Back to the boat to finish the bottom paint and patch up a few nicks and scratches in the gelcoat.

Finishing up the bottom paint

Saw Stu again in the yard. He has a nice CS27, Olive Branch, that he’s been working on.

We briefly talked about bottom paint. And I was still totally mixed up on our paint. I think we both left that conversation confused as we were talking about different types of paint. It was just 10 minutes later when we started painting that I realized it wasn’t VC-17, but Interlux Fiberglass Bottomkote Racing Bronze. Following the instructions from the previous owner, we thinned it down with Interlux Special Thinner 216.

I read an article that suggested putting the paint into a pop bottle to allow you to quickly pour just what you need into your tray. It’s a good trick since the paint dries so quickly. I didn’t like the narrow opening of the pop bottle so found a peanut butter jar that worked really well.

This paint dries fast! I found it difficult to put it on smoothly without streaks. The thinner definitely helped. And a fresh coat of bottom paint looks so nice!

Used a separate foam brush to get into the tight spots around the prop and rudder.

We are happy with the final results. A few streaks but I told Lori that only the fish are going to notice.

We still need to do the spots under the pads. This paint will take six hours at 23 degrees Celsius to harden for immersion so not sure of the best way to do this. Nervous about removing a pad on the stand. Will talk to Wiggers to see if we can get as much time on the slings as possible.

Repairing the fiberglass chips

There were a few spots on the boat that were chipped that we’ve decided to finally patch up. Lori took on this job and researched what was needed and did this while I was painting.

Here’s the chip in the sugar scoop, looks like the previous owner patched it but the patch was falling off.

Lori started with the Dremel (her new favourite tool) and got rid of the lose patch bits and then roughened up the surface.

She then mixed up some Epoxy putty and applied it to the area. It was goopy and hard to form. A little excessive but it should sand down after it’s dried.

We also had a chip in our cockpit floor. Lori started by sanding out the rough bits.

And then used a gelcoat paint supplied by Holland Marine (tinted to factory).

Not really proud of the look of this work, it’s our first attempt. Hoping a little bit of sanding and polishing afterwards will make it blend in better.

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