Sunday 21 February 2010

A Black Cratch Deck

After much work the cratch deck is now black!

I bought one of those £70 850W petrol generators a couple of weeks ago. This has enabled me to charge the batteries when it is running, but more importantly it allows me to use my electric power tools.

The cratch deck was in a very rusty state, particulalry at the lowest points where water lays. The electric drill with a rotary wire brush was used to remove superficial rust. The worst bits had to be chipped off with a hammer, then wire brushed again. First application was a 'Rust Convertor' (by whatever spelling) then four coats of Yacht Primer, followed by two coats of Black Undercoat, then finished off with two coats of Black Gloss Topcoat.



As you can see from the picture the cratch deck is a lovely glossy black. This makes the 'Buttermilk' of the cratch interior now look pretty mucky. I guess this is my next job after the paint has hardened.

I can't wait to get all the things out of the cabin, back into the cratch. I never knew there was so much stuff stored in the cratch until I had to move it all inside. Hmmm! Let me see...

There's a mop, a chimney brush, the river anchor with its chain and rope (they all live in a plastic box with the spare ropes, windlasses and pins). Then there is the wood basket for the logs, the log saw, the television aerial... Oh the list goes on!

2 comments:

  1. With that number of coats this must have taken some time to complete?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, it did. I visited the boat twice a week. More often and the paint was not dry, less often and I would have needed to have rubbed down before applying new paint. however, it is now apparent that, although the job was successful, it takes a really long time for the paint to fully harden (cure).

    ReplyDelete