G
Guest
Guest
Antifouled the boat at the weekend. It was my first time and found it strangely satisfying.
Thought I'd write about it in case anyone else was thinking about taking the plunge ...
The boat is a 20' cabin cruiser (freshwater).
Lifted her at 4pm on Friday and jet washing the hull took just over an hour.
She had less than 1cm of algae and lots of freshwater mussels growing on her (4 years since she was last lifted).
The topsides were then washed down with 'Truck Wash' to get rid of all the dirt.
Also took the time to scrub some nooks and crannies not usually accessible from the mooring.
I own the boat with a friend and we both set about sanding the hull on Saturday.
We each had an electric sander and, starting at 10am, we'd completed about half the hull by 1pm.
A few beers and a pub lunch made the second half a lot easier!
Where possible we sanded back to the gel coat but generally we sanded until everything was firm and could be primed.
This was by far the worst bit of the entire process. Arms were really aching 'cos we had to push the sanders upwards against the hull.
The boot line was then masked and we noticed a few knocks that had gone through the gel coat (about half a dozen very small nicks).
These were filled with gel coat filler - which took an hour to harden (just enough time for another pint!).
We rollered on a coat of very glupy primer at 5pm (took about half an hour).
Back at 10am on Sunday and we rollered on a coat of antifoul. It dried so quickly that we immediately applied a second coat.
Removed the masking tape and set about polishing the topsides ...
Buffered topsides using G7 rubbing compound.
Polished using car polish and an electric buffer.
Also managed to fix a leak on the aft cabin and gave the outboard a bit of a scrub.
There she was at 4pm Sunday ... looking very good indeed.
Considering I hate DIY, there was something very satisfying about the whole process. Even bonded with my sons while we all sanded the hull together.
I must say there were some sad old boats in the boat yard - you'd have to say they were 'no hopers' but I now understand why people just tinker with them.
As for our boat - she's due back in the water any minute now and it's great to know the hull's in great shape.
Costs?
101.44 Boat lift and hire of jetwash from marina
67.69 Antifouling, primer and filler
54.37 Sandpaper, rollers, brushes, rubbing compound, polish, rags etc
223.50 TOTAL
Thought I'd write about it in case anyone else was thinking about taking the plunge ...
The boat is a 20' cabin cruiser (freshwater).
Lifted her at 4pm on Friday and jet washing the hull took just over an hour.
She had less than 1cm of algae and lots of freshwater mussels growing on her (4 years since she was last lifted).
The topsides were then washed down with 'Truck Wash' to get rid of all the dirt.
Also took the time to scrub some nooks and crannies not usually accessible from the mooring.
I own the boat with a friend and we both set about sanding the hull on Saturday.
We each had an electric sander and, starting at 10am, we'd completed about half the hull by 1pm.
A few beers and a pub lunch made the second half a lot easier!
Where possible we sanded back to the gel coat but generally we sanded until everything was firm and could be primed.
This was by far the worst bit of the entire process. Arms were really aching 'cos we had to push the sanders upwards against the hull.
The boot line was then masked and we noticed a few knocks that had gone through the gel coat (about half a dozen very small nicks).
These were filled with gel coat filler - which took an hour to harden (just enough time for another pint!).
We rollered on a coat of very glupy primer at 5pm (took about half an hour).
Back at 10am on Sunday and we rollered on a coat of antifoul. It dried so quickly that we immediately applied a second coat.
Removed the masking tape and set about polishing the topsides ...
Buffered topsides using G7 rubbing compound.
Polished using car polish and an electric buffer.
Also managed to fix a leak on the aft cabin and gave the outboard a bit of a scrub.
There she was at 4pm Sunday ... looking very good indeed.
Considering I hate DIY, there was something very satisfying about the whole process. Even bonded with my sons while we all sanded the hull together.
I must say there were some sad old boats in the boat yard - you'd have to say they were 'no hopers' but I now understand why people just tinker with them.
As for our boat - she's due back in the water any minute now and it's great to know the hull's in great shape.
Costs?
101.44 Boat lift and hire of jetwash from marina
67.69 Antifouling, primer and filler
54.37 Sandpaper, rollers, brushes, rubbing compound, polish, rags etc
223.50 TOTAL
