Topsides | Paint Stripping

With the cockpit stripped of paint it was time to start on the topsides, cabin and forward deck well.

I started with the the forward deck itself. Here it is half stripped.

I am using a small, circular Bahco scraper to clean up the fillets.

Here the port Dorade box and the deck well have been stripped and the cabin wall is half stripped.

Before I started on the cabin roof and the companionway hood I covered the entrance to the cabin to prevent splashes of paint stripper. Like this.

In this pic the port cabin roof is half stripped.

I taped over the portholes in case stripper got into the cabin and spoiled my paint job!

This is the forward deck well, fully stripped.

The mirror is useful for seeing under the rails, and inside the upper breast hook. Like this.

At last I finished stripping the port side of the upper hull, like this.

I then moved on to the starboard topsides, as here.

You can see the patches that I made to fill the holes for the ventilators which I cut in the wrong place. Oops.

This will at least give me an opportunity to properly fair the patches, which are far from flat and even...

Finally the whole of the upper hull was stripped. Here it is seen from astern.

This is the forward deck well.

And lastly here is a view of the starboard topsides.

I will now have to strip inside the companionway hood and the seatback lockers, neither of which will be easy. I am not looking forward to that, but afterwards we will be preparing for new paint. Which will be wonderful!

We are making progress, albeit slow.

Cockpit | Paint Stripping

It was time to start stripping all the old paint from the top of the boat, so I broke out the paint stripper and got stuck in.

First I stripped the deck, seatbacks and tops, and the rear cabin wall. They are seen here part completed.

You can see that the companionway has been masked off to protect the interior from paint stripper, as have the lazarette hatches and the centreboard pendant cleat.

The footwell was next, as here. The drain holes are plugged with BlueTack to prevent paint stripper egress.

Next came the companionway. I masked off the drop board retainer to protect the interior. 

The transom skirt was next.

Then the hatches were unmasked.

The interior was protected with polythene sheeting, like this.

And then the hatch surrounds were stripped, as here.

And here are the hatch surrounds with the protective sheeting removed.

The footwell drain hole plugs were then removed. Here I am cleaning up the holes with a small round scraper.

Finally the areas where the main sheet block support pad and the centreboard pendant cleat are located were stripped. Like this.

That's the cockpit stripped clean, with the exception of the seatback lockers.

I am expecting them to be difficult to access and fully strip at the rear of the lockers, where the boom gallows support block gets in the way.

So I will now start stripping the cabin and forward deck, working on the seatback lockers in parallel and taking as long as required to strip them thoroughly.

Time for one of these.

Onwards and upwards!

Paint Blisters | Another Test

If you have been following this build for the last couple of years you will be aware that all the white paint on the boat blistered when exposed to water (i.e. rain) when it was moved onto its trailer late in 2023.

Nobody, including the paint manufacturer, could tell me why. But I eventually worked it out.

At least I think I did...

The technical instructions for the paint tell us to use the manufacturer's own specific thinners to clean brushes and rollers.

I didn't do that. I used a water-based brush cleaner. I meticulously cleaned my brushes and rollers with this stuff, and reused them time and time again.

In doing so I am sure that I impregnated them with whatever solvent is in the brush cleaner, and they in turn contaminated the paint.

When the paint became wet the water caused the contaminant to reactivate, blistering the paint.

It only affected the white paint. The blue paint was fine, so it's clearly something in the white gloss that is intolerant.

I decided to test my theory while there was still plenty of the old paint on the boat, and poured a few cups of water into the forward deck well.

I left it overnight, and sure enough all the paint covered by the water had blistered.

Here is a close up pic of the blisters.

Horrible!

Here is another pic with a ruler for scale.

You can see that the blisters are tiny, but can you imagine what the boat would look like covered in a rash like this?

I can, and that's why I am repainting with Epifanes!

Topsides | Paint Strippng

Work at last began on stripping the topsides paint. I am using the same techniques, tools and materials that I deployed on the undersides, so see previous posts for detailed descriptions if interested.

Here I have started work on the port cockpit deck and sides.

I think it will be a lengthy but relatively straightforward process, so I'm not too concerned about making progress at this stage.

The Centreboard Now Drops!

When we moved the boat back onto its build cradle I took great pains to make sure it was located where the build manual says it should sit, which is with the centreboard slot exactly between the two cradle end pieces.

As a result the centreboard now drops to the floor, which it never did before. This indicates that it was too far to the rear of the cradle the last time we did this.

Here is the board touching the floor.

This is useful to know, because I can easily touch up a couple of dings on the forward edge of the board before putting her on the trailer.

Getting Ready For Paint Stripping

Before any paint stripping could take place in the cockpit it was necessary to ensure no stripper could drip or leak into the interior or onto the transom.

So I used plastic sheeting to seal up any vulnerable areas.

Here the lazarette hatch openings and the rudder slot have been covered up.

Both drain holes in the footwell have been plugged with BlueTack, like this.

Lastly the companionway, ratchet block support pad and centreboard pendant were sealed off, like this.

We are now ready for stripping!

Making The Keel Support Block

I needed to support the keel at the stern of the boat so that I could safely work in the cockpit. Otherwise it could tilt under my weight, which would not be good.

So I made a support block. Here it is.

Some foam padding glued in place with double sided tape prevents damage to the paintwork.

It is now safe to work in the cockpit.

Paintwork Protection | Plastic Sheeting

Having spent a lot of time and trouble repainting the bottom of the boat I had no wish to splash it with paint stripper when stripping the topsides.

I used plastic sheeting to protect the paint. Here is a view of the port side.

And this is the transom.

I have only taped the sheeting to the rub rail and to itself to form a curtain around the boat. No tape is in contact with new paintwork since previous experience tells me that tape always leaves a mark, however faint. And we don't want that!

The sheeting is not in contact with the paint work either, so it can't abrade the surface.

The primary purpose of the sheeting is to protect against splashes of paint stripper, but it also plays a secondary role in preventing damage by accidental contact. Which is not unlikely, given that the garage is in frequent use by the other member of the household … 

Ratchet Block Support Pad | Removal

The next item for removal was the main sheet ratchet block, attached to its support pad.

I had previously removed the machine screws which secured the pad to the deck, so it was simply a matter of separating the pad which was now only held down by caulk.

I used a long, sharp, thin-bladed knife to slice through the caulk. Taps from a mallet assisted greatly. This is the loosened pad.

That was easy.

Lastly, the centreboard pendant cleat was removed, leaving the topsides ready for paint stripping.

Lazarette Hatches | Removal

With the boat upright again I needed to remove the remaining fittings before stripping paint.

The first to be tackled were the lazarette hatches. This was easy enough using a ratchet socket and a screw driver, like this.

The hatches came away without too much trouble but it was immediately obvious that I had the same problem that I experienced with one of the portlights - the caulk had hardened excessively and was not easily removed.

I think this was because I used old caulk which had partly cured in the tube and was not fit for purpose.

A small, sharp knife was the best way to cut it away. This is it.

The residue was easily cleaned off with some solvent and a scraper.

Flipping The Boat (Again...)

It was time to flip the boat upright again, for the fourth time. Let the gods smile upon us and make it the last time...

In readiness for the great day I removed the polythene sheeting which had protected the lower hull while I paint-stripped the upper side panels.

This what it looked like, covered up.

And this what it looked like uncovered, in the early evening spring sunshine.

There were a few tasks to complete before turning her right side up. One very important one was to make sure that the centreboard pendant was pulled in completely and cleated off.

Examination of the pendant through the centreboard inspection ports revealed that it was loosely coiled inside the case, like this.

You can't see the pendant but trust me, it was loose.

However, hauling on the pendant from the footwell did not budge it an inch. It was firmly held in place inside the case, meaning that the heavy centreboard was trapping it.

So I climbed on top of the hull and raised the board with the long nosed pliers faced with foam padding that I used to raise it when installing the board itself. This is them.

It was easy to raise the board a few inches while Mrs Boatbuilder pulled the pendant through and tightened it. She retrieved about two feet of rope which would have allowed the board to drop down out of the keel when the boat was turned over, which would have been a big problem.

Another task was to reassemble the build cradle with its spreaders.

All was ready.

We gathered up a big team of friends and family to make the flip which was scheduled for Saturday 3rd May at 5pm.

We had six helpers on each side of the boat, which previous experience told us would be ample.

The driveway had been covered with old rugs from inside the house to prevent damage from the gravel.

I directed operations, having the team carry the boat out onto the carpet and move sideways several feet.

They then lowered the port side to the ground and carefully rolled it over until upright.

So far so good. All was well.

We moved the cradle back inside the garage and applied the brakes to stop it from moving.

The team then carried the upright boat back into the garage and lowered it into the cradle, lining it up with two bits of blue tape to indicate its correct position.

I was too busy to take any pics but Mrs Boatbuilder shot a video, which I will upload when I figure out how.

But the video does show that the whole thing took precisely 6 minutes and 49 seconds, and went perfectly.

Here she is the following day, ready for the final phase of repainting.

What a great sense of achievement!

Huge thanks to each and every one of the team, who then happily devoured lots of beer and home made pizza and brownies.

Fantastic day!

We're Ready to Flip the Boat!

I didn't really think that I would be able to repaint the interior of the boat so quickly.

It took just five days. It is undoubtedly very much easier when the hull is upside down, and using a long handled roller made it quick and easy to paint the inaccessible parts such as the transom.

So today, having surveyed the third coat of eggshell and concluding that it is good enough not to need a fourth coat, I realised that we are ready to flip her upright again.

Now, Mrs Boatbuilder participates in Oxford Art Weeks every May, meaning that the household and grounds are totally taken over by the exhibition and visitors for two whole weeks. Nothing else has any chance of happening.

The art weeks here open in the second week of May, so that leaves just the coming weekend to assemble enough volunteers to carry out the flip.

It is really short notice so I will see how we get on. Otherwise it will be June before I can start work on the topsides, which will be very frustrating.

So, with nothing more to do in the boat I decided to fit the wheels to the build cradle end pieces.

Here I am fastening wheels to an end piece with lag screws.

This close up shows the heavy-duty braked castor wheels that I used on the build cradle so I could safely and easily move the boat around the workshop.

That didn't take long and then they went back inside on the bench to await next weekend.

With a bit of luck!

Cabin Interior | Repainting

It was time to apply paint inside the cabin.

I thought I had used a quality paint the previous time but I was advised by a professional decorator that it wasn't that great.

So this time round I chose the best I could find. This is it.

It is Dulux Trade brilliant white eggshell for interior use, solvent based.

I first painted the stringers and carlins with a brush, to see how the paint felt.

It was very thick and hard to apply straight out of the tin, so I asked the Dulux people if I could thin it.

The rather grumpy lady who runs the store said to use white spirit but no more than 10%, or I would "destroy the integrity of the paint". Now, we don't want that to happen, do we?!

A test with 5% white spirit added to the eggshell caused the paint to flow very nicely, so that's what I did for the entire repaint.

I used the same roller sleeves that I used with the Epifanes yacht paint, by Rota. They are excellent. This is them.

Two rollers were needed, with a long and a short handle. Here they are.

Two coats were applied and at time of writing seem to have done the job.

This is the centreboard case, seen through a porthole.

And this is the roof.

I will see what it looks like when dry but I am really pleased with how this turned out.

Now I need to organise the boat flipping crew …

Postscript

Having said that I was happy with the paint, a close look the following day revealed that there were still some small patches where the eggshell had not fully covered patches where I had sanded through the old paint to the substrate.

The Dulux eggshell claims to be "Self Undercoating", so I didn't bother to prime these patches. I should have known better!

So a third coat was applied and it looks much better now. Sometimes I have to remind myself that perfectionism is not my friend …

Cabin Interior | Preparing For Repaint

It was nearly time to flip the boat upright again, but before I did that I decided to repaint the interior.

The white paint had turned yellowish and no longer looked smart. It would be much easier to refresh inside the cabin while the boat was upside down, so that's what I did..

The first task was to lightly sand all the old paint. My Festool sander was too big to use inside the boat, so I looked around for a small cordless palm sander.

The smallest I could find that were up to the job were all 125mm, and I opted for the DeWalt random orbital sander simply because I already had a charger and two batteries that I could use to power it.

This is it.

It comes with a dust collection bag but a trial proved that it was ineffective and still created a lot of dust, so I connected it to my vacuum cleaner with a conical connector, like this.

Some tape prevented the connector pulling loose from the sander. As here.

This was a very successful modification. I could now sand most of the interior with minimal dust creation.

I taped the floorboard and centreboard case edges and around the inspection hatches to mask them off.

Here is the centreboard case.

This is the inspection hatch in Bulkhead 2.

And here are the floorboard edges.

Then I sanded as much of the cabin that I could reach with a P80 and then a P120 grit.

I could easily reach most of the cabin with the sander, but the storage compartment and the transom were out of reach.

So I made a sanding tool by taping a sheet of medium grit nylon abrasive pad to a long handled roller arm. This is it.

This was very effective in lightly sanding impossible to reach places.

Inevitably I sanded through the paint in some places. This is one in the corner of the roof.

I am hoping that two coats of a quality paint will suffice to cover everything. We will see!