Thursday 24 Oct, day 13: Getting close to painting antifoul.
Another chilly but bright morning, promising to be another glorious autumn day. Weekend weather looks wet again hence we must try to get antifoul paint on by Friday so it can be dry and hard enough for launching next week.
But before antifoul we need to seal the hull on the keel and around the thru-hull maintenance areas. This means applying 3 coats of InterProtect 2000E. A 2-pack primer/sealer. First coat goes on at 10am as the air warms. This is where we see just how good a job we did fairing the hull over the in-filled thru-hull holes. As we hoped, it looks perfect. No sign of where the holes had been.
While the 1st coat dries we fiddle with the backing plates for the engine intake and water-maker thru-hulls. Very tricky installation in this part of the hull. The resulting backing plate ends up looking like a very distant relative of its original circular form, more like an art sculpture.
By midday it’s coat number 2 of InterProtect, then off to the local hardware store yet again for more bits and pieces. We should take our shares in this store!
Before the late afternoon dampness starts, it’s on with the 3rd and final coat of InterProtect. There, ready for antifoul paint tomorrow. And on that note, we pick up 4 gallons of Micron Extra from West Marine @ $1000! Jeez… antifoul paint is expensive! But having said that, Ray helped us get this paint at huge discounted rate. Normal price would be more like $1250.
We hope to only use 2 gallons – taking the other 2 gallons with us to wherever we manage to next haul out – hopefully somewhere in mid-Pacific.
In the early evening it’s time to glue in the backing plates for the engine and watermaker thru-hulls. A very tricky business lining them up whilst not actually getting the fittings glued themselves. After an hour or so of gentle swearing, they are both glued in place… and hopefully in the right place!
Rest of the evening we actually relax a little, with a nice glass (or 2) of fine Sherry bought from Swan Valley in Perth. And as I write this, Oana studies for one of the most important jobs: to make sure we are stocked with enough Nespresso coffee going forward and researches where we can next order it from. After USA, the next shop is in Panama. And once we leave Panama, the next Nespresso stop will not be until New Zealand! Ooh … that’s worrying. What if we run out 1/3 way across the Pacific? That’s a nightmare scenario not worth thinking about! Oana would better get her stock calculations right…