Sea Anchor, Painting the Bilge

 From "Tinkerbelle" by Robert Manry. 

When three wind rose to near gale levels,  a sea anchor was deployed from the bow.  

150' of 1/2" nylon warp attached to" an old army canvas bucket". A lighter line was attached to the bucket,  15' in length,  attached to a buoy to add the bucket sinking too far.  

The rudder was also removed.  

With this set,  Tinkerbelle drifted slowly downwind,  advising breaking waves, and  with a relatively steady motion. 


÷    =     /    ×     +      €

I read online that sealing the bilges of wooden boats was best done with grey metal primer that contained "flakes of metal".

Okay. Well three things; I couldn't ascertain whether Kill Rust Aluminium - No Primer Required actually contained aluminium  flakes (but it did have Titanium Dioxide?), "Jacaranda's" bilge had already been sealed,  mostly with varnish,  but thirdly,  the for'ard bilge, including the anchor well,  had been primed with paint with metal flakes.  

So I had a light sand as needed,  brushed the dust and debris away,  and gave it a coast of Aluminium paint. I ensured the all the corners were saturated,  including where hull  planks (below the sole) joined. 

I couldn't actually get it all done because "Jacaranda" has overlapping sheets of ply in the floor. (And because I kind of painted myself into a corner.) 

In the end,  it not only looked better but the feeling that the bilge would be completely sealed was quite a chuffy feeling.  

Looking into the depths of the centreboard and outs casing,  I'd like to get a long thin paint roller on there too. Replacing the pivot pin would be the cream on that cake. 🥮


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