Primer on the Deck

If you read the instructions on your paint tins, Interlux recommends painting white primer if you are going to paint white for the final color; grey primer if you are going to paint any darker color. 

Five years ago, when I painted the deck, I followed the instructions and had the hardest time telling where I had painted and where I hadn’t yet. This time around, I’m making my life easier and breaking the instructional rules! 

GREY PRIMER!! 

I painted the whole deck with a 2 inch chip brush that I bought in a value pack at Home Depot while were still in the states. I started using it for edging and then began filling in the areas between the edges. In no time, I was painting the whole thing with this tiny brush.

The dark grey paint really does pick up the heat. In no time the inside of our home went from rather cool to very warm. I can only imagine what it’s like to have a dark deck on a tropical summer day! 

Deckwork Begins

The head has been consuming my life for the past few months. I feel like a prisoner in an old timey movie where I’m locked in the dungeon with only a tiny window way up high that lets in light.  

The tiny window was the hatch in the head and my life was down in the bilge. It was miserable and took much longer than I anticipated. The important lesson learned is how long boat projects take when you have to worry about materials curing! As soon as I finished the fiberglass work and began working with wood, everything just came together in a few days. 

The head is now done but the boat is far from finished. Our next job is to repaint the deck! 

Maddie, with her sprained ankle was able to sit around the deck and run the sander to take off the surface layer of paint. Most of the deck paint was holding up well, but there were a few areas, mainly at the fore peak, which were flaking off completely. The idea is to take the deck down to well attached substrates, be it well adhered paint or bare fiberglass. Once we are at that point, we will paint the whole deck and make it look like new!