Painting her pretty

We are building for longevity – we expect, with normal maintenance, that this boat’s useful life will exceed that of many of the building team. Part of this long life will be due to how she is finished off. Much has been written about the short life expectancy of plywood boats, usually by those with little experience of the breed. Provided exposed end grain is properly sealed before the boat gets anywhere near water marine ply will last as long as or longer than a traditionally built boat in ‘real’ wood. We confidently anticipate a life of at least 30 years and probably much longer – witness the number of cared for early Mirror dinghies still extant approaching their 50th anniversary.

Preparation is fundamental to a long-lasting finish, it also produces a pretty good-looking finish but that is incidental – the smoother the base the more evenly the paint will be applied and the longer it will last. So lots of scraping back surplus epoxy with the help of hot air guns followed by sanding smooth with 120 and 240 grit paper was needed. a case of many hands make light work – it is at this stage that earlier decisions to go for scuppered Gunwales might well be regretted, getting the sandpaper effectively inside the scuppers to remove all traces of epoxy from the surface is fiddly and tedious work – but very necessary if the Varnol is to be able to penetrate the Gunnwale timber.

We have opted for a combination of high-tech priming/undercoat systems with a traditional yacht enamel for the final finish. The logic behind the ‘Traditional’ approach for the last coat is ease of touching up the inevitable scufs and dings acquired from regular use, the high-tech substrate should withstand normal wear and tear without the need for recoating. We anticipate that a rub down and recoat of the surface finish every couple of years will keep Ulla looking pristine. The generosity of Hempel Marine in significantly cutting our paint bill means that we don’t need to penny pinch at this last stage of the build.

Adrian (just to prove he will touch ply) and Richard shaving off surplus epoxy using lots of hot air

Fiona and Richard sanding – a never ending task. To make the job easier we balanced the boat on her side, saves much backache.

Almost sculptural

The hull was first saturated with woodseal to give a good base for the rest of the paint system

One 750ml tin’s coverage of woodseal, two coats on the laps, one everywhere else

Mike applying the Hemple Epoxy primer undercoat. The trick with this high solvent stuff is to get it on fast and don’t work over where you have already been

More EPU application, vapour masks would have been a good idea here.

Halfway through the EPU first coat

First EPU coat completed.

Next day a second coat of EPU was put on – more coats would have been a good idea but we wanted to keep plenty for the outside of the hull

completed second coat of EPU

First coat of gloss on the interior, a nice canary yellow. Thinking of renaming her ‘Budgie’

First coat of interior gloss, the polythene dust sheets were an attempt to keep the dust off the drying paint – they kept the dust off but because of the low ventilation the paint was still tacky after 48 hours so we will have to live with the dust!

After three coats of gloss

All masked up and coated in Hempel Woodseal

Outside all masked up and coated in Hempel Woodseal. ultrasonic vibrations were used to ensure superb penetration of the potion into the grain.

Secret appendage soaked in woodseal

After first coat of Hempel EPU rolled on

After first coat of Hempel EPU rolled on from the bow

After first coat of Hempel EPU rolled on from above

After secondcoat of Hempel EPU rolled on from the stern

our ‘shark fin’ after three coats of Hempel EPU

After three coats of EPU – one more to go

After three coats of EPU from the bow. A pretty solid base for the glossing

After 2 and a half days of curing the EPU was ready to sand, a full day of delicate hand sanding with 240 grit paper rendered a reasonably smooth surface ready for glossing. Here after the first coat thinned about 5%

After 2 coats – unfortunately 17 hours was not long enough drying time so more flesh will be abraded in cutting back the blemishes – Yes our leaders choice was pink!

from the bow after 2 coats of gloss, wrinkley curtains and holidays abound.

First coat of Hempel Brilliant Gloss on the sheerstrake

First coat of Hempel Brilliant Gloss on the sheerstrake

The full colour scheme becomes apparent

detail of the pointy end

The second coat of gloss on the sheerstrake – due to the excellent pigment density it is difficult to see any change with the extra coat.

The floorboards after a coat of deck paint, these should dull down a bit once dry

John painstakingly picking off the masking tape which had been left on a tad too long

Masking tape removed, ready for teatment of the bright work after a bit of final sanding

The weather behaved and the boat came out into the sun for finishing of the brightwork

The final colour scheme in daylight

From the starboard stern quarter

Almost ready for the water

detail of the stern stem head after treating with Varnol, three rounds of wet on wet followed by one coat of full strength wet sanded with 320 grit paper, the resultant slurry wiped off with a Turps damped rag.

spot the scratch – it pays to let the paint harden for a week if you have the time

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