Marine coatings

The subject of applying paints or coatings as the suppliers often call them is complex,the best thing to do is get advice from the chosen suppliers or a company who has worked with them for a good number of years,mixing various makes through primers to top coats may not be the best option unless you know what your doing,so when possible,stay with one companies product range right the way through.
We have experiance with International Paints and all our kits or materials supplied are normally delivered including a free CD on International Paints applications.We are suppliers to their range of Interthane polyurethane top coats and Intergard epoxy primers.

Application of Intergard primers,on a wood epoxy structure,the surfaces must be sanded with a 60 grit paper to allow a key bond,then washed down with a table spoon full of Teepol (not dish washing liquid) in ten liters of clean water,hose down and allow to dry.Application of the primer by spray gun is recomended,also by brush and a fine mohair roller can be used,the surface will not be as smooth but sanding is easy,you should get around 6 square meters per liter,do not apply thinner than this,you will need around three coats to get the full finish.

Application of the Interhane top coats requires light surface sanding,then the wash down routine again,this is the general prictice now,even on large ships,surfaces may have been contaminated with air borne chemicals,exhaust fumes come to mind here.The surface finish will only be as good as that underneath,so if you can see marks in the primers,do the extra filling and sanding then while its still easy,its hard work once the poly urethane paints are applied.

This wood/epoxy built yacht,was last sprayed around twelve (12) years back with International Paints Interthane top coats and Intergard epoxy primer,the decks were painted fouteen years ago and are still in good condition.The GRP Duckling dinghy was restored and repainted a year ago.Left click the picture to view in a larger size.

How long will modern paints last? ten years is easy,fifteen years normal ,after which surface degrade in our African sun may see the shine being lost and you may want to re apply,the surface will still be hard wearing and have many life years left in it though!

New epoxy range now in stock

We now have an epoxy system with a new brand name AR600 epoxy and AH2335 cure agent,the epoxy is quite similar to the 816 we have supplied for years,the cure agent is thinner than the 205 cure agent we have used,tests show bond results and cure times to be similar on both types.The main difference is the mix ratio,being an easy 1 part epoxy to 1/3rd parts cure agent,we stock in 1.3 kgs packs for ease of use.

Watchmate AIS to the Canery Isles

We have just processed an order for a customer in the Caneries,in this case we sorted the purchase out,handled the finance side and placed the order with Vesper Marine in New Zealand,they in turn arranged for Fedex to do the delivery,it will arrive today? The route was quite a surprise to me,Australia,China,Kergistan,France,Spain and now the islands themselves,not bad for a U$120 fee on a package of 3.5kgs.

Mail just in on this order;


Canary Island



Dear all, I have spoken with the fedex clearing agent in las palmas gran

canaria. The package is cleared from spain, in las palmas gran canaria and

will be on a transport to lanzarotte tonight, tcc the clearing and

forwarding agent says I will have this unit tomorrow ( friday ) morning.

Will let you know when the gold is here. Excellent service to

everybody...vesper gets first rate recommendation from me. Regards ewen

This is what one of our customers said about his Watchmate:

I've done 500 miles of the West African coast with the benefit of the WatchMate. It's f***in great!!!


Tony Beks, "Ragin Cajun", enroute South Africa to Brazil

Norfolk Island makes a plan to land its new Mack Truck

A mail came in from a friend,its how folk do things on islands with no formal harbours,St Helena Isle comes to mind too?

As there is no harbour in Norfolk Island, this is how they get big objects ashore. Amazing!


I can attest that it’s a great place for a relaxing holiday. We really enjoyed the place.

Clive.

Didi Mini Cruise Deck fitting

We love to get our customers build pictures,its really what keeps this blog alive and I hope interesting,John in England,has just sent me a picture of his boats deck and coach roof progress.We are about to send him his deck fittings pack,which follows the original CNC kit,then his rudders,drop keel,stantions,push and pulpits,plus the tiller and related links.

A toy Tractor could be next

With another kit Toylander being sent to a customer in Port Elizabeth on South Africas east coast last friday,Toylanders are now well accepted from us.Another enquiry asks that we once more to look at the tractor that Real Life Toys in the UK offers,we need their permission to copy,cut and sell those too,having sold a reasonable number of Toylanders under their licence,this should be no problem.We are still devloping the Toylander kits,being at the electric motor stage,so a tractor will probably take a while to sort out,finding those rear wheels looks like fun!

There are some complicated shapes on the bonnet and front nose,even more so than with a Toylander,they will make a Tractor kit more expensive if we supply those shapes. Which we have already with the bonnet and front wing corners as a standard part of our kit,read Robs email below.



Roy


Fantastic! The kit is here all safe and sound, got it lunch time and rushed home to open it. Two parcels. Was surprised to get the shaped bonnet and eyebrows, Plus Glue and screws. Did not realise this was part of the kit. Thank you.

Got the epoxy and some powder as well. Am going to need some instruction the use thereof. Now to get cutting and building.

Regards

Rob

Brer Terrapins Navigation light

This came in from Alan in the USA,seems he kept the boats navigation lights when he sold the boat on?

OK this might be a little too obscure but here is the result of some research I did on an oil lamp from the boat that now sits on a bookshelf. The few brass lamps that came with the boat were corroded and brittle. This one looks good but leaks so it never saw field use. The electric brass running lights were also in pretty sad shape but I cleaned them up and replaced the electrical guts in them and they worked very well. I don't remember a red interior glass for this as noted in the email below.

Alan,also sent mail to the lamps makers,their reply is below and most interesting!

Dear Alan,


You are right, this is a DHR-anchor light. An product from the time, mid sixties, that a riveting machine was just introduced in our company in order to make producing easier and faster.
But it has been sold once as a NUC(Not Under Command)-light, all round red.

That means that there should been an interior red glass cylinder in the light. Otherwise the label should have shown ‘anchor light’.

Actually the wedge burner is not correct. This is a flat burner (flat wick) and used by the British and its Commonwealth partners,

They were using plain lenses. We, on the mainland, were using Fresnel lenses, completed with a round wick burner.

At this moment the light is still in production.

I hope this info is sufficient for you. If not, let us know.

Best regards,
Mario den Haan, man. dir.

DHR
Fascinatio Boulevard 1182

2909 VA Capelle a/d IJssel
Tel.: +31-10-240 06 53
Fax: +31-10-281 08 50
http://www.dhr.nl/
Trade Reg. 24129532 Rotterdam

My own time spent on Brer Terrapin was one of learning and once I had my own boat,a similar navigation light was purchased from Mercer Bach and Hickson (i think) we have since used it in far off places like Brasil and Venezuela but also when anchored in some nice places in South Africa,the lamp  never goes with the boat if we sell,we keep it at home for those times when the electricity fails!

Note,I fancy I can remember the round red lens which fitted inside the lamp that Alan says is now missing.