Work Resumes: Fall & Winter '08

On return to Florida in late October, 2008, I began prep work for all exterior paint work. There are no photos of this, as pictures of sanding and priming and more sanding, ad infinitum, is not really viewable material. The work was extremely tedious and went on for many weeks… and the results were less than spectacular.

I used several kinds of epoxy primer: Nauticoat; Dupont; Sherwin Williams; and Awlquik (Awlgrip). The finish coats, in sequence, were as follows: Boot top—Dupont Ful-Thane sun yellow; Topsides and bulwarks—Dupont 2.1HG Industrial Imron (White tinted with Case Power Tan to make Hatteras white); Cabin sides, coamings, cockpit and all perimeters—2 parts white to 1 part Case Power Tan; Decks & hatches—Nauticoat Polyurethane White tinted with Case Power Tan with flattening agent. The decks were non-skidded using Sherwin Williams re-coatable primer and medium-grade sand prior to final polyurethane coating. All paint was sprayed using a siphon-feed external-mix gun, except the non-skid areas, which were rolled.

The hull paint is finished—prepping the cabins

A hatch with perimeter masked off, receiving non-skid coatings

After the paint work was finished, I made the handrails, using hole-saw, table saw and hand-held jig saw. After the hand-holes are cut, the perimeters are routed. Finally the planks are ripped in half on the table saw to yield two handrails. I fastened the handrails from inside the coachroofs to avoid violating the rail exteriors (requiring bungs) and because it is stronger where foam-cores are involved.

Making handrails from teak plank stock

The finished rails are soaked with several coats of Watco Danish oil

Next I installed the Lewmar portlights and skylights. I like the Lewmar Roll-Stop skylights because they don’t require hatch-adjusters, they are low-profile, and moderately priced. Also, they can be opened and closed from inside or outside, with locks to secure them when leaving the boat—including a setting which allows some air-flow even when locked. I used two different size portlights, the large ones having to be special ordered.

A Lewmar Roll-Stop Low-Profile Skylight—note built-up mounting base