now and Nigel Calder maintenance. Drag the diesel heater isn’t simple as space heater but I get it, I use one when my chimney needs the half hour to clear it (been so warm the last few years don’t use either though). And that is super ambitious attempting build from scratch wind vein autopilot but you’re a real pilot. Lastly (for now and please remind to revisit by email) allot less expensive renting/buying/leasing single (swing) or double floating mooring balls/cans- it is more like being at sea because you are on semi perminant anchor tackle with no shore power or water or any other hookups and you have to use a shore boat coming and going. Might be a way to save and get more used to being off grid for some world sailing.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for reading! This Old Boat is a great book, and is the first sailing related item I bought! You can sign up with your email on the top right of the site to get updates.
I gave a lot of thought to moving to a mooring buoy full time, but the problem is I still work full time (until May) and winter is coming… I didn’t fancy getting up at 6:30am every day to sit in a dinghy ride to shore in the rain/snow and cold! Brrrr
I have a 41′ taiwanese trawler, a Marine Trader 41. I painted my top sides, under a Lohman Winter cover, in 2014. 3 coats of base coat and 2 coats of Brightsides.
However, before painting I talked to the interlux guy at the boat show and he warned about using Brightside on horizontal surfaces and recomended Perfection two part. So I used Perfection on the obivious horizontal surfaces, (at that time you could get two part in Canada) but on my flybridge, which is covered by a full bimini and Lohman cover in the winter, I used Brightside on the horizontal “dashboard” forward of my steering wheel. Sometimes, water will pool on this surface. Just last year I have noticed small blisters forming on this part where the water has pooled . I assume the fix will be sanding down and repainting every 3 years, so it isn’t the end of the world. The good thing about paint as opposed to gelcoat is the easier cosmetic maintenance.
Hi Graham, yeah I really tried to get hold of Perfection but wasn’t able to. Luckily I don’t have many horizontal surfaces (they are mostly non-skid) and am hoping I can simply resand/repaint over any flaking areas in a few years.
All my surfaces are non skid, Matt.