Nothing a fresh coat of Endura paint can't fix.

Here's a before and after photo of Intrepid's new face lift!

This was the summer of 2014, when she was dry docked at my family's welding shop, Choquer & Sons. She had been sitting there abandoned, for almost 10 years. So, it was about time to give her a new lease on life, clean her up and make her shine again.

I decided when I bought Intrepid that I was going to do all the restoration projects on my own, or at least as much as possible...

Some say the French can be stubborn, and in this case they were definitely right.

Before painting, I had to re-bolt the keel as it had been knocked loose by the previous owners. They had ran the boat aground and she started to take on water. This is why Intrepid was dry docked to begin with, and sadly later abandoned. As adamant as I am to independently restore this beauty on my own, there are some things that I am aware I just can't physically do. When it comes to strength, I consider myself to be pretty strong but I just couldn't tighten these massive bolts by myself and had to ask my Pops for help. Where the seam of the keel meets the hull, I used a grinder to clean out the old caulking and replaced with Sikaflex. This allows for some flexibility, and also seals the seam from any chance of water entering the bilge.

Before painting, I sanded down the hull from the top deck to the bottom of the keel. I highly recommend wearing a protective suite, goggles/glasses, and gloves. Unfortunately, I have lost photos over the years to show you proof now, but I was covered head to toe in blue dust, closely resembling smurffette...

Below the water line I used Interlux anti-fouling fibreglass bottomkote paint. This stuff is pretty nasty, but it seems to be the standard amongst most boaters. Be sure to wear gloves, and a face mask when painting. This coat will last around 15-17 months, before you will need to re-apply. With time and more research, I have found that there are more environmentally friendly bottom coat paints available out there that I would like experiment with next summer when she's due for another coat.

There are a lot of retired men roaming around the shop, with a multitude of personal preferences and opinions...

Above the water line, I used Endura corvette red paint. As Intrepid was sandwiched between two boats, it would have been a huge production to wrap, tape, and spray paint - so I decided to roll. You wouldn't believe how many people had negative opinions about this. There are a lot of retired men roaming around the shop, with a multitude of personal preferences and opinions... "You'll be able to see the roller lines, and you won't be able to work fast enough" they said. So, my Pops and I worked together and used small foam rollers. We were fast, efficient, and honestly you can't even tell the difference if we sprayed or rolled! She came out sparkling, looking good as new!

Fair winds and following seas,

Captain Coco

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