update

[Killick69]

Night cap was slipped this weekend, so we had an interesting Fri & Sat. She goes back in the water monday morning. Anyone out there who has a boat with a clean bottom can thank me, because I think all the marine growth was attached to our hull. The guys at Fenwicks have been great. We scraped the hull to remove numerous layers and part layers of a-f and u/coat and found the best way to do this is with a scraper from Bunnings, called Uni-Pro precision scraper. If we had used paint scrapers, we would still be scraping. Used Internationals Primer (Primocon, dark grey). Used about half of the 4 litre tin. Applied it with any old paint roller (used brushes only where necessary). Used International Micron Extra and found 4 litres to be just right for Toppie (2 coats plus plenty extra for leading edges, trailing edges and first half metre under waterline). About half way through 4 litre tin we had panicked thinking we would not have enough A-F, so added almost 10% thinners. With A-F, same as primer we found most rollers work equally well (did not use extension handle, but prefer to get in close). Under the keel there was virtually no growth, even where the blocks had prevented previous application of A-F. Removed a redundant through hull fitting and seacock. The backing nut on the old THF was so badly corroded it was ready to fall apart. Glassed over. 1 in 12 chamfer on o/side and lesser chamfer on inside, alternated cloth and matt, progressively larger dia and used polyester resin. Good way to remove old THF is ram tapered wood plug in from o/side and cut off excess, then use hole saw (lube with oil). When gelcoating we took the opportunity to fix up a few dicey chips around the hull. Replaced sink Thru hull and seacock, although the old one was OK (cut a round backing for the seacock from a kitchen cutting board and used Sikaflex 291). Think seacock handle is in best position, but had not put any thought into this until I was on the job. Along the side there was a 1 inch (PVC?) stripe, well the worse for wear, but sticking like the proverbial to a blanket, which we had to scape off (thanks again to the Uni-Pro scraper), as nothing else worked. We had the same issue with the old Registration numbers on the transom. There is an imprint of the numbers and lettering. Anyone know how to remove imprints, other than sand the hell outta the hull? The imprint of the old 1 inch stripe is just visible and will hopefully fade. We tried to sand off the old green 5 inch band under the gunwale, but with to success, so painted over in teal gloss enamel, using a good quality brush (did not have time to do u/coat and just pray the second coat dried OK). I thought we would get the sides polished and waxed (tried machines and by hand, but it seems we need to cut back with wet 2000 grit paper first). Any ideas/comments? A job for next time or maybe at the jetty. The rudder is good and we don't think there is any water in it The 6 bolts and nuts are stainless and I found they were loose. Tightened them, so suggest nyone fitting bolts and nuts, use lock nuts or loktite. Anyone know how stainless GOES UNDERWATER?? The stainless 'pintle looks good and there is a grey/white bush in good condition about 10mm thick at the bottom. i know the upper bush is shot but can get one for $11 and fit it with the boat in the water. We bit off a lot and were not sure what we would find, but things went well and the weather was PERFECT. That was July, now for Aug (standing rigging).