Tuesday, March 12, 2013

I Finally Painted the Decks

I had our leaking teak decks fiberglassed over almost two years ago.  All screwed down teak decks leak.  It is only a matter of time until the owner gets fed up and they are either replaced with new, glued down teak or fiberglassed.  I chose fiberglass.

This isn't really a big job as boat jobs go, but I needed to get the dogs off the boat to do it.  I didn't want it too hot and not too cool.  I didn't want to do it in the hot sun.  Finally, yesterday, I ran out of excuses.  Pam had the day off and could watch the dogs up in the pavilion while I painted.  It was 74 degrees and cloudy, with a nice breeze to blow the fumes away.

As you can see, they were looking bad.  I had primered them to protect the fiberglass, and much of the primer was wearing off.




First, I masked off the deck fills, cleats, and deck prisms.  Then I brushed around the edges where the roller couldn't get close enough.   This took about a hour.  Next came the roller, and in another hour I was done.





I'm very happy with the paint I used, West Marine's Sea Gloss Pro Nonskid Paint.   I stirred it well before applying, and stirred it every time I filled the paint pan to mix up the polymetric beads, which float to the surface.  The final result is, I think, very good.  It could use one more coat, but I think I'll leave that to the new owner, who may not want bright white like I used.

Waiting in the pavilion with Pamela and the dogs, I was enjoying my third victory beer.

"Three victory beers?" quizzed Pamela.

"You bet.   Two side decks and the foredeck equals three victory beers."

Pamela looked at me skeptically.

"Hey, Dick serviced the winches on his boat." I retorted.  "When he asked me if he deserved a victory beer, I asked him how many winches.   Eight, he said.   I told him he deserved eight victory beers."

The next project is to finish the deck by painting the inside of the gunwale.  Another small, easy job.  I just need the right weather.  Not too hot, not too cool, no chance of rain... mostly cloudy would be good.

Don't want to do it one week either side of a full moon or new moon either.

3 comments:

  1. Well Done Dave-- Scratch it off your to do list....
    Maybe you'll fetch a better price too!!

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  2. Looks good! Remember: never put off today, that which you can put off tomorrow... or something like that. You know you will have the boat exactly the way you dreamed it could be... the day before you sell it. ;-)

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