Its Colour Time!

So what are we doing in the paint shed...

Well kinda obvious really isn't it.

We're making use of the space that our (part) fitter Steve Wright (no not that one) has managed to blag from Paul to build our traditional back cabin.

Steve has a small workshop/store about ten feet away and the paint shed has power so it makes the build far more efficient, and time is money in this game. 

We decided to use Steve mainly for logistical reasons as he's independent from, but sited in, Paul's yard. Alternatives would have meant taking Ernest to a fitter somewhere else on the system for the next stage. 

It wasn't until we started discussing our plans with other people that we realised how well known he was (he's a word of mouth operator with no internet presence at all, and he's booked up a year in advance) and how many other boats he's worked on, fitted out and painted. In fact one of my favs, St Tudno was painted by Steve and he'd recently finished the back cabin fit-out on historic NB Effingham. He's also been doing lots of retro work on an RW Davis back cabin to make it a little more solid and robust (which is surprising at their prices! )

I'll do another post about Steve's back cabin build soon but for now we're just pleased that we can take advantage of being in the paint shed and that Steve, as a pro painter, is happy for us to bumble around whilst he's busy. I did consider putting a "not being painted by Steve" sign at the back, just in case any potential clients of his happened to wander by. Whilst I hope I can do an ok job, it's strictly a protecting the steel kind of plan.  

So far on the cabin sides we have...

1 coat of super tough Jotun 87

1 coat of higher build Jotun Penguard

Those two went on when we were over in the fabrication shed. And since then

1 more Penguard

3 Layland trade undercoat

3 Jotun gloss top coat... It feels like more!

Cabin top has...

1 Jotun 87

1 Penguard

2 Morley's Satin Raddle Red

We've also gone through about 10 tack cloths, 20 abranet 240gt, 8 320gt and about 2 1/2 litres of owtrol oil.

Sadly the decks are just still on their black Jotun 87, with the rear as the man in and out it's remarkably tough stuff, hardly a scratch. And the bows are out in the cold so they'll have to wait too.

Not wanting to risk building up layers of uncured paint, we're just about done until the summer time now, except for the doors and hatches... Sooo many doors!

Here's some pics...

Last Penguard on the cabin sides

Inspection time

Inspecting is such hard work

Doors and slides off for their turn through the coats

The undercoat builds nicely and coats well

Always quite a few runs to sort out

70ft is rather long

From the front, well about 17ft from the stem post

First look at RAL 7010 Tarpaulin Grey, it's a green spectrum grey but difficult to show as the paint shed tarps are green too

Covers well but not sure if we've got the weather forecast for building enough coats and their flattening off. 

Goes well with the Raddle Red, engine room beam will also be the same colour with rings and mounts in black

Deb Raddling the cabin top

Nearly done for coat 1 of 2. Not bothering building up too many coats as we hope to recoat every few years

All done

Hatches and rails undercoated

From the front deck

Then gloss black, alongside the hatches

Moved all the doors and slides inside to paint over the weekend after a thorough dusting.