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After a
little over 3 years in salt water, Elessina was taken out of the water
at Eel Pie Island Slip on 10th September 2007 for routine hull painting
and replacement anodes.
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Hull
Condition after 3 years?.
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Rust
The hull was in remarkably good condition, with no rust at all below the
waterline. There was some rust above waterline, especially on the rudder.
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Barnacles. Everything below the waterline was covered in
barnacles, but fairly easily removed by a powerful jet wash.
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Unpainted flat bottom. The flat bottom plate which had never been
painted had no rust and was in no worse condition than the painted side
chines.
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Painted Surfaces. The old 3 coats of black Comastic paint,
applied 3 years ago under the waterline had nearly all warn away, but not
clear whether this occurred during the jet wash use or before. Where the Comastic had gone, the red prime was still in place over nearly all
surfaces. There were a few small areas where it was down to bare still,
but there was no rust.
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What
needed to be done?
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Paint; We applied 2 x coats above waterline, 4 x coats along the
waterline (approx. 9" above and 9" below) and 3 coats to underside chines (with no paint at all on the flat
bottom). Only the 1st coat along the waterline was brushed on, all other
coats were rollered. We found it much easier with rollers, but with
paint usage / thickness about half that with brush.
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Anodes; The 8
x 4,5Kg Zink (sea water) anodes, which were 50% worn, were
replaced with 8 x 1.25Kg Magnesium (fresh water) anodes. 2 x additional
magnesium anodes were installed on the rudder, which previously had
none. An anode was installed on the bow thruster prop.
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How long
did it take?.
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We were out of the
water for 6 days, generally I worked 10 hours per day and Leigh 7 hours
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Slip afternoon and Jet Wash; 4 hours (day 1)
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Sand down with random orbital sander along water
line and above. One coat Comastic (5 litres) by brush along waterline
(9" above and 9" below waterline). Remove anodes. 10 hours. (Day 2)
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Sand down by hand under waterline areas. One coat
Comastic by roller all over hull (10 litres). 10 hours (Day 3)
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Light hand sand, one coat Comastic all over. Clean
/ prepare weed hatches. (10 litres) 10 hours. (Day 4)
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One coat along waterline (making 4 coats total).
Paint weed hatches. (6 litres) 9 hours (Day 5).
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Make gasket seals for weed hatches, jet wash /
clean deck / upper cabin sides, paint touch up cabin sides with gloss
(International toplack paint). 10 hours (Day 6)
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Teak wood preserver to wheelhouse etc..... whilst
awaiting Comastic paint to dry. Re-launch in afternoon 8 hours. Day 7.
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Total hours for the two of us were around 100.
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How much
did it cost?.
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40
litres Comastic black paint = £300. We only used 32 litres, but had we
applied paint with brush 40 litres would not have been sufficient.
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8 x 1,25Gk
Magnesium Anodes etc. = £230
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Slipping at Eel Pie Island Slipways = £1,050 incl VAT
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Jet
wash hire, 3 x studs welded on, brushes, misc. materials etc = £ 200
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Total cost around
£1,800 ..... we did shop around for slip prices, but all around the same
price (with Eel Pie Island letting you stay onboard and not limiting the
amount of time you can spend working.... a big help for us).
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Tools
required for DIY work
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Good jet wash, likely anything that you
can purchase for under £100 will not be sufficient.... hence we hiring
one.
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2ft long handled paint rollers with 5" long x 2
" dia thick wool type rollers.
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An orbital sander is very useful, plus
plenty of glass paper.
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A 17mm deep throated socket for removal
of anode nuts (a normal 17mm socket is not sufficient due to long anode
studs)
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Normal hand tools eg.
wire brush, screwdrivers, plus plenty of rags
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Tips / conclusions
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Blackening the hull
yourself is hard work, you really need a week, especially if you adhere
to Comastic recommendations that the paint is allowed to dry for 48
hours prior to launch...... this last 48 hours we used to clean up and touch
up with enamel paint the topsides.
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Very pleased with
the Comastic paint, given that we were in salt water for over 3 years.
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With 4 coats of
Comastic appled, it would be nice to think that we may be in with a
chance of 4 summers (3.5 years) before next slip!.
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After much research,
we opted for Magnesium anodes over aluminium. Most experts agree that
magnesium is best in fresh water. The problems arise when you take your
barge into sea water..... we were advised not to do this for more than a
week, otherwise we are likely to loose all the comastic paint!!, and
need to slip and repaint very quickly afterwards.
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We did not paint the
flat bottom (5ft wide). When slipped there was no rust evident at all,
but after a week it had started to go rusty!!!.... hopefully this rust
will ware off..... it will be interesting to see what it is like in
another 3 years time.
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Slip costs concluded
that we need to allow £1,000 per year for maintenace
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Photos
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Eel Pie Island Slipways
Ltd.
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Are located between
Richmond lock and Teddington lock on the R.Thames. Can take barges up to
120ft long and 200 tons in weight with up to around 20ft air draft. They
have two slips, both covered with just the one side (the entrance) open
to the elements. Cost are around £10/ft + Vat for slipping (£600 for a
60ft barge) plus £50 per day whilst on the slip. Tel 0208 891 4481.
In our opinion, a very nice place to slip a barge, and well facilitised
for all slip work. Their busy time is October to Easter when they slip
their trip boats.
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Created
12 September 2007
- Last
updated
19 September 2007
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