First paint! Well, primer, but doesn't she look good? :)

What a tough weekend!

My trusty and hard-working sidekick Jo and I have been sanding, wire brushing, fibreglassing, demolishing and painting...

I'd wanted to get the gunwales and one cabin side sanded, prepped and primed this weekend, and we've managed that and more. The GRP sides were flakey with many layers of paint while the gunwales were as bad with just a coat of PU floor paint on them that I did a few years ago to tidy them up.

In terms of preparation Jo's done all of the wet sanding with the DA, while I handled the wire brush. Sadly, the variable-speed grinder has gone non-variable, you get flat out whether you want it or not! Either way, lots of hard work for both.

Anyhoo, lots of piccies:

Yes, she was called 'Bouncing Ben' when I bought her... groan



Paused to put the kettle on, and demolished the kitchen. 'I know I'm looking cool, but what are we going to do with this sink?'



Kitchen area cleared... The fridge is relocating to the end of this space, and Ben (www.mpsbuilding.co.uk) is supplying a lovely bespoke kitchen featuring solid oak bits and a custom cupboard. The sink has arrived already...



Jo capturing evidence...



Sink will be at this end in a 1200mm double unit, matching up with that waste pipe. The speedfit is the main hot water from the calorifier!



A better shot of the very non-slip roof, it's growing on me now it's set and the cabin sides are being painted...



Very waterproof, solid, strong and non-slippy. (That's the gas flue - yes, this boat has a proper, modern, modulating, condensing gas boiler...)



After a whole lot of sanding and brushing, it was getting there...



The inside of the bow deck has lots of work to be done in the future - I'm not thinking about it...



Yup, looking better but a lot of work to get to this point...



The grey is the quick repaint I did back at Streethay many moons ago. It's lasted well but time for it to go... These gunwales are going a nice blue colour - actually testing out a shade for Boat3...



You should be proud of that, it looks like a new boat...



Three coats of primer on the cabin, two on the gunwales and counter.



I've no idea how I took this photo, I think I must've got my finger across the bottom of the lens, which happened to be canal-coloured!



Excuse the detritus from sorting the last tat from the boat... Looking better back here too, though only half of the counter done so far, the rest will get sorted soon. The defunct spare gas locker has had its rotten ply lid removed, a new ply piece made and glassed into place with two layers of 450gm plus tissue. Solid, waterproof and tidy...



Anyhoo, what a weekend!

The kitchen should be arriving this week, so next weekend will be weather dependent as to what gets done, whether it be inside or out! Better order some more primer!

PC