PAINTING, AT LEAST IT'S WHITE

DANGA BAY MARINA 01'23N 103'43E

Back in the late 1960's while working as a seasonal lifeguard I had the opportunity to assist in the painting of the California state lifeguard rescue boat "Surf Watch". I learned a lot about painting boats, thanks Mel. The expert painters would come by and say "at least it's yellow". Well now at least it's white or gray as I embark on the painting of Po oino Roa's cabin top and decks. This will all be done by brush and with the new two part polyurathane paints. Hey we live on a fixed income, so it's do-it-yourself.

We have several power sanders aboard and then it was lots of hand sanding to prepare both the deck which would get new non-skid and the cabin top and other deck areas which get gloss.

After sanding a coat of epoxy primer and then more sanding before two finish coats of white.

Lots of masking. We removed winches and other hardware but the handrails had to stay. Working in a boatyard and havinga storage container would make things easier.

The cabin top and edges of the deck are done and better than before. Hey IT'S WHITE!!

We've now masked off the non-skid areas and are ready to paint them. This was a two person job, one to apply the paint and another to roll in the non-skid texture. As each section was completed the tape needed to be pulled off.

The cabin top was first then we moved on to the deck area.

Kathy brushing on and then I would come along with the roller.

This looks good, shiney white and a light gray for the non-skid.

Where the new meets the old. As we work along in sections we're about a quarter of the way done. Before more painting we will finish on the deck delamination repair.

Nothing like another day in paradise!!!!

BUSY DAYS

DANGA BAY MARINA 01'23 N 104'43E

Yes we're still here in Danga Bay, hey I don't know of any other marina that's free so it makes a good spot to catch up on long neglected maintenance projects.

When we bought the boat ten years ago one of the notations made by the surveyor was delamination of the deck skin from the core. Think of the deck as a sandwich. Two skins of fiberglass with a wood core in the middle. In older boats it's common for the outer skin to delaminate from the core. Ours has done that in a number of places. I had previously made some repairs but lots more were necessary, so here we go.

Out came the small circular saw and I cut out a rectangle. In the past I had cut two inch in diameter hole but this time I wanted to see what the core material truely was.

On lifting the panel off we found five inch square pieces of plywood stuffed together and then bonded with resin. It looks as if during the manufacture they made use of all the scraps putting them in the core.

For these sections we mixed up thinned epoxy resin and satuarated the core, then replaced the top section. After observing exactly what the core material was we went back to a simpler method of just drilling holes through the top skin and then injecting the epoxy mix into the holes.

On injecting the epoxy there is a cappillary effect and the epoxy flows through the core material. you continue to mix more and inject until at last the holes fill. Next it's a layer of seran wrap and weights. Once the epoxy cures the soft delaminated spots are gone. At least for now.

Now the deck is once again solid. Next will be some more filling to make it smooth and the re-paint and non-skid.

We have been moving along a section at a time. now the aft deck is done.

FUN-BOAT WORK-FUN

DANGA BAY, MALAYSIA 01'23 N 103'43E





To all of you blog followers,well I hope for at least one here is the latest. Tonight I have managed two postings so enjoy. Here is couple #1 at the opening of a new bar here in Danga Bay. Now for an opening celebration it was free beer and buffet dinner.

These guys are happy sedrving free beer and they never even get tips.

As we also got a rugby match that night, here's Capt. Ron the dockmaster playing "Waltzing
Matilda" on the harp as Oz. beat S. Africa.

John of "Scarlett O'Hara" and Heather of "Ajax"

Capt. Ron and wife Vanessa

An outdoor cafe in Singapore. Kathy and I had to make the trip to buy varnish.

650 ml Tiger beer's for $5.30 sg dollars or about $4.75 US.

Trips to Singapore are necessary to buy most boat things. Hey it's only a two hour trip each way and you get more stamps in the passport. Soon we'll need extra pages!! This is in a subway station.

Kathy ready to board the train. The rapid transit is a great way to get around and cheap.



OK, now we move on to the work section. Here are three of our five anchors. We are sending them in to be re-galvinized at $.50 a kilo/2.2lbs. CHEAP!!

Po oino Roa is an older lady built in 1979 and in need of lots of work. A major project to be done here in Danga Bay is repairing of delamination and painting of the decks. I'm about to begin.

Once repair work is done the deckis get new paint which we had to order and have maile from the states.

so if you lie on your side this photo becomes perfectly clear. OK it's the navigation station and mainelectrical panel in the process of getting new varnish.

Lots of scrapping and sanding. the best part is Kathy is the new varnish person leaving me to grind and repair fiberglass. she just needs to remember it's never the last coat and don't try to be smarter than the varnish.

It seems I do lots of wood repair work.

Hey if you can't use clamps you must improvise and figure a way.