After a rubdown of the HB primer I then added a coat of white perfection undercoat that was also then flatted down before the bottom of the hull was painted red. The first coat of gloss picked up quite a few specks of dust and dirt so the garage was given (another) clean, the hull wet sanded with 500 grit and a second coat added. This time I dampened the floor of the garage with a hose so that I didn’t kick up any dust as I was moving around the boat and this helped a lot. Next the sides of the hull were given two coats of the platinum grey (off white), again there was a light wet-sand between coats.
For all the painting I have used the roll and tip method using a gloss foam roller and a foam jenny-brush and this worked well. I am really impressed by the International perfection paint, it covers well and once left alone settles to a flat gloss finish. I have managed to paint with no runs and it is only the few dust speckles that detract from the finish. Once cured Perfection is a very hard surface that should resist scratches well. With the paint cured the aluminium capping for the skid rails was added and the hull flipped over so that a single and final coat of epoxy can be applied to the inside. The inside now has a total of three coats all over and just needs varnish for UV protection.
On the spars I have done some further work to move them along a bit. The hollow mast looked ok with it’s natural finish but I became taken with painting it black similar to a black-masted boat my parents had when I was a youngster. After applying the same Jotun HB primer as I used on the hull and a rub down the mast had its first coat of Jet-black Perfection, rather than using roll and tip I just used a foam brush but I did end up with a couple of runs so this has now been wet sanded and will get another coat on this week. I’m planning to add some leather to the yard and boom to protect the mast.
The initial yard that I made was very flexible so I have had another crack at this and have ended up with the desired flex of around 45-50mm with 10KG hanging from it. The yard is a smidge bigger than the sizes given in the plans but it is easier to take some more off later than to add it back on. Having made the yard I have now been able to provide the flex data to my sail maker who will have the sail ready in a couple of weeks.
I have had to start thinking about the rigging, blocks and control lines and having looked at what is available I am going to go with all Selden blocks, they are a similar price to the Harken/Ronstan equivalent but they are really nicely made also look cool. I could go cheaper but I think it’s worth it. The downhaul is going to be a 6:1 purchase as a number of folk have said that this makes the sail control easier, the downhaul will have a 3:1 system attached to a single cascade to double the power. Both the halyard and downhaul will come down to cam-cleats at the mast foot so that they can be managed from the middle of the boat.
Finally the aluminium SeaSure rudder fittings have been added to the rudder box and transom. The hole in the transom does not allow the use of normal pintles as there is not enough room to lift the rudder assembly up so the arrangement we are using is to have both fittings with a 8mm hole and a stainless bar or bolt will be used to hold it all in position.
I think that is all for this update but here is a pic of the boat, on its trailer, mast up. Looking good I think.
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