Gunwale & Deck Painting Season
Three months, three boats through the paint shop! After a winter that seemed to go on forever, painting season has most definitely gotten underway.
The first boat, in February, was a real test of weather (or more specifically, temperature) conditions. Even with the special infrared heaters in the wet dock, temperatures hovered between 5 and 10 degrees and it felt very “on the limit”. However it was a successful transformation and the boat left the dock looking majestic.
A couple of before and after snaps - approx. 40 hrs labour over the course of 7 days in the Highline Yachting wet dock to fully restore and revive the decks and gunwales.
The second boat, in March, also in the wet dock, benefited from much gentler weather conditions and paint-friendly temperatures - although there was still one night we resorted to using the heaters when the mercury dipped to 5 degrees. With decent weather the week before, I was able to start prep work outside - which was a good thing as the boat needed a fairly heavy lift to get her ready to paint - front deck in particular.
An extensive restoration of the front deck, involving heavy-duty rust removal and treatment, marine epoxy filler for more badly affected areas, priming, undercoating, reapplying non-slip surfaces, and top coating - Craftmaster paints deliver as ever!!
The cruiser stern deck and gunwales transformed over the course of 10 days - next phase will be to focus on the top of the boat and stern uprights + tiller (planned cherry red to complete the transformation)
A few final snapshots of the transformation process - which in total consumed approx. 60 hrs labour over approx. 10 days (including renovating the wooden stern bench/ seating - see pics below)
Wooden bench re-glued (was all coming apart), sanded (had become bowed and uneven in the sun), filled with wood filler (had been stuck together with unsightly mastic), conditioned and re-oiled with fantastic, impactful & quality Osmo products
Next boat going in to the Iver Highline dock tomorrow - a widebeam this time. Will keep you updated on progress over the course of the 4 weeks where she’ll be blacked and have her gunwales and decks painted, ready to shine on the canal this summer!!
