Opua: painted
Opua: painted
I painted myself Sea Green today, and got a little on the boat, too.
The ‘HAWKE is a workboat’ mentality was never more on display than during my touching up the topside paint just above the waterline this morning. It was ‘quick, dirty, and done by lunch’, and I didn’t even care about lunch.
Using an aluminum stepladder I found near an empty cradle, I rapidly circumnavigated the hull with 180 grit sandpaper in one hand and a mineral spirits soaked rag in the other.
For this I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt which were appropriate. Why I didn’t change into the Levis and long-sleeved shirt I usually paint in before proceeding, I do not know. By the time I recognized my error, it was too late.
The second circuit of THE HAWKE OF TUONELA with a foam brush in one hand and a small can of International’s Brightside Sea Green wrapped in paper towels in the other, took about an hour, at the end of which the waterline was painted well enough to pass my ‘look good at a boat length distance’ in the water; and I had paint on my hands, arms, legs, feet, and, somehow, chest. When I finally saw myself in a mirror I also found a drop on the end of my nose and several on my chin. You must admit that I do have a strong, paint-catching chin.
I made far more of a mess in that one hour working on the waterline than in applying the two coats of anti-fouling combined.
Before painting, I lubricated the seacocks from the outside of the hull.
After, I applied more filler to the patch chipped out of the keel.
There is a lot I could do on the boat tomorrow. Nothing I have to do until they lift me in the travel lift sometime in the afternoon.
I am not feeling particularly ambitious.
Ashby’s is a very good yard in which to live aboard your boat. Many of the yards around Boston would not permit us to do so. Many yards in the U.S., including some I have used in the past, no longer allow you to do your own work. I find this unacceptable. Actually I find it despicable.
However, as accommodating as Ashby’s is, I am very much looking forward to THE HAWKE OF TUONELA being surrounded by water in forty-eight hours instead of on stilts surrounded by land.
The photo, taken a few minutes ago, shows Bernie’s boat in front of THE HAWKE OF TUONELA; Cato’s behind.
The somewhat sinister appearing circular building is the painting shed.
Monday, January 30, 2012