bag 'o' bones

A couple of moveable spanners. Not to be used all the times as they eventually round off fixings. but great when your only 10mm spanner goes overboard! A battery drill and set of jobber drill bits.

I agree sprayed boats don't right - too perfect. Although 2 pack paint (which I imagine is similar to the new Forth Bridge paint) does have the advantage of being a lot more durable and doesn't suffer as much from oxidisation nearly as much as single pack paints. I wonder if it possible to buy 2 pack brushing paint that has similar properties to enamel ie shiny without the too good to be true 'plasticky' look? Hmmm.

The actual cost of the paint job was £2500. I agree that that amount of money may not buy the best paint job - it certainly did not include lettering and only a very basic coach line. Thing is I did expect 'adequate' to last longer than 4 months! In fact rusting should not be an issue other than where the paint film is chipped. I mean I have seen synthetic enamel paint jobs over 25 years old and whilst were completly flat and covered in powdery white stuff, were still holding back corrosion. In any case a paint job should at least last as long as the paints guarantee if looked after. Also i'm not really a fan of ultra shiny narrow boats as they tend to amplify undulations in the steel work, which 'off the peg' boats tend to have. In any case if you wanted a very shiny boat it would probally be best to get a spray job done in two pack paint which is a squillian times more durable than traditional paint. Just a thought. Oh and on the suject of glass reinforced paint isn't that the basis of how hammerite paint works albeight without the epoxy component?

A gob of Vaseline is good for protecting steel temporarily - better for your clothes too!

Theres different grades of Ply and MDF or so I have been told. The more expensive grades are water resistant. Like others have said the trick is to keep the boat dry. Ensuring a good draught of air through the boat should achieve this. Not that i'm an expert in boats - yet - but having knowledge of storing classic cars the accepted storage method is effective ventilation to stop condensation. How you would acheive that on a boat I don't know.

The advice you have given is exactly what I have experienced in the past when spray painting cars. So from what you have said painting cars and boats is pretty well the same thing. We've turned the boat around so hopefully so if trapped moisture is the problem then the other side will have frozen by now so should show the blistering. As for the make of paint, i'm not sure. It was painted in Chechoslovakia (is that how you spell it!). But it looks like standard coach synthetic enamel although I could be wrong, who knows what the paint companies are dreaming up these days. Cheers for you help so far.

This is my first post after 'lurking' a while. Anyway. My new boat or should I say my Dads new boat. I has paint problems. It was delivered by a well known boat builder (i'm not going to divulge which one as that would be unfair at this stage) 4 months ago as a lined out fully painted sail away. The paint is beginning to blister in patches across the whole length some blisters are only as big as a pin head, other big enough to see from a distance and when you run your hand over it it feels rough. Now I know a thing or two about spraying paint on cars but I realise brush painting is slightly different. Now if this were the paint finish on a car I would blame moisture under the paint that has frozen in the cold weather and pushed up the paint. In this case the only remedy is to sand back to an unaffected surface and re-paint. Quite a job i'm sure you'll agree. The blistering has really spoilt the paint job which dad paid a lot of money for (over 2 grand i'll have to check) and also appears to have had only a single primer and one layer of top coat. The boat is warrantied for 12 months. I was led to believe that boats should have at least 5 coats of paint? Is this accepted practice? Could the 'thin' paint be the problem? We havn't yet complained to the company as I thought I would put it past you seasoned boaters first on how to make an effective complaint and avoid misunderstandings. Cheers