Bottom Blacking and more

We have just collected the boat from Debdale Wharf Marina after a week’s work plus.   In the early days of having the boat when we were moored at Harefield right next to the slipway, we had the boat pulled out, and ourselves jet washed the boat, scraped the sides and put three coats of Comastic on.  However when we moved our mooring it was necessary to make other arrangements and in the first instance we used Rose Narrowboats.  It cost us a lot more really as a result of all the little add-ons.   Seeing how some of the boatyards deal with this process in a seemingly rushed way made me look for other solutions to steel preservation.   I had read about grit-blasting and two part epoxy coatings and knew that Debdale had a reputation for this work.   Getting in touch and learning of the method used by them, I decided to go down that route.   The boat is 20 years old and a thorough hull inspection was warranted plus the prospect of a good 10 years life from the technique convinced me.   The special feature is the hot zinc sprayed coating put on after the steel is cleaned and before the epoxy coating.