With the topsides sanded away, it is time to mask off the areas that are not going to be sprayed. In the United States, this would typically occur inside a tent, where everything is covered in plastic.
In the Azores, regulations are severely more relaxed.
Newspaper taped to the waterline seems to be sufficient for the local workers, and no tent required, even when painting next to a dark blue yacht.
Yes, with some pages of the local newspaper, we are ready to be sprayed with primer. When I asked about the boat next to us, his reply was simple yet honest: “We wait for a day with no wind".
It is refreshing to step outside of the United States where people are so hung up on every little detail that they forget about reality and practicality. The cost to have work done in the Azores is approximately 1/10th of what the cost is in the United States. This may be because of the lower cost of doing business thanks to the relaxed restrictions. They don’t need tents, tarps, or collectors, they simply wait for the weather to cooperate and take it from there.
The painter doesn’t want to get paint on the next yacht, so he is extra careful to make sure that his over spray doesn’t travel in that direction. Believing in a workers skill allows them to work without all this red tape that we have in the states.
