Winter Maintenance Program

Evening All,
No doubt there are other mossie sailors doing an off season refurb, mine was elevated after the boat was damaged on the beach after the Rum Race at Victor Harbor, ironically the last event on the calendar. A few weeks were lost with insurance etc, the bow was repaired by Tony Barrett [ great job] and I was able to start removing all the paint back to bare timber. Three methods were tried, chemical paint remover, heat gun and scraper,orbital sander, my personal preferance is for the orbital. I last painted the boat in 2005 and chose a single pack Polyurethane applied by closed cell roller and brush. I have an allergy to epoxy resin so that wipes out most 2 packs plus i don't believe spraying 2 pack is safe for home use without a positive vented suit which very few people have.I don't. So I again used the single pack polyurethane paint system, just varied the colours.Being a cool and wet Adelaide winter the long repaint times had to be observed plus there were days when no boat work was possible, patience old son! The season will soon be on us so there is no time to lose. I am curious to hear from others with their boat painting and what they used,
Cheers,
Roy,
Mossie 1770

and a couple of pics this weekends efforts,
Cheers,
Roy, mossie 1770

a great job roy!!! hopefully more people will see the blue than the white

Great looking job.

what brand of paint did you use, do you have to do any sanding after painting to get that really nice shiny look?

Hi Daniel,
I used International Yacht Paint single pack Polyurethane, 1x yacht primer, 2x prekote,2x Toplac. Light sand between coats, no sanding of the last topcoat. Started the last blue topcoat at 7am Sunday then turned the hulls so I could finish off the decks in white. Curiously the white was touch dry before the blue, the last pics were taken at 4.30pm when I put them in the drive so i could tidy up and the blue was still a bit tacky. The finish is straight off the roller, I did get some good painting advice from the guys at Duck Flat Wooden Boats,
Cheers,
Roy, mossie 1770

Hi Roy
Paint job looks fantastic. You said that you preferred the orbital sander to chemical paint stripper, was that because it is quicker to sand and do you have a vacuum attached to the sander as last time I stripped a boat I had to use chemical as sanding filled the shed with dust .
Also how hard was it to remove the beams as I have to reseal the front beam as it is leaking, are there any special tools needed.

Hi Tony,
In the second photo you can see the dust extractor hooked up to the orbital sander, sander needs to have adjustable speed for better control. The chemical paint stripper was messy [also fairly toxic stuff]and I still had to go over it with the orbital, so my preference is for the orbital. Same goes for the heat gun/scraper. With the extractor hooked up there is little dust. Both our boats are Lane hulls so getting the beams off should be similar, the front beam bolts and the two outward rear bolts [ on mine] can be undone with a socket and ring spanner, the two inward rear bolts need a stanley screwdriver and ring spanner. I put masking tape over the ring so the nut does not automatically disappear into the hulls as you get to the last of the thread, there is a stainless washer under the nuts which can be siliconed into place. John Lane built bulkheads either side of the beam bearers on these boats so getting to the nuts can be awkward. Special tools? long skinny arms would help as I have got my forearms stuck in the hulls before, its a good look!
Cheers,
Roy,
mossie 1770

Thanks for the info Roy. I had a feeling that it would not be a simple procedure. You said that you got good advice from Duck Flat Wooden Boats, did they sell you the paint? or just advise you where it could be purchased.

Duck Flat sell the International paints range as well as many other things. They have done alot of work on all of our boats over the years timber and glass/kevlar boats. They are good guys in there and always helpful..

Hi Tony,
I beamed up the boat today, putting them back on is much harder than taking them off. The back beam is easy enough but I lost some more skin getting the front inner bolts, even with the hatch covers off.I bought the undercoats from Binks and later on Prekote and Toplac from Duck Flat which had more to do with proximity to where I was working at the time. The Toplac had to be ordered in as it is a new product replacing Brightside, but Peter is right, the guys at Duck Flat are generous with their time and advice,
Cheers,
Roy, mossie 1770,
naturally, when you have your arm stuck in the hull it starts to rain!

Hi Roy
Just one more question ( for today ). What size spanners are required to remove the front beam?

Ok , The beam bolts in mine are 3/8 inch, short ring spanner and open ender. Just finished the boat today [I hope] so we should be on the water next weekend which will be opening day at Christies Sailing Club. I would have liked to have gone to Lake Bonney this weekend but time and work were against me,
Cheers,
Roy, Mossie 1770
rebel without a clew