Painting the Interior of ‘Minnow’

 

Today I started painting 'Minnow’s cabin interior. Finding old-fashioned, oil based paint was a problem. I eventually discovered that my local Homebase was able to mix Dulux paint to whatever colour I wanted, which happened to be magnolia.

This good quality paint for interior or exterior use is ideal for the ‘Minnow’s’ cabin. I prefer it to the one-coat water based paints that are widely available. One-coat paints seldom work, and I find that they do not flow off the brush smoothly. I cannot handle one-coat paint with precision, which is necessary when painting edge to edge, i.e., that’s where two surfaces come together and they are different colours or one surface is varnished and the other is painted.

I removed the shelving and racks for painting them, and having them out of the cabin makes it easier for me to move around. I also have better access to the base of the vent box where there is a proper mess that needs sorting. There and under it in the bilge is where water was entering the boat. I should really have made sorting the leak a priority, but at least, the wood has had time to dry.

I can’t paint the base of the vent box until I have repaired it.

Improving the finish in the bilge under the vent will take a bit of doing, but it’s not critical or even necessary, because after I have sealed the outside of the drain pipe to the block through which it passes, no more water will be able to enter the boat, except through unsealed joins between the panels of the vent box. If these are sealed, there should no longer be any leaks.