Paint deck, before or after removing and rebedding hardware?

[steve yates]

It occurs to me that while all my headlining is stripped off, and before I make attempts at replacing it with something else entirely, it might be a good idea to remove and rebed all the deck fittings. The decks are also going to be reappointed. Does it make any difference if I repaint first or last! Or is best practise to remove everything, repaint, then rebed?

 

[Daverw]

Unfortunately I think you know the correct answer already ?

 

[knuterikt]

Remove, paint and rebed.

 

[lw395]

Mostly you are going to repaint more often than you remove the fittings.
Are we talking ordinary GRP deck and anti-slip paint?

You don't want to mark the new paint with sealant, or by clonking it with tools or even walking on it while the paint is still soft.
You don't want lots of holes open while you wait for the paint to dry.
Paint under the fittings if you need to. Get the fittings on, mask them and paint the deck.
Some people paint the deck afloat, to avoid grubby footprints from the yard.

 

[Concerto]

steve, you will have fun removing all deck fittings on your Westerly as all the nuts were glassfibred over in the factory to prevent water ingress. So, you only need to reseal any deck fittings that have been fitted or changed.

 

[Stemar]

Strip the deck then paint. Painting round things is a recipe for the paint to lift at the edges.

 

[Lightwave395]

Remove, paint and rebed.

No option in my mind, if you're going to do it, do it properly, everything should come off, that's exactly what I did,
However, I did one area each side at a time, cockpit, coachroof, foredeck and sidedecks, initially removed each fitting, painted a couple of coats of deck paint around it (I used Premier deck paint, a tin of white and a tin of grey mixed got me the right pale grey colour), then plugged all the holes with blobs of sealant while the paint dried and subsequently rebedded the fitting - the whole task was done over several days of fine weather, when the rebedding was completed I finished the whole deck area.
Don't know Westerly's but if your sidedecks are in sections like mine I masked them with square corners then traced around a suitable size bottle cap at each corner with a sharp Stanley knife blade to make every corner identical.

As was already quoted - you know it makes sense...

 

[steve yates]

steve, you will have fun removing all deck fittings on your Westerly as all the nuts were glassfibred over in the factory to prevent water ingress. So, you only need to reseal any deck fittings that have been fitted or changed.

Oh, I didn't know that, but I'm quite happy to hear it

 

[steve yates]

Mostly you are going to repaint more often than you remove the fittings.
Are we talking ordinary GRP deck and anti-slip paint?

Exactly that

 

[steve yates]

Don't know Westerly's but if your sidedecks are in sections like mine I masked them with square corners then traced around a suitable size bottle cap at each corner with a sharp Stanley knife blade to make every corner identical.

They are, and thats an excellent tip, thank you.

 

[Poignard]

Tesa flexible masking tape is a great time saver when a curve needs to be masked. Very tight curves can be made with it.