My first painted boat - EVER

While thumbing through the net, I found a photo of my first ship
back in 1968. 306 feet long and 35 feet wide at the beam.
I spent the first 6 months in the deck force as a
plain Able Bodied Seaman. I think I have painted every inch of the
outside hull and a whole lot of the inside compartments in the 4 years
I was stationed aboard her.

This is where I learned most of my nautical skills as well as what
primers and paints to use for which applications.
I carried this knowledge through my 21 year Naval career which also included
some off-duty hanging around time in the Rubber and Plastics shops, carpenter shop,
pattern makers and molders, TIG, MIG and stick welding. And several years
in the aviation community learning all about aluminum and its properties as well.
Thus, finishing off a very rounded education with hands on experience.
Just saying, education is priceless. Not all of it will come from books. Learning is FUN for me !!!

So, if you don't know how to paint your boat - jump in, get your feet wet.
make mistakes and learn from it. Scrape it off, do it again.
get a piece of metal something or other and practice your brush and roller skills.
you may even surprise yourself at how easily you can achieve professional results.
Read, Understand and Follow the directions on the can !!!!






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Johnny, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. I bet when anyone says " hey I just painted my boat battleship gray" you cringe and say yea I've done that once or twice.

LOL Freek - that brings back some bad memories !!
on destroyers, there were two exterior colors. Haze Gray and Deck Gray.
Haze gray is for vertical surfaces. Deck gray, well - for the decks.
I saw one poor seaman with the backs of his hands painted with each
color (dried paint) so he would remember which was which. Then, another poor guy
had to wear a dried out paint brush around his neck on a rope for a few
days because he forgot to clean out his brush when he was done painting.
LOL I learned from watching others graduating from the "University of Hard Knocks".
After a few months on the deck, I moved up to Leading Seaman into more
of a leader and instructor position.
I guess that is "one" of the reasons my brain is so messed up now. Breathing in
all the fumes of lead based paints and primers. (not to mention chewing on window sills).
Then, in the aviation world - the chromates and paints were epoxy based which will
also do a number on the sinaps.

When I was young my father received a couple of 55 gallon drums of "Battleship Gray" from somewhere. We painted everything gray, The barn, the chicken coop, the horse stable, the sawmill shed, the tractors, the trucks, the trailers, the doghouse and anything else you can imagine. It looked like everything had a coat of primer on it.

Johnny,

Bet she was a better ride than my minesweeper (USS OSPREY - MHC51 - 188' with 38' beam) or my first ship (USS NEWPORT - LST1179 - 522' with 70' beam).

We did a lot of painting, but it wasn't until a couple years ago that I learned about coating systems and what should/should not be used together and paint schedules.

But I also learned a lot that can't be learned in schools.

Thanks for your service Johnny and Rick_W! Bet painting that behemoth took a looonnnggg time.