With the temperature in the teens today and possibly as high again tomorrow, albeit with very high winds, I decided that, since I had the red paint, it arrived on Friday, I'd get the first coat on and possibly the second tomorrow.

So, the first thing to do is the taping. I used the wide tape and put the upper edge to the edge of the copper.

In most places that covered the white boot top.

Although the bit at the very stern of the hull is a bit different.

The paint went on quite well and as you can see, it's very, well, red!

I like the colour red, it's a nice colour but I don't like it on Naiad.

I mean, I'd leave it on if there were no other choice but Naiad is not red, she's Burgundy.

So, I'm going to do two things. I've bought a pot of blue paint and two small pots of very expensive Burgundy (ish) paint. Apparently, if you mix red and blue in the ratio 3:1 you get Burgundy, pretty much. Some articles suggest adding some brown or black to adjust the colour, but I'm going to try the 3:1 mix first. 

I'll put a second coat of red on tomorrow morning and then mix the red and blue when the blue arrives and see if that's the correct colour. Even if it isn't I'll put a coat of two of that over the red and if it's still not the correct colour then I'll put a coat of the expensive Burgundy over that.

That's a lot of paint, but let's face it, it isn't going to hurt her at all. Given the fairly harsh conditions she'll be in on the mooring, in paint terms that is, the more coats the better.

Time for a cup of tea.