Mast step/foot

I was looking at having the mast step/foot chromed , but at a cost of £65.00 and a six week delivery I decided to clean it up and have a go at painting it with chrome paint. Once the paint has dried fully I'll give it a couple of coats of lacquer, it won't be as good as chroming but it will be tidy and look fine with the silver deck fittings.

Before.

I think the chrome paint looks fine. 

This will be given a couple of coats of lacquer.

The Glory Days.

I hope to sail the yacht on the bottom pond at "Swannie Ponds", Stobsmuir Ponds soon. The bottom pond is currently closed for restoration.

The Glory Days.

Lined up before a big race!

Nitril Gloves

I have been using brushes to apply epoxy resin to glass cloth for skinning the hull of the yacht. Epoxy resin kills brushes dead, so the advice is to use cheap brushes, but cheap brushes shed hares and still cost around around £.1.99 for 12 and shed like Sh*t. and are about 1/4 inch....small.
I have been using Nitril gloves for applying the epoxy to the glass cloth with my fingers, I can apply pressure and skim the cloth of excess and so don't need to use a credit card for skimming. Even if I use one glove for each pass it will only cost 24p for four passes. I am very tactile and like to have control of my medium, it works for Me.

Epoxy Resin.

Glass Cloth.

Applied with fingers wearing Nitril gloves.

Just as accurate as a brush, applies better pressure and costs a fraction.

Comparing the glass cloth paint finish , so far.

I expected a smooth paint finish, but to show how smooth it is I have in an anal retentive manner compared it with a ceramic mug, a the paint can , smooth wood grain and My thumb. All images are 15 X macro and show an area of about 10mm square.

And finally the varnished deck.

Painting the hull

I'm painting an all white hull as is Ravic restored by Robert Hobbs. The glass finish is good but still needs a bit more work, so more sanding to do and another coat. I removed the masking from the deck because I won't be painting again for a few days, I'll re-mask with fresh tape and paper.

The hull is very white and still a bit of rubbing down, another coat and clear lacquer to go.

Skinning with glass cloth.

I'm not going to re-write any howto's on my blog, you can pretty much find how to do anything on the net. I would suggest you look at a few on the same subject, don't follow blindly.
When it comes to using glass cloth, especially the sanding stage, WEAR A GAS/VAPOUR and PARTICLE RESPIRATOR. 3M 4251 .This is the article I followed for glass cloth skinning http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/Tutorials/glassing/default.htm

 Not My best look

Shiny deck

The varnishing and rubbing down saga has sadly come to and end Such an enjoyable experience.
I'm happy with the results, I wanted a clean finish ,not to deep, I think I have achieved that.

Before.

Before.

 After a few coats of varnish

Happy with the shine.