galadhir: a blue octopus sits in a golden armchair reading a black backed novel (narrowboat)


Woohoo! After over a week of sanding it down to bare metal using angle-grinders, and then rust-proofing, we put the first coat of paint on the roof this morning. This is actually primer, and it needs another layer of primer, three layers of undercoat and then three layers of what we hope is going to be a lighter, more silvery grey top coat. (Each layer takes 12 hours to dry.)

But we've started, which is something we'd begun to feel we would never be able to do. And it is already so much better than the pocked and blistered, faded rusty red paint that we took off.

Whoever had had it before Son had obviously just painted an extra layer on top of whatever paint had already been there until the paint layer was over half a centimeter thick - the worst roof paint job I've seen in almost a year on the canals. So this is already a thing of joy and my fingers are crossed that in 1+3+3 days it'll be better still.

We now have to get on with taking the paint off the sides and then priming them, one by one. And then taking the paint off the decks and gunwales and priming them. Definitely starting to think that this is more of a four or even six week job than the two weeks we had thought we would need.

Thoughts

Date: 2023-06-23 02:51 am (UTC)From: [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Yay, progress!

As for layers of paint:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordite

A rockhound friend of mine had a similar find from a park railing that had a couple of inches of different colors layered up, and was sturdy enough to cut and polish. Car paint is just sparklier.

Date: 2023-06-23 04:19 am (UTC)From: [personal profile] mistressofmuses
mistressofmuses: Image of nebulae in the colors of the bi pride flag: pink, purple, and blue (Default)
Primed! Hooray!

I've seen things that were just obvious "painted over!" jobs, rather than doing it properly. (Not with boats, in my case, but still.) It's a huge difference.

Date: 2023-07-14 05:41 am (UTC)From: [personal profile] mistressofmuses
mistressofmuses: Image of nebulae in the colors of the bi pride flag: pink, purple, and blue (Default)
I'm so glad that the blistered paint was hiding *less* bad news than you'd worried about! And I'm so glad that the new paint is working out much better.

Date: 2023-06-24 07:24 am (UTC)From: [personal profile] ysilme
ysilme: Looking up into the rigging of the Cutty Sark. (Cutty Sark)
Phew, eight layers! All of this sounds really like a lot of drudgery, but so worth it - it already looks so much better, and boat is so lucky to be your son's now. ♥ Congrats to having gotten so far already, and crossed fingers and all the energy and strong nerves for the continuation!

Whoever had had it before Son had obviously just painted an extra layer on top of whatever paint had already been there until the paint layer was over half a centimeter thick - the worst roof paint job I've seen in almost a year on the canals
Good grief!

Date: 2023-06-24 04:08 pm (UTC)From: [personal profile] sunshine304
sunshine304: (Movie: Barbie YAY!)
Yay! Great progress! \o/

Date: 2023-07-13 04:42 am (UTC)From: [personal profile] soggymulder
soggymulder: (Default)
hello!!! we don't know each other at all but i'm looking for more dw friends to chat to and follow in an lj kind of way and you seem fun and interesting!

also your narrowboat is INSANE. 😲


I enjoy reading danmei too, including mxtx (tho i certainly haven't finished all of her works). :)

Date: 2023-07-13 12:56 pm (UTC)From: [personal profile] soggymulder
soggymulder: (Mark laptop)
We're almost in the same boat (hehehehe). I've read like one of the untamed books but watched the whole show haha. i have the books at least so eventually...i'd get through them. i bought most of mine on bookdepository (rip) but other sellers and amazon etc. stock mxtx. for non-mxtx i browse this directory of translated novels for wild premises and check out recommendations on reddit etc. https://www.novelupdates.com/ i hope that helps!

also still more than happy to connect. :) i'm not all danmei all the time 😅

Date: 2023-07-14 05:09 am (UTC)From: [personal profile] soggymulder
soggymulder: (Alex waiting)
omg yes...i always think the same thing when i'm reading translations... some of the indie translations i read have these massive endnotes where they explain the origins of particular phrasing (casual chinese slang, historical happenings, or re. ancient poetry etc.) and UGH I LOVE THEM FOR IT. 🙏🏻 i think about it sometimes when writing in english too, especially when i'm working and have to be really specific when advising on the use of particular words due to the connotations they hold.... i guess that's the beauty and the tragedy of languages!!!

reading indie translations is uhhhhh sometimes a challenge in re-constructing tone lol...i think i know what you mean.

good luck with whichever you pick up!

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