FINALLY got round to this after a very long time sweating it’s be one of the last things I’d do. Less than 72 hours before scheduled departure I used up a whole quart of Interdeck in cream.
This is a very traditional color - quite common with schooners and Herreshoff boats. We did a number of C44 decks in this color. I truly wasn’t sure how it’d turn out and honestly it took some getting-used-to.
I’ll post more pics taken in daylight but I took these to emphasise that it took ALL AFTERNOON to wash, mask, and apply paint with a brush. Many thanks to Boo Lyzack for invaluable help & encouragement.
One long-procrastinated job was installing the foredeck hatch hinges. I was really afraid to screw up this since I’d get only one chance to drill screw holes into the varnished hatch cover. But once the gasket was applied (which was the real reason for the procrastination) I just aligned the hinge halves along the edges of the hatch cover and base; and that was perfectly adequate. Of course the gasket will always be temporary - this is cheap self-adhesive air-draft foam but when the UV eats it I’ll use something better and also get the corners cut properly.
Also I owe the poor frame a couple more coats of varnish; so that’ll have to happen before it gets much more sun. Stuff like this should have AT LEAST five or six honest coats of high-UV-resistance spar varnish before one even thinks of setting out in summer. I use either Captain’s Varnish, which is very pretty and very good against UV, or Flagship, which is even better. Both are from Z-Spar.
