Refit Reality Check | Cold Weather Ends Our Deck Painting Progress
This week aboard our sailboat, we made huge progress on the deck refit — but the weather had other plans.
Our main goal was to prep and paint the rear deck, including the sugar scoops, helm stations, and transom alley. The process started strong: days of sanding, fiberglass repairs, fairing, and priming. Everything was ready for paint… until temperatures in Virginia dropped too low for proper curing.
So for now, we’re calling it “good enough” with primer — the paint will have to wait until we reach warmer weather farther south. It’s not the finish we hoped for, but that’s real-life boat work for you.
In between coats (and rain), we also tackled several smaller but important jobs:
⚓ Rebedding bolt rope rails to prevent leaks
🛠️ Rebedding safety rails for better security under sail
🔩 Replacing deck hatch latches for smoother operation
Even with the setback, it’s satisfying to see progress — and we’re one step closer to having a freshly finished deck when spring returns, or we get south to warmer weather.
⛵ In This Episode:
Deck prep & priming process
Cold weather challenges in Virginia
Rebedding rails & hatches
Real-life DIY refit aboard our sailboat
☝More about us, our adventures, and how we do all this on our website.
More about Roam here
⛵️https://sailingroam.com/our-sailboat/
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WE'RE GERI AND SHAWN. A couple travelers out chasing the horizon, meeting the people, and capturing it to share with you.
We’ve chosen to Roam the world by boat because, let’s face it, the most interesting path is rarely a straight line.
As we learn to let go of our American drive to finish, and embrace the meandering routes across islands, oceans, continents, and people, we hope to gain a better sense of our world and our place in it.
The path won’t always be comfortable or easy to find but, it will always #roam
Here's an index of the video in case you want to see something specific:
00:00 Teaser clips
00:12 Intro to episode
00:25 Channel intro
00:43 Re-bed bolt rope rails
03:54 Re-bed deck hatch latches
04:39 Re-bed safety rails
06:35 Prep deck for paint
07:05 Sand
07:20 Patch swim ladder holes
09:56 Remove weather stripping
12:55 Fairing
15:02 Sand fairing
15:18 Prime the deck
17:10 Remove tape
17:33 Wrap up project
19:24 Wrap up episode
19:49 Like/Subscribe and Bye!
20:12 End card
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#SailingLife #BoatRefit #DIYBoatProjects #CruisingLife #SailboatMaintenance #SailingCouple #SailingYouTube #SailboatRefit #FiberglassRepair #BoatWork #deckpainting
© Sailing Roam 2025
Sailing Roam
👋 Hi, we’re Geri 👩🏻⚕️(a retired nurse) and Shawn 🤓 (a not retired technologist). We’ve gone on the greatest adventure of our lives instead of living the comfortable and predictable suburban world we left behind. Living aboard Roam, our cruising catamaran, we explore and immerse ourselves in new cultures, do boat repairs in exotic places, and get up to all kinds of shenanigans. Roam isn’t just the name of our boat, it’s kind of a philosophy. We’re not taking the shortest routes or using a formula to sail around the world. We’re not in a hurry either. We’re meeting the people, seeing the places and getting distracted by things we find interesting along the way. We’re unconventional and we’re living the best life we can imagine! Join us as we turn our 11-year old catamaran into our perfect adventure platform and see what’s over the next horizon. We can’t wait to meet you wherever you are! Clamptite Tools link: https://clamptitetools.com/?sld=syroam 10% discount: gerischaffer10
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Refit Reality Check | Cold Weather Ends Our Deck Painting Progress Location
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