The Paint Has Hit the Boat

The weather was right, the boat was ready, the paint was ready and the people were ready. On Wednesday, 20 May we started painting the boat. Our experts Frank and Frankie had come by the previous day and Frankie noted areas that needed a bit more sanding or filling. It is amazing how many times we have gone over the boat and still there are areas that we have missed!
Chris and I stayed up until 10 pm that night sanding, dry wiping and alcohol wiping the boat.
Then we drank a toast in celebration to the beginning of the job!

Frankie about to get started

Although Frank and Frankie had both worked on applying the primers, Frankie was doing the topcoat himself. Frankie has many talents, but his special passion is spraypainting. He inherited both the passion and the gift from his father Frank. The hull topsides was going to be painted the first day. Frankie taped and masked off anything that might accidentally get paint on it, and began.

Checking the surface one last time

Painting the hull


Finished! - See the shine?

DAY 2:

The next day, Thursday, Frankie decided to do the deep red cove stripe and boot stripe. In the end this day was longer than painting the entire topsides! Tape had to be laid, the stripes sanded, new tape laid and all the white paint blanked off before painting could begin. Frankie is meticulous and laid and relaid tape until he was satisfied the lines were the best they could be. Chris and I did the sanding and any blanking off we could in order to help.

Frankie taping the cove stripe

Blocked off and ready for paint



A well earned beer and lovely accent stripes on our boat

DAY 3:

Most of the deck and part of the cockpit were earmarked as today's job. Chris got a chance to get in on the act as Frankie needed him to hold the hoses and keep them off the freshly painted surfaces. This was the trickiest day as the men had to keep their feet on the non-skid areas (to be painted at a later date) so as not to mark the new paint. Once again preparation involved long hours of taping and masking off areas already painted and the boat got so wrapped up in plastic she looked like a Christmas present!

Frankie painting the cockpit while Chris holds the hoses



Smiles at the end of a long day

DAY 4:
Was on Tuesday, after the Memorial Day weekend. Our rubrail was going to be painted it's original black colour. Later we are going to add a stainless steel strip along it's length to add to it's effectiveness. A repeat of sanding, wiping, taping and masking led to this:

Wow!

Since then the cockpit well and the flat section at the back of the deck have been painted. We have stayed off the boat a few days for this part so as not to risk any damage to the fresh paint.
The anti-fouling will be painted black and then she is going to look amazing. This stage isn't until a while later though so I am going to have to wait for that bit of eye candy.
The paint we have used is Awlcraft 2000. It is relatively recent and seems to have everything you could want. Unlike Awlgrip you can buff and polish it and still retain the "out of the shop" shine. You don't wax it! Properly treated it can look good for up to 15 years.