Confined to the boat

Wednesday, 29 April 2009 19:40

I wanted to go out to take some photographs around Northwich, but I'm confined to the boat. Sorry about that. Maybe tomorrow's  weather forecast, which forecasts some dry spells between the showers, will be right and I can do my David Bailey bit.

I have been waiting for some fine weather to do some touching up of the paintwork around the boat. Just a few spots here and there you understand .... at least that is what I thought. But when you get the paintbrushes out, it's worth using them to do as much as possible - it saves the white spirit!

When I told one of the lock keepers the other day that I was hoping to do some painting he said it wasn't necessary - "looks very good to me already, sir". But when you live with the boat you see all the little rust spots and chips, and as we value Epiphany it's good to keep on top of things.

On Monday I started with the preparation: rubbing down and touching up with the red oxide primer. I had also used Fertan on some of the rust spots that needed it. Then, this morning it was the turn of the undercoat - white for the cream, black for the blue. I wasn't sure how successful I could be with the cream coachwork. The rust spots are only very small, but they are on the Epiphany name panel, so it's touch in, rather than repaint.

The red side rails seem easier - it's quite easy to feather around the affected area, but red doesn't seem to cover very well, so I'll probably have to do several coats. This afternoon was the gloss' turn. I thought I knew how much I had to do, but the doors (bows and stern) needed a bit more blue applied than I thought - hence me being confined to the boat - I don't want to close the doors while they are still tacky.

They say a narrowboat is a bit like the Firth of Forth bridge - can you see what they mean?

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