Hull Repaint

As it has been nearly four years since Patience last had her hull painted, we decided to have her taken out of the water to repaint everything up to the level of the gunwales. She was lifted out on 11th November, cleaned down and put under cover by the very capable crew at Oundle Marina.  After a thorough cleaning, the hull was found to be generally in very good order, but they wire brushed, treated and primed some areas of rust adjacent to the rubbing strakes.  They then repainted her hull sides with two coats of bitumen, with an extra one for good measure immediately above and below the waterline.  We then tackled the red and white bands around the stern, the red tiller, the inside of the weed hatch and the dark green sides of the hull immediately above the bitumen. Four new sacrificial anodes were attached, two at the bow and two at the stern. The old ones that still had some life left in them were left in position.

The quality of all the work done by the marina staff was excellent and they were very helpful in giving us access to her to do our own painting.  After five weeks on dry land, she is due to be craned back into the water on 16th December and we hope that, after such a thorough job, her hull will be good for at least another four years.

Stern before work started

After cleaning and rust treatment

Ready to go back in the water

Survey Results

We've now had the detailed results of the survey, which I'm delighted to say was very thorough (thank you Andy) and positive. Good old Patience!
In summary, she's in good condition, which is testimony to her previous owners' care (well done, Alan!). Now she needs her hull blacking with bitumen, a coat of paint on the topsides and in the water tank, an outlet needs capping (lest water gets in to her bilges and worse), and corrosion should be kept at bay by providing 4 new anodes (see elsewhere) and a galvanic isolator (a what? more here).
All of this is within the usual maintenance regimes so we are assured that dear Patience isn't heading for disaster.

We've agreed a price in line with the survey estimate and expect to take over in a few days. Once we've officially exchanged we'll sort out a maintenance and improvement timetable, getting to know how all the water and electrical systems work and fitting some extra berths to convert her from a 2 to a 4 berth vessel.
Blacking her bottom must wait till the spring, as cold and wet are not good conditions for applying the bitumen. Nor are they good conditions for painting her sides, so the pressure is off for the moment. Maybe a few test sailings (is it still sailing when there's no sail?) to whet our appetites when the weather is a bit warmer. And maybe a few earnest meetings at The Lazy Otter to mull things over....