day one of roof painting - hard but successful

Friday night was the strongest wind we have ever endured whilst on Herbie. All night long we were banged against the canal bank as we tried to get some sleep. By morning it was a little better and after breakfast we steered Herbie into the waiting door of the wet dock. The roofpaintfest had begun. There was a lot of surface rust to get off the roof

After taking all the clag off the roof the first job was to start up the hired scabbler to rip off all the old paint. So we plugged it in, press the button, and nothing happened! After a few frantic tests of the socket, the supply, the lead etc we decided it was the scabbler itself at fault. Disaster, because we were relying on it to get the paint off. Phone calls were made to the nearest branch of the tool hire company and luckily they had a working replacement for us. It took ages to find the depot, but eventually I returned with the beast.

Using a scabbler is pretty scary, but it don't half work. It took only about an hour to strip the roof of rust and paint. Then another couple of hours to do the little bits the scabbler couldn't reach - me with a sander and Rick with a wire brush on an angle grinder. However by tea time we had a roof stripped to the bare steel

Meanwhile Kath had been spot derusting the gunwales and Marilyn had steadily been stripping the wooden handrails with a heat gun. After tea we washed down the roof with white spirit and then Rick and I put on the first coat of primer, probably the quickest and easiest job of the day. We did half each and it was noticeable. Rick was putting on a thicker layer than I was. I'm not sure who was right. Probably somewhere between the two. Anyway we did it and finished day one with a roof derusted and covered in a protective layer of primer.

Tomorrow, another coat on the roof, more stripping and painting of the wooden handrails, and a bit more scabbling in the well deck. Lets hope we get a good night's sleep first. We need it.