Hull Paint Project, Part 1

Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage

OK, it's time for me to start telling what we are up to.

1. Al Hatch, the previous owner painted Tarwathie with Awlgrip.  Typical for Al, he did a beautiful job.
2. On our maiden voyage with Tarwathie I put a horrible gash in her side. I felt terrible.  Blog post here.
3. Since then, 11.5 years, 60,000+ miles, 200+ lockings,  and who knows how many dockings, and dinghy tie ups, we have accumulated quite a bit of so-called dock rash.  On your car, you call them paint dings.
4. Libby has been after me to repaint for 4-5 years.  It is too expensive to get done professionally.  I had an informal quote of $10-$12K!
5. We were going to do it last fall in Green Cove Springs but I chickened out.  Now is the time.

So, we are repainting the hull above the water line, not the decks.

1. I was going to use Awlgrip, but it is so particular in how it is applied.   I am an amateur, and the humidity is awful, and we get a bit of rain almost every day.  After consulting with Rick at Jamestown Distributors, I chose Epiphanes 2-part polyethylene paint instead.  It will arrive here next tuesday.
2. As part of the prep, I'm doing what my friend Greg taught me.  Paint it with black spray paint, then sand off the black.  That makes all the high and low spots visible.  Do that twice and the hull will be a smooth as a baby's bottom.

Who is that vandalizing Tarwathie?  Oh, it's me.

OMG, What was I thinking?

3 hours later, black is sanded off, hull smooth as a baby's bottom.  The grey spots are where I sanded through the white paint to the grey primer.  Each such spot was a ding.

Next up, one primer coat, two finish coats, 5 days cure before splash.

p.s.   More than half the dings came from the public docks at one of our favorite places, Vergennes, Vermont.  I'll write a special blog post about that this winter.