One of the major activities on the Gyrfalcon these last few weeks has been painting and varnishing. Jeff and his gang from Onshore Yacht finishing are doing a spectacular job. They often work over the weekends, when the boatwrights are gone, so that they can bag off sections of the boat and spray. At this point they have prepped the coach roof for priming, primed the cabin walls and wheelhouse, and varnished all the outside brightwork.  After they finish the brightwork, they will put on the final coats of enamel on the walls. Jeff explained that you have to do it this way, so that you don’t get varnish on the final coats. It does mean a lot of taping, untaping and re-taping between each step.

The results are absolutely gorgeous. With each step the Gyr looks more spectacular. Now that the brightwork is shining, we often stand, with our mouths agape, staring at the cabin walls, saying “God does that look good!”  It’s not just that we’re easily pleased; the work is stunning.

However, other than writing checks, I must admit that I know very little about marine painting. (Did I mention how good the walls look?).  So last week, when my neighbor Andy asked me what kind of paint they were putting on the boat, I answered,

“White”

“Well, at least it’s not latex.”

I felt like I detected a certain amount of sarcasm in his response, but I’ll admit I admit I felt like a total dufus, and not the swashbuckling, system-engineering, I- can- fix- that- with- some- putty- and- a- roll- of- duct- tape figure that I hope to project in the (not-so-distant)  future.

So Nancy and I had a long talk with Jeff about the details of our paint job.  Here is a transcription of our notes, as accurate as two pathologists with limited paint jargon can make it. Some of these jobs have been completed, and others are in process, so the amount of detail below varies.

Outside Cabin Walls

1. Old paint burned off to bare wood
2. West system epoxy filler
3. Awlgrip sanding surface – 3 coats (9 gallons worth)
4. Awlgrip 545 epoxy primer – 2 coats (7 gallons)
5. Awlgrip Cloud White Gloss enamel – 2 coats (The underside of the coach roof is also finished with the Cloud White, but in a semigloss so there will be a contrast – it will pop as we say in the paint business.

 Deck

1. Sanding surface
2. Awlgrip 545 primer
3. Whisper gray enamel

House Carlins

1. Gray primer
2. Whisper gray enamel (to match deck and coach roof

Coach Roof

1. West System epoxy filler over new plywood
2. Sanding surface
3. Awlgrip whisper gray non-skid

Varnish

1. Sand surfaces, remove rough spots
2. Flagship enamel varnish (2 coats on doors/windows under cover; 6 coats on exposed surfaces on wheelhouse)
3. Awlgrip Albright 3 part urethane (2 coats)

Handrails/trim

1. Primer
2. Awlgrip Cranberry enamel

You may ask—what’s a carlin?  “Structural timbers running fore and aft between the beams supporting the inboard side of the side decks “.  We have house carlins that support the house walls, and roof carlins that support the coach roof.

So if you want to talk paint with me now, I can now lay the jargon on with a trowel, and discuss it layer by layer.

Or more likely, I’ll just say, “It’s white, and it looks really cool.”