Lackey Sailing | tim lackey

The first coat of gloss paint had not been ready to sand the morning after application, but now, the next day, I could–and did–lightly sand the paint with 320 grit paper, scuffing the gloss and correcting a run here or drip there. Once the sanding was complete, I completely changed up how I’d set up the two halves for painting, as I’d had a continuing challenge with getting reasonable access to the inside of the aft hull, in particular, which was a complicated little thing to paint.

Now, I moved the aft half to the floor, where I set it up on a blanket for protection and added chocks to support it securely, and set up the forward half on the work table. The forward half, being much smaller and lighter and with a simpler paint scheme, was far less of a problem for access and decent paint application and would work on the raised table, as it hadn’t given me any particular problems with access, but now I planned to literally get in the aft half to allow better access to the complicated after regions, and also allow me to work forward on both sides at once to maintain a wet edge.

Later in the day, after final tack-off and preparations, I applied the second coat of gloss white polyurethane to the inside hull areas. I’d found previously that many of the spaces were too tight to properly use a roller, so this time I worked with brush alone, and with the better access to the inside of the boat, from being inside myself, I was much more pleased with the results.

With the project briefly on hold till the owner arrived mid-day to collect his starting battery so he could obtain a replacement (bringing me lunch in the bargain–thanks!), I finished up the masking on the forward half of the boat, taping off the rubrail as needed and masking the bobstay and bobstay fitting.

For reference, since I’d soon be sanding off all the hull paint and trim, I took a couple measurements to help with later relocating the cove stripe, and to register the existing width of the boottop.

I continued with another round of light sanding and another coat of varnish (#5) on the working surface of the cockpit table.

The top side of the pedestal table still required a few more coats of varnish; I’d done both sides at once through three coats, but then I’d worked only on the back side to bring it up to the required six coats. So now I applied a fourth coat to the top side of the table, and also took the opportunity to apply one freshen-up coat of varnish to the inside faces of the swashboards. just to spruce them up. I’d not stripped these faces, as they were in good condition, but just a little scratched up from use.

On the boat, I reinstalled various hardware I’d removed for the varnish and deck projects, and reinstalled and secured the lower lifelines.

Now I was ready to shift focus to the hull, and to that end I began to drape plastic sheeting over the decks for protection. I left the cockpit exposed for the moment, as the owner was coming up the next day to hook up a battery charger, so I’d finish up the sheeting a little later in the week and be ready to get to work on the hull next week.

But getting as far as I did meant that I could dismantle the staging from deck height and reassemble things at a level suitable for hull work, and from which I’d finish the deck masking when the time was right.

After final preparations, I applied the first of at least two coats of gloss white polyurethane to the applicable areas of each hull, along with the foredeck hatch and daggerboard cover.

Now that the new nonskid paint had cured enough overnight, I finished removing the leftover masking and cleaned up the shop. The new paint looked good and enhanced the appearance of the decks.

Now that the brightwork had had quite a few days’ cure time, it was safe for me to continue and complete the masking to prepare for nonskid, starting with the cockpit coamings, which I covered completely in masking paper, and then the coachroof, where I fully protected the handrails and other areas with plenty of tape and masking paper to hedge against splatters during the nonskid work. I followed and was bound by the lines of the existing pattern, cutting rounded corners to match where necessary, and forming sharp corners where the pattern dictated. Afterwards, I performed the final cleanup of these areas to prepare for paint.

Working from the staging, I masked the sidedecks and foredeck, using paper to protect the cabin trunk and toerails.

I’d worked steadily to finish up the masking, and found there was enough time in the day to actually paint the nonskid, though I’d anticipated doing it on a separate day. After getting set up for paint, I started in the cockpit and cockpit well, where I painted the sole first. I was immediately reminded of why I bothered with all the extra masking and protection, as I’d no sooner started then I had the splatter evidence before me, highlighting exactly why it was worthwhile. Perhaps there really is a way to apply this paint without the splatter, but I have not found it.

I finished painting the cockpit sole, an awkward proposition, and pulled the tape immediately adjacent to the fresh paint, throwing it over the side of the boat to get the messy strips out of the way. My masking so far had worked pretty well, but as always it was hard to find the tape ends once covered in paint, and removal was a messy and delicate operation, extra-challenging in the depths of the cockpit well.

With hopefully the most difficult part of the job behind me, I continued with the cockpit seats and locker covers, working my way around and pulling the tape from each section once complete, till the whole cockpit was done. So far, the improvement in appearance was dramatic.

Next, I painted the coachroof, section by section. Here, I had some challenges with the unmasking despite my best efforts, mainly in locating the ends of the tape to start pulling, but as always I persevered. When the tape ripped during removal, or left its bottom layer behind, I simply left it, but I got most of the edge tape removed cleanly. I left hardware fully masked for now, and would deal with its unmasking once the paint was cured. Even with all the extra masking I’d done, I still had to remain vigilant for stray splatters beyond the confines of the tape and paper, ready to wipe them up with a water-dampened rag (Kiwigrip is water-based).

After a short break, I cleaned up the sidedecks, which I’d had to walk on for the rest, and then started painting again with the foredeck on both sides, before working my way down the starboard side, and then back up the port side to complete the job. I pulled the strips of tape bordering the nonskid and left the remaining tape and paper in place till the paint had a chance to cure overnight and/or was safe to work on and around.

Over the past couple days I’d finished up the varnish on the tiller and extension (6 coats total), and applied a couple coats of varnish to the epoxy-coated rudder case for protection as well. These parts were now ready for final assembly whenever the time was right.

Satisfied with the state of the hull interior after priming and sanding, I thoroughly cleaned the surfaces and then laid out for the eventual nonskid pattern to prepare for the final gloss topcoats on the remaining areas. I started with the aft hull, and laid out a 1″ wide border inboard of the second chine, and around the foot cleats, bulkhead, aft seats, and other areas. Everything outboard of the masking would receive 2-3 coats of gloss white topcoat. I cut rounded corners where applicable.

The outside face of the main bulkhead would eventually be painted to match the hull, so I masked it off at the upper corners and all the way around the aft edge of the gunwales. At the transom, where the inwale met the transom face itself, I masked a line about 1/4″ down from the radius, which would be the visible dividing line between hull and interior paint.

The forward hull was more straightforward, with 1″ borders along the outboard edges of the foredeck, and around the deck hatch and aft end as well. As with the aft half, I also masked the face of the mating bulkhead.

Now the hulls were ready for gloss topcoats.

The next job on the agenda was to refresh the nonskid. With the prepwork already complete, and the decks clean from the brightwork refinishing, I moved on to masking off for the nonskid application. I wanted to give the fresh varnish some additional cure time before I masked it directly, and the weekend would give a couple additional days, so for now I worked only on masking areas where I didn’t have to tape the varnish, starting in the cockpit.

The nonskid would be Kiwigrip, a thick product that requires use of a special roller to obtain the texture. Over a number of past applications, I’d found this to be a messy process, ripe for collateral damage to adjacent areas, so my practice now was to overprotect the nearby surfaces to prevent the frustration of paint splatters on unwanted areas during application. Kiwigrip also requires that the masking tape be pulled shortly after application–a process I find onerous–but I’d also learned to make all efforts to provide for the easiest possible unmasking under this duress. So these factors conspired to some level of overkill, I’m sure, for how I masked for the otherwise straightforward refinishing, but worth it to me for a more successful and easier application when the time came.

In the cockpit, I masked everything except the outboard edges against the freshly-varnished coamings, which I’d come back and cover after the weekend. In the cockpit well, I added masking paper to protect against splatters on the sides of the well, and additional tape on all the other surfaces, arranging the tape so that the layer closest to the nonskid pattern was on top everywhere for easy pulling with the fresh paint.

The owner requested that I look into rebedding the lens on the midships deck hatch, so before I continued now I removed the hatch so I could work on it down on the bench when time and the spirit moved me. More on this sub-project later.

Next, I masked where I could on the coachroof, including around the two hatches and anywhere that didn’t require directly masking on the new varnish. I also masked the center portion of the foredeck, the bow cleats, and the forward end of the coachroof. The rest would have to wait till the varnish had the benefit of the weekend’s cure time, after which I could finish up the rest of the deck masking as needed.

With six successful coats in place, the brightwork project was complete, and I could turn to removing the masking tape and cleaning up from the job.

I didn’t expect that it would require virtually the full day to remove the masking tape, but that’s what it took; this was OK, since I wanted to give the fresh varnish some cure time before I moved on to the next part of the project, which would be refreshing the nonskid, and it was too soon to think about masking near the new varnish anyway.

As I went, I also cleaned up any small amounts varnish from these applications that had seeped beneath the tape (usually a problem mostly at the corners of the handrails and around certain hardware), and did the best I could to remove varnish spilled during earlier applications over the years, sometimes with success, sometimes less so when there was a risk of damage to the gelcoat or the new varnish work.

Later in the day, I sanded the swashboards and cockpit table (the bottom side; the top side would require several more coats) and applied the sixth coat of varnish there.