Bristol Channel Cutter Elizabeth

One year ago today Elizabeth arrived from TX… weeks late, but safe and mostly sound. The night she arrived, Rosie and I were so excited, we accidentally offered to take the truck driver and his GF to the local pizza joint in the back of his 91′ VW golf. Loaded heavily in the stern, we dragged the muffler the entire way; his poor car has never been the same.

365 days later, she doesn’t look too different to the casual eye. She’s still on the hard, and mastless. But I know alot of time, MONEY and effort has gone into her this past year. And I’ve loved every second of it. Just hard to believe another year has gone by, and I haven’t even sailed her yet. Not going to happen this year though. I’m planning on a first week of June launch… THAT’S LESS THEN 3 WEEKS AWAY! I’m sure the bulwarks will still be wet. AWLgrip recommends letting the paint cure a full 3 weeks before putting the vessel into regular use. Hah!

WEST HULL REPAIR

The bow repair is nearly complete. I ended up laying in 9 layers of cloth and 1 layer of mat. I laid 2-3 layers per day. I mixed in one tablespoon of 404 in each batch of epoxy I used to lay the cloth.  I think it will be a very solid repair. Fairing it up and painting it to look nice will be the trick. This second pic shows me trowling in the WEST/404 mixture for final fairing.

AWLGRIP

Bulwark painting takes time. I started out using a small roller and foam brush for corners.  But, I’ve found simply using a china bristle brush is the way to go. I’m using a 2″ cheapy brush from West Marine (Sea Fit Cutter Professional) which costs me ~$2.00 through Port Supply… disposable IMO. It’s been taking me about 3 hours per side. I find, if the weather cooperates and I get my shit together early enough in the day, I am able to lay one coat, working from bow to stern, then go right back to the bow and lay a second “hot coat” immediatly after finishing the first. So currently the port side has 3 coats, while the starboard side has 2 coats on the outboard side, but only 1 coat on the inboard side. Rain slowed me down today. I found the old tape I had onboard ended up bleeding through, even though it was the better quality green tape. The new rolls of blue masking tape I bought held up much better. This is one case where newer is better.

The trick to Awlgrip even in the primer stage is to keep the paint thin. The wind has been an issue lately. I have been contending with 15-20kts, with gusts to 30kts on occasion. I have to hold my paint pot and stir stick at all times for fear if I set it down, it will blow over. I use a healthy dose of T00031 brushing reducer, and keep adding it as I go. When I get the ratio right, the primer really lays down nicely and brush strokes are minimized.

When I do have to sand between coats, I have been wiping down with Interlux 202, because I forgot to order the Awlprep. Jeff, the painter at the Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard assured me I’d be fine using the 202. He also told me not to let Awlgrip be in control. He said, ” Make the Awlgrip your slave. You control it.” Good advice. I treat it like any other paint, not being intimidated at all. At least I got it for a decent price. Half the issue with these LPU paints is worrying about wasting it and watching a 12oz pot ($50) go to waste. I paid $207 for 1 gallon of 545 primer, 1 gallon of catalyst and 1 gallon of brushing reducer… or about $70 each.  And that’s alot of product, I won’t use it all. I’m currently wondering what else I can paint

Some notes on procedure… Dan from Shaula alerted me to the fact that I should sink the stantion bolts in the paint. I tend to forget these important steps, as witnessed this winter with some of my varnish projects and the forgotten bungs. Some of my stantion holes had yet to be drilled, so I spent some time drilling those out. I learned the hard way a few weeks back that you need a backing plate when driling through wood in order to avoid blowing out the backside. I laid one coat of 545, then installed the bolts, on top of which 2-3 more primer coats will be applied. I also decided to remove the gallows, and GPS antenna from the taffrail area for easier brush access to the surfaces. Much easier.