We inteneded to put our mark on our ship,
Although we had absolutely no experience with Awlgrip paint technologies, we, nevertheless, decided on an ambitious project: a 3 colour system. The deck was to be Oyster White, the trimming in Mateo Wheat, and the main part of the hull in Jade Mist (some people may call it English Racing Green).
The outcome was smashing!
There were times we reflected on our decision of having 3 colours to maintain, especially when taping off the hull, the trimlines, the deck etc .... but it was soooo much more pleasing to the eye.
16 years later, the green of the hull needed a facelift. Over the years we had already done the deck and the cabin sides, but painting the hull is a bit more challenging.
Preparing the hull is one thing ..... which means sanding, sanding, sanding, and applying fillers to deal with damages, scratches, follwed by more sanding .... the damages were mainly a result of our cruising life. Overall, the hull did not look bad after 16 years in service! But these preparations can be done over days, and when weather permits.
But we had to get the right weather window for the final paint job - which according to the book should be like that: a dust free environment, steady temperatures at the mid 20s while painting, low humidity, with temperatures not falling below 13C for the next 7 days .... Yeah, sure! And then there is reality!!!
Our yard is a working shipyard where boats get sandblasted (including ours last year). Just imagine the sand and dust on the ground.
It is a working yards, so there is traffic - we are talking about dust! A lot of it.
Over the last few days, the night temperatures went down to 5C, with the daytime temperatures reaching barely 14C. No condition for our paint job.
But this is Kingston, Canada! We switch into summer from one day to the next. This weekend, daytime temperatures were expected to reach 30C, with night time temperatures still in the mid teens, and almost no wind!
Ok, not ideal, but we can handle that! We decided to take this weather window.
Posting big signs in the yard about "fresh paint, slow down", and arriving early in the morning, allowed us to control the sun effect (to some degree) on the hull, and having fewer people moving throughout the yard at that time of the day.
Unfortunately, a test run with our 16 year old paint suggested that the paint had been compromised over the years - no more gloss, giving us a dull looking hull surface.
We bought new paint, Awlgrip rollers .... and were ready for our paint job.
We tried to time our job so that we could work in the shade, but this was not always possible and the hull temperatures were quite uneven. Nevertheless, the first full paint run came out ... ok! But not as great as we had hoped for. We had to learn to do better - fast!
Next morning (2. coat), we arrived at about 6 am, sanded down the critical spots from the day before, and prepared the paint - while the sun was rising behind the trees and starting to find the hull through the leaves. But the hull temperature was still low enough to work under these conditions. This time we had our application system down pat: rolling paint on for about 2 feet, marking off how far we had painted, then doing another 2 feet section, followed by going back to the initial section and lighty retouching the paint surface with our roller in order to burst the bubbles which had formed during the application run.
It worked! The paint smoothened out and the gloss emerged. We were very pleased with the outcome.
When the sun hit the hull in full force, the surface temperatures climbed to 50+C . But by that time we were off in the shady side!
Yeah, what did the manual say about the ideal conditions??? .... We did not even get close!
Happily, the people in the yard acknowledged our paint signs, and most of them moved past us at a snails pace. And with no wind in the yard, we had an almost dust free environment!
Tonight: We feel a big relieve - the job is done, and it is as good as it can be given our conditons. And it looks better than the first time around when we painted our hull in 1996.
We are now going to celebrate! Let's hope that this job will last for another 16 years!
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