Some say: “If you can piss, you can paint.” Of course, this is true in one sense: anyone can slap on a coat of paint. On the other hand – as with any activity – skill is required to achieve speed and the best results. And so we are finding!
Our progress on Westerman has been slower than expected. Our plan to complete the re-painting and varnishing in two weeks by Friday was always very optimistic. The decision to apply extra coats of undercoat, and the high humidity (over 80% some days) preventing us doing two coats a day, blew our plan out of the water.
We have caulked and payed some of the garboard seam (where the hull meets the keel), so the topsides are fully ready to paint, and have now had plenty of practice in applying paint … on with a roller and, always maintaining a “wet edge,” “tipping off” with a brush. This gives the best finish. Varnishing requires a cross-hatching method of application and again, maintaining that “wet edge,” so the all-important “tipping off” leaves no dragging brush marks.
We have also been preparing the spars – rubbing down, and applying new coats of varnish.
We needed to re-mark the boot-top. Most boats have a painted boot-top (stripe) around the waterline of antifouling in a different colour. Not just a simple bit of decoration, it can help to prevent fouling around the waterline by allowing antifouling to be painted higher up the topsides. The old boot top was too irregular to be simply reproduced, so we had to start afresh. There are at least two methods. The traditional method is to set up wooden battens at the bow, stern and mid-ships, level with the line to be drawn, and then, using string held taught across the battens, mark points on the hull. The modern approach is to use a laser level. We used the former. It is a tricky task, especially on a clinker hull. Once marks had been made, we “joined the dots” with masking tape – again, more difficult with it being a clinker hull. A lot of sighting down the line to make sure it was “fair,” and minor adjustments were required, before we were happy with the result.
It’s Friday, and a late finish, but we have managed to mask out the top line of the boot-top, and to apply a split coat of undercoat/gloss. We are looking forward to seeing her with the gloss coats applied, but we may have to do another split coat before we can get the gloss on – that’s after rubbing down between coats with fine sandpaper, and a wipe over with a brush cleaner-soaked rag.
There is at least another week’s work to do. The lower line of the boot-top needs to be masked off; the area below needs to be primed; the rest of the caulking seam needs to be caulked and payed; and then antifouling can be applied. Only then can the boot-top be painted. Oh, and there’s still more varnishing to do, both on the boat and on her spars!
It’s great to completely finish a project (and we will be “dropping back” on Westerman to finish the job), but the most important thing is that we have learned a lot. Two weeks was never going to be long enough.
Next week, we are supposed to be moving on to our four-week Spars Module, starting with making an oar. I don’t know, but we may spend a few days on Westerman beforehand – it really would be great to get that gloss on!