Reflecting

Three days have passed since I applied the first topcoat to the cratch floor and each day I’ve inspected the paint to see if the ripples are disappearing.  Perhaps it’s my imagination, but I think the faint is flattening.

I’ve been attempting to follow the advice from ‘Bill the boat painter’ who suggested I add Owatrol to the paint so it will spread more evenly and have been lightly ‘feathering’ (light brush strokes) in one direction.  In the cratch the direction of the stroke has been from the bow to the cabin bulkhead as this is downhill.  Going in the opposite direction would ‘drag’ the paint against gravity.  I was going to sand it back today and apply the final topcoat.  However on reflection I think that would be a mistake.  The rest of the cratch paintwork needs preparation and sanding so it would make sense to complete the floor at the same time.

The red paint in the recessed rear panels appears to have slightly faded and I decided to use the last of the ‘T-Cut’ from the cratch board to remove the top layer on the starboard side adjacent to the bank.  This involved a considerable amount of elbow grease and I was feeling slightly ‘stuffed’ when it had been completed.  However the task wasn’t done because I then needed to apply and remove a layer of Craftmaster polish.  The panels are now back to that original Craftmaster Alpha Red colour.

Of course I now require another bottle of T-Cut to do the panels on the port side.    Actually the port side hasn’t been washed and polished since we arrived at Standedge Tunnel back at the beginning of April <naughty boy>.