The Hull

The real work on Eurydice began in the summer of 2017, when I tackled her damaged hull. A lifetime of gouges, dings, scratches and shoddy repairs had left her quite a mess. Her deck was entirely loose from her hull in some places, and some screws had been passed entirely through her without considering the effects – all in all, it was pretty clear that she’d been treated poorly over the years. I sanded for days, filled, and sanded some more. I went through buckets of bondo.

            I got to try my fiber-glassing skills out again where the gunwales had detached from the hull. I pop-riveted the two pieces together along their lengths to hold them tight, then went to work with strips of cloth and resin. It turns out that I’m terrible at fiber-glassing, and frustration with my shoddy workmanship and the blazing sun reinforces a bad habit of drinking Malibu rum on the rocks while I work. This leads to even poorer work; and yet, with enough layers of fiberglass, buckets of Bondo, and sheets of sandpaper, I was able to make the whole thing stick together. In some places, such large pieces were missing that I had to make molds from tape and pour new parts.

            I don’t know much about paint, and choosing one was difficult. Long hours of googling and watching videos on YouTube helped, but in the end I went to Mahone Marine and bought Petit, a quality marine-grade paint that’s easy to apply. This is the only purchase of its nature I’ve made for Eurydice, and the only one I intend to. Everything else has been done at the lowest possible cost, but I want the work I’m putting into her to be reflected in her sharp appearance.

            I built a sort of rickety tent shelter over Eurydice, wiped her down with alcohol, and rolled-on some coats of white primer. The difference was stunning. With the primer, she took on a new dimension. Gone were the contrasting layers of paint and patches – now she was a cohesive unit.

            I’d chosen a sort of electric blue for the topside paint, and YouTubers had shown me that the “roll-and-tip” method would probably work best for me. I went to work with a roller and a foam brush, rolling on a foot of paint at a time and then gently smoothing out the roller marks with the brush tip dipped lightly in thinner. My friend Robin helped with the first coat, but I was able to do subsequent ones on my own. The results were incredible, but working outside meant the inevitable bit of debris or insect in the paint.

          Greg came to the rescue again, offering me the use of his storage tent for the final coat. I sanded-out the imperfections, loaded Eurydice onto a boat trailer I’d just bought, and took her to his place. As a bonus, he managed to locate some anti-fouling paint for her bottom. I gave her two coats of this, carefully taping-off her bottom on one side at an estimated waterline, then using a measuring tape and my eye to transfer the same line to the other side. Besides protecting her bottom from growth on cruises, the anti-fouling paint gives her a more serious profile. I would consider the addition of a waterline stripe to separate the topsides from the anti-fouling at some point.

              Life got int he way again after that, but she's waiting patiently in the yard for me now to give her deck and interior the same treatment as her hull.