This blog covers a 2 1/2 week holiday I spent in Sardinia working on Mary.
Before reading this look back at the condition of Mary when I sailed out of Portland in October 2012. During 2013 she was exposed to a lot of strong UV. With the addition of a hole I had poked just in front of the hatch see an earlier post discussing the repair. The coach roof looked like this;
So the aim of the holiday was to re-varnish the coach roof and apply some anti-foul. To do this I used paint stripper but I think a heat gun would make a cleaner job. Any opinions?
Now being the kind of theoretical optimist I am I decided to use Reactive Resins copper coat anti-foul. Theoretical because when it got to practice I scared myself with the task I had taken on. I will discuss this in a different post. The ultimate motivation was a possible couple of days of actual sailing.
Eventually, for the varnishing, I decided to use a tung-oil varnish. I ended up with Brava http://www.brava.it. ; Now, with one or two coats, it looks like this;
With a couple of more coats and the Reactive Resin Copper anti-foul she looks a more respectable.
I guess the idea of keeping the boat in a marina particularly one in Sardinia might not be everybody’s idea of good fun. But it has its perks. Mary is kept under a tarpaulin and whilst I am there I swim in the sea most days. During Summer there is a hot shower and a bar open. At the end of September neither can be relied upon. The staff there are friendly and professional. Also having a fork-lift is helpful when it comes to painting keels. Most days are hot and two pack paints dry fast enough to have to play your day around painting while is is cool.
Coachroof looks good!