The pulling of the shroud

Have just opened the canopy to reveal a vast improvement on what was there the day before. I was still quite buzzed up when i turned in last night - don't know if that was the paint fumes or the fact my over-eagerness paid off.

Still its quite a sight seeing something that's 42 years old look brand spankers, the paint has revealed a few horrors but nothing that can't be overcome with some filler and a DA. 

chin chin

Body in White

I'm known in my family for my impatience - to some its annoying to others its plain stupid, after what seemed like an eternity I did a tester patch thinning some 10%. Not seeing anything wrong with what i had just sprayed and being terminally bored with the weather i thought fuck it, man up, mask up and get the paint on. It went like clockwork, my now well rehearsed dropping of the vertical shroud went without a hitch too. After the last hit on the starboard bow I put the gun into soak closed the boat off and whacked the heaters on.

From start to finish it wasn't more than an hour of actual painting, the horizontal surfaces between the keels were a pain in the arse as i'm relying on gravity for the paint feed but other than that alls well. So now i know you can spray Penguard HB using a Sealey HVLP gun (2.5mm) and 10% thinners.

Electricity bills gonna be a shocker.

Wow, yet more waiting.........................

I know us English go on about the weather and how crap it is but it really does suck the big one right now. The boat is tack ragged down after building a roll-up-able vertical shroud all the way around, cutlass housing removed - everything done - but the temperatures are still too low (1.2 C). I need to spend a bit of time modifying the paint as the primer i'm using is designed for airless spray which requires huge pressure (over 2000 psi) and i only have HVLP (around 50 - 60 psi) so need to thin it abit so will probably spend most of today spraying little areas under the boat with different % thinners to see which one works.

I found a paint system called 'Alexseal' which can be applied using low pressure but at £145 for a US gallon it would be a last resort. I've also been looking at vinyl wrapping the hull too as the materials are cheap enough to make it a possibility and the fact you can get some amazing metal-flake and glitter finishes which imo would pep-up the boats appearance no end.