It’s that time again. Groan. We’ve completed our allocated major projects since coming here to Honolulu, and thought we’d spruce up Infini a bit as well as make maintenance easier as we’re planning our departure soon to continue our circumnavigation. As many of you know, Infini, being a Westsail 43, has the mixed blessing of lots of teak on deck: the rubrail, bulwark, hatches, pinrails, hatch turtle, and companionway are all of beautiful teak. Sometimes I think half a forest of teak trees were cut down just for our boat. However, after using various types of varnish as well as Cetol thru the years, we finally decided to apply LPU (linear polyurethane) paint to the bulwarks. I know, I can hear the anguished screams and see the tears of those purists out there (who are already planning on deserting this blog and going back to their own varnishing), but I call it “the tyranny of teak,” and we had all had enough. Matt and I stripped the rails down to bare wood and prepped them for the application of Interlux PreKote, the primer used before applying Interlux Brightside LPU Epoxy. We then used 3M Blue Line tape to mask off the bulwarks. As an aside, since we usually aren’t in areas we can purchase these precious blue rolls, we carry enough of them to effectively tape off an area half the size of the city of Honolulu. (OK, a slight exaggeration, but it sure seems like we have that much.) We put on three coats of Prekote, sanding between coats as the instructions indicate, and have applied three topcoats of 4237 Sundown Buff Premium Single Part Enamel (think of a light tan color). Removing all the blue tape should be interesting… The rail looks different to us with paint applied to it; just another thing we’ll all have to get used to! The single part LPU durability is rumored to last at least five years, and yes, we thought about applying two-part LPU, but conditions here are less than ideal, and if we have to recoat in 5 years (vs the 8-10 years expected out of a 2 part LPU like Awlgrip), that’s still a huge improvement over the varnish/Cetol routine we’ve been doing for these past twelve years. The Interlux Brightside is easy to apply, flows smoothly, tacks fast and looks good. As for the rest of the topside teak, Sue’s been sanding and applying Cetol; we are certainly looking quite spiffy! Soon we’ll be doing sea trials and final provisioning (trying to stow everything couldn’t take more than…well, I won’t go there) for our departure back to French Polynesia and destinations further west. We’re all anxious to get going!
This picture is of the first coat of primer being applied. Can you find the marlin fish tail in the picture?
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