Bottom sides stripped

Max’s bottom has now been stripped. Unfortunately due to the flexibility of the ply over the stringers it was impossible to avoid a blotchy look which you can see in the pics below. This has dashed my hopes of a bright finish for the bottom so have decided to paint the bottom instead. The colour has been chosen so this will be revealed very soon. Be sure to check back shortly to see his new look. The paint chosen is International Toplac, which is available locally from Whitworths in Broadmeadow. Unfortunately, International have discontinued production of their Brightside polyurethane based brand which was pretty much an icon in yacht paints. Brightside has been replaced with Toplac which is alkyd based. We’ll soon find out if Toplac is a worthy successor to Brightside. On the plus side, there is a much improved range of colours available in the Toplac line.

Incidentally, the guy at Whitworths was himself a scow Moth sailor during the 70s/80s, so we had a great chat and I learned some more about the development and the lightweight construction techniques used for these unique sailing boats. He was able to give me some tips about how to get the best performance from the scow.

I discovered a potential leak in a ply joint, so this has been repaired and the joint taped with epoxy. There was also a small puncture, similar to the one on the deck that had been repaired with epoxy. I originally thought this was rot, but it was just a soft spot so this area was reinforced with a dab of poxy and a small square of glass. The bottom is now solid and ready for paint.