March 3-7, 2023 Painting the hull

3-3 The boat yard put our boat in the slings that they use to lift or move boats.  Dave was able to finish prepping the bottom of the keel, since is wasn’t sitting on any supports.  Then they moved our boat to an area away from the haul out bay, yippee!

taping where we removed the green boot stripe

we think the Platinum Dawn soap removed the paint near the galley through hull

boat in the stands

3-4-5. We started prepping the boat for painting the bottom-buffed, acetone, taped, etc.  Dave put on the first coat of paint.  We bought 4 gallons of red and one grey.  The red was cheaper because they had excess of it.  And we wanted grey at the waterline to cover the red.  We probably could would have been fine with 4 gallons total.  Good to remember, since it’s about $400/gallon.  

3-6 Dave finished the painting today with some help from me.  We added bottom paint on the stern above the waterline.  We always get a mossy growth in that area.  This will slow that down and be easier to clean.  We also put extra layers of paint on the hull near the galley through hull.  The extra strength Dawn Platinum detergent removes the paint in that area.  We are going to switch to regular strength Dawn detergent to see if that makes a difference.  
I picked up the remaining dry goods and freezer items for the Bahamas and spent time storing things on the boat.

 

The stern is taped to add the paint.  I had to come up with the design and still be able to fit Rapid City, SD about the paint line

The grey paint is now on the stern

3-7 Dave power washed the boat and organized things to be able to launch the boat and head to the Bahamas.  This was Tuesday.  The plan was to put the boat in the slings on Wednesday and be able to paint the bottom of the keel and under the stands.  Then the boat would go back in the water on Thursday.  But the boatyard owner, Rocky, said he could put us in the slings today and launch us on Wednesday.  We went for it without really thinking through all that we needed to do.  After the boat was in the slings, we couldn’t put the boot stripe back on the boat above the area that we painted.  That was the plan for today.  
Dave finished painting the bottom.  

 

the square is where the stands were holding up the boat

looking pretty

I cleaned out the car and packed it with things we needed to take back to our storage unit in Brunswick.  We left St Marys about 5:30.  Went to the storage unit to drop off and pick up things.  Picked up Pete, had dinner, and drove back to St Marys.  Pete will take our car back to Brunswick and park it at the marina while we are in the Bahamas.