Like many projects, I start out thinking something will be a quick fix or touch-up. Just a little touch-up paint over in those spots where the old paint is flaking. Just a quick re-sealing of the chainplates bolts to stop water coming in. Just a little. Then, of course, as I start getting into it, I realize the job has the potential to turn out much larger than originally anticipated. Do I ignore the other problems? Of course not! I follow the rabbit hole(s) all the way down until I want to kill myself.
The other day, I decided to scrape away some cabin paint that was flaking off with the intention of repainting just a few areas measured in square inches. However, a close inspection revealed much more flaking paint than I originally discovered, so I went around the entire cabin - quarterberths and all - and scraped all the flaking paint I could find, which was a lot. There were many sessions of scraping and vacuuming before I couldn’t find anymore paint to scrape, and it became clear to me the entire cabin needs new paint. Now I just need to sand everything before tacking that job, but I think I need to wait until it’s just a bit warmer so I know the paint will adhere properly.
Paint scraped under the starboard portlight.
Looking down the starboard side toward the quarterberth.
A balmy 51 degrees with my heat lamps on.
While I was at it, I decided to remove the chainplates so I could paint underneath them and rebed them later with 3M 5200. Water streaks show water has been coming in through the bolt holes, and I even watched water pour in through them one sailing day when I had ORION rail down in a breeze. So, with help from my son Harry who removed the nuts on the inside of the cabin while I held a screwdriver in place on the bolt heads on the outside, the chainplates came off - probably for the first time since the boat was built over 53 years ago. Now I can clean them up, scrape and paint where they used to be on the hull, and then rebed them properly later on.
Water streaks under the starboard chainplate.
Chainplate removed!
The hull where the chainplate used to be. Ready to be cleaned up!
Now: do I really want to take off the outer rubrail and inner liner pieces to seal everything before putting them back on…?