Lackey Sailing | tim lackey

Wednesday

At the bow, I installed the newly-made registration numbers, locating them about 27-1/4″ aft of the stem on each side, which corresponded roughly with the cutwater below.

Now that the nonskid paint was dry enough, I could remove the remaining masking from the cockpit.

I wanted to give the cockpit at least another day to cure before I started working within to finish up the hardware installations there, so for now I worked on the lazarette hatch, reinstalling the original hinges on the hatch before installing the hatch permanently on the deck with new bolts in tapped screw holes. Later, I’d add a small hasp, but since part of that might be on the fresh nonskid, I wanted to wait a little longer.

To lead the solar panel wire belowdecks, I used the same hole that it had been led through previously, but now I installed a weatherproof cable clam over the hole, which better sealed the cable and secured it. I left enough slack for the hatch to operate as needed.

Next, I reinstalled the stanchions and lifelines that I’d removed early in the painting preparations.

This was about all I could do till the cockpit had a bit more cure time, so it seemed a good time to move some boats around. Fortunately, my next project would fit in the shop at the same time as Arietta, which meant I could leave her indoors for the winter months ahead rather than attempt to engineer an effective and non-damaging cover for the boat in the meantime, and it also meant I could take advantage of the current benign weather pattern to shuffle boats without undue cold, storms, snow, or ice. So after moving some things around in the shop to make room, I temporarily moved Arietta outdoors on her trailer so I could move the other boat in. Then, later, I moved her back to the spot she’d occupy for the remainder of the winter, which still gave me opportunity to finish up the final hardware installations later in the week.

Total time billed on this job today: 3.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 28°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Partly sunny, 36°

Tuesday

Before getting back to the second coat of nonskid, there were a few installations I could finish first, starting with the outboard bracket. I’d painted the bracket along with the hull and deck, and during layout I’d prepared the fastener holes, so the final installation was straightforward. After reaming out the top surface of the four mounting holes, I applied sealant to the back of the bracket, then secured it with four 5/16″ flathead bolts in the already-tapped holes through the transom and built-in reinforcement within.

Afterwards, I cleaned up excess sealant and completed the installation with large washers and nuts on the inside. The removable portion of the bracket slid easily into the mount even with the additional thickness of paint within.

Next, I installed the oarlock base and socket with two long bronze bolts through the taffrail and hull/deck flange within.

The last thing I could install now was the aluminum trim covering the seam between hull and taffrail on the transom. I’d removed this before painting and cleaned up the original piece before installation with new screws and sealant.

The remaining hardware, including stern cleats, lazarette hatch, and some padeyes in the cockpit, would await the completion of the nonskid. So to get on with it, I applied the second and final coat of the nonskid paint, this time using the special roller to provide the textured surface. I started with the cockpit sole and the beige paint, leaving behind ample evidence of the worthiness of the extra masking around the space.

With the texture on the cockpit sole complete, I removed the masking tape around the field. I’d installed the masking in such a way that I only had to remove the strip of tape immediately defining the nonskid field, leaving the remaining masking in place till after the paint cured. The masking has to be removed with the paint still wet to avoid damaging the paint edge later.

Next, I continued with the cockpit seats and the white nonskid paint. Here, I had to remove all the masking now, since I’d forgotten to set up the tape the “proper” way as I’d done on the cockpit sole and other areas thereafter when I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. This didn’t pose a big problem, but just meant a modicum of extra care required in the tape’s removal.

I continued with the poop deck and the cockpit locker lids. Later in the afternoon, I returned and removed the excess tape from the poop deck surrounds.

After lunch, I picked up the new graphics for the name, hailport, and registration numbers, and spent the remainder of the day installing the lettering on the transom, keeping it more or less in the same position as the original lettering I’d removed earlier in the project. I’d get to the registration numbers on the bow next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 6 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 20°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Decreasing clouds, 36°

Monday

The original nonskid pattern on the rest of the decks was a knobby, randomly-patterned roughish texture as seen below. The sidedecks were beige (as had been the original cockpit sole), while the coachroof, poop deck, and cockpit seating areas were white. The owner requested that we replicate the original color scheme with the fresh nonskid.

To match the original texture as closely as possible, I chose Kiwigrip for this project, which would give a similar appearance to the repainted areas. To prepare for the nonskid, I masked off the new glossy white paint in the cockpit and poopdeck, following the lines I’d laid out earlier. Since the application of Kiwigrip is unavoidably messy, from past experience I knew to mask off wide areas all around the field, which would help catch the inevitable splatters and allow free use of the special roller that gives the product its finished texture. I’d found it much more efficient to spend the extra time masking than to fret over the constant splatters on nearby surfaces. In the new cockpit, only the sole would be beige; I had some of the Kiwigrip tinted to the owner’s choice of color, called Moon Dust. The seating areas and poop deck would be white.

With the masking complete, I had some time available before I wanted to apply the first (base) coat, so I worked on some of the hardware reinstallations, starting with the compass and sailing instruments in the cockpit. I spliced the compass light wires that I’d had to cut to remove the compass previously, then reinstalled the compass in its opening.

On the opposite side, I reinstalled the vintage knotmeter and depthsounder in their original holes, with butyl sealant around the faces and the original trim rings behind, which held the instruments in place. After reconnecting the wires and cabling, the installation was complete.

Next, I reinstalled the solar panel on the lazarette hatch, using the holes I’d predrilled earlier. As before, I installed the panel with bolts and large washers that held the panel in place through its four corner eyelets, with sealant in the openings.

For now, that was about all I could do until the nonskid was done, and in any event it was time to apply the first base coat of the product, a process I developed on my own from past experience, which showed that it was worthwhile to apply a smooth base coat before attempting the textured final coat as this greatly helped the coverage and hiding ability of the textured coat, while only masking once.

With a smooth roller, I applied the beige paint to the cockpit sole, leaving just a slight texture behind but covering the area in a consistent color coat. Then, I repeated the process on the seats, locker lids, and poop deck with the white paint. I’d let this cure overnight, then continue with the final, textured coat next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 5.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 10°, mainly clear. Forecast for the day: Increasing clouds, 35°

Saturday-Sunday

With spraying complete, over the weekend I removed all the masking tape, paper, and plastic to expose the boat in her new duds. To complete the new appearance, I waited a day for the boottop to cure further, then masked off and painted the top section of the bottom, extending down about a foot for now just for appearance’s sake; later in the season I’d paint the entire bottom to prepare her for the owners’ pickup in the spring.

Next: Nonskid and final touches.

Total time billed on this job today: 4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 19°, partly clear. Forecast for the day: Mostly sunny, 33°

Friday

Now that the hull paint had had sufficient cure time, I could get to work masking off around the boottop so I could spray it and finish the hull painting.

To begin, I masked top and bottom with special vinyl tape that helps prevent the LPU from bleeding and creates a crisp paint line.

While this tape is critical in the process, its smooth surface tends to let the thin paint shed and run, possibly ruining the job, so long ago I learned to cover it nearly completely with normal masking tape, keeping the green tape as close to the edge of the blue fine-line tape as I could without making my eyes cross too much.

With the detail masking complete, I covered the entire hull in masking paper to protect against overspray.

Now it was quick and straightforward to spray apply three coats of Alexseal flag blue to the boottop, waiting about an hour between coats. This was the final major step in the painting process, and I looked forward to unveiling the whole boat again afterwards.

Total time billed on this job today: 4 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 18°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 33°

Thursday

The next step in the painting process would be the boottop, but it was too soon to think about overmasking the fresh hull paint, so the day, as always at this point, was mainly about waiting and watching the paint dry, so to speak.

I spent part of the morning doing what I could: Unmasking the boottop and cockpit locker lids, and generally preparing for the next day’s work.

Meanwhile, I took opportunity of the available time to check over the (minimal) hardware going back in the cockpit and on the poopdeck, cleaning any old sealant away and checking my fastener inventory to ensure I had on hand what was needed to reinstall the cleats, padeyes, new winch pockets, and other.

Total time billed on this job today: 2.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 31°, cloudy, breezy. Forecast for the day: Gradual clearing, 37°

Wednesday

To protect the fresh cockpit paint from overspray while painting the hull, I got started by installing some plastic sheeting over the deck areas as needed, taping it securely all around.

Afterwards, I applied three coats of Alexseal snow white to the hull.

Brief video of the second coat:

Real-time video of the third coat on the port side:

Total time billed on this job today: 3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 26°, partly cloudy. Forecast for the day: Mostly cloudy, 36°

Tuesday

After final preparations, I applied three coats of Alexseal snow white to the prepared cockpit and locker lids (and outboard bracket), taking several elapsed hours with breaks between coats.

Total time billed on this job today: 3.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 27°, cloudy, snow shower. Forecast for the day: Cloudy with chance of snow showers, 32°

Monday

To prepare for the final topcoats in the cockpit, I laid out and masked off the eventual nonskid field areas, leaving a 1-1/2″ border around the edges in most areas. At the locker lid openings, I reduced this to 3/4″ at the adjacent edges so that a corresponding 3/4″ border on the lids themselves would complete and make up the visual 1-1/2″ border. I covered the field areas with masking paper to protect against overspray.

I put the lids temporarily in place while I marked and masked the borders against the cockpit well, so that the border would be straight and consistent between the lids and adjacent cockpit faces, but I finished up the masking down on the bench. I didn’t mask off a nonskid area on the lazarette hatch since most of this hatch would be covered by the permanently-attached solar panel, and I saw no reason for the textured surface there, but nonskid could easily be added to this hatch in the future if desired.

With the decks prepared, I moved on to the hull. Though I wouldn’t be able to spray the cockpit and hull on the same day this time around because I couldn’t risk overspray from the hull besmirching the cockpit paint (this hadn’t mattered during primer steps), I still wanted all the hull prep complete so it would be ready to go the day after the cockpit.

The final hull prep centered around the new boottop. Here, the owners requested that I leave a narrow strip of hull color between the boot and the bottom, which is a nice look, so this required striking two new lines to demark the bottom and top edges of the new stripe. With a level across the cockpit seats, I confirmed that the boat was still level from side to side and that the painting and sanding work hadn’t shifted things at all.

To begin, I used a small level, straightedge, and two marking blocks (3/4″ and 2″ thick, respectively) to transfer the existing, and newly-struck, waterline (top of the bottom paint) marks at stem and stern 3/4″ higher for the lower edge (leaving a 3/4″ visual border), and 2″ above that for the visual thickness of the new boottop.

With the new marks for reference at the stem and stern, I set up my horizontal crossbeams at the first, lower mark and, after leveling both, set up my string and, as before, marked the lower edge of the boottop along both sides of the hull. This mark would leave a visually 3/4″ wide border of hull color beneath the boottop.

Moving the beams temporarily while resetting them to the height of the upper edge of the boottop gave me time and opportunity to mask off the lower edge along the pencil marks I’d made during the layout. With that complete, I reset the beams 2″ above the lower mark, creating a stripe that would be 2″ wide amidships.

With the layout complete, I masked off the top edge of the new stripe, following the tick marks on the hull. At the bow, I increased the height at the stem by about 3/4″, and flared the top edge of the stripe along the forward third or so of the boat, to a point roughly 6′ aft on each side, chosen more or less randomly but by eye. This subtle flare improved appearance by offsetting the eye’s tendency to see the stripe as narrower at the bow because of the shape of the hull and sheerline there.

With the top and bottom edges masked and defined, I filled in between with more masking tape.

With all masking complete, I finished up with day with a final solvent wash of deck and hull, along with paint, lighting, and equipment preparations for the cockpit topcoats next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 8 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 27°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Cloudy with chance of snow showers, 34°

Thursday

I got started in the cockpit and poopdeck, sanding the fresh finish primer with 320 grit paper by machine and hand as needed. Afterwards, I continued with the loose hatches and outboard bracket on the bench. The primer had turned out well, and this was as quick a process as it could be given the myriad surfaces in the cockpit.

Next, I sanded the hull with 320 by machine and hand.

With the sanding complete, I spent the remainder of the day cleaning the shop and boat. This included blowing off the boat, trailer, and walls; sweeping the floor; vacuuming and solvent-washing the hull and deck; and rinsing off the floor and fixtures to settle dust. Now the boat was ready for the next steps, which I’d start after the long weekend.