Transom refinishing

I already have a post regarding my love/hate relationship with teak.

http://marine-trader-trawler-nostra-signora.blogspot.com/2013/10/teak-teak-and-more-teak.html

Whilst the transom, which is a lovely teak transom, kind of falls in the the debate of "to varnish or not to varnish", it really was a much easier decision based on the boat's overall ascetics.

At 10.5m long and over 4m air draft, these little trawlers can look a little top heavy. Having a dark or varnished teak transom only extenuates this lofty appearance. It was therefore and easy decision to paint the the transom.

The all important colour scheme!

A month or two ago, we had such good weather that it allowed us to crack on with refreshing the topside  colour band.
Although I was not a fan of the dark blue, which I felt gave the boat a very heavy/squat look, at the time of ordering the paint I didn't really contemplate changing the colour.
I think the sub-conscious decision was based on past experience of painting lighter colours over darker, then scratching the lighter top coats and exposing a dark line in the lighter paint. However, this was with single part paint years ago. Two part is so much more durable and will not have the same issues.
So with the kits of International Perfection two part flag blue paint in hand, we set about prepping the area for painting.

The area was taped off and heavily sanded, filled where needed and cleaned ready for undercoating.

Relocation of the water tank deck fillers

As mentioned in a previous post -

http://marine-trader-trawler-nostra-signora.blogspot.com/2013/12/aft-bunk-extension.html

- when I extended the aft bunks on the boat, I in turn needed to relocate the water tank deck filler points, as they are now located directly above the bunk extension which makes them in-accessible.

First off I removed the fillers and got stuck into the deck with a chisel in order to get back to the fiber-glass decking.

Aft Bunk Extension

A very clear sign that this boat was built in an Asian location is the length of the aft cabin bunks!

Perhaps that is a bit harsh as the builders probably only built to the plan which is American, but somewhere along the way someone is responsible for building a 5 foot 6 inch bunk!

Who is only 5 foot 6 inches tall these days?

Anyway, part of the pre-purchase survey was to ensure we could comfortably sleep on board for extended periods. Even prior to the actual inspection, I requested the actual bunk length and whether or not there was room in the lazerette to extend them.

So the time came to get stuck in and extend them.

First off I drilled a few pilot holes in the aft bulk head.