Painting our 80-Foot Steel Sailboat in the Water

Painting an 80-foot steel sailboat is a big job. Doing it while she's still floating in Southeast Alaska adds weather, tides and a whole lot of timing to the equation. With fall closing in and good painting days becoming harder to find, Scott finally gets a weather window to start bringing Alaskan Gypsy's faded red hull back to life. What starts as one manageable section turns into a race to prep and paint an entire side before the tide drops too far to stay at the dock. Alaskan Gypsy is an 80-foot, triple-masted steel motor sailer that we live aboard year-round in Alaska. After extensive shipyard work saved her badly corroded hull, we're continuing the long process of restoring, maintaining and living aboard this unique old vessel. In this video: steel boat maintenance, sanding and surface prep, two-part polyurethane paint, DIY boat restoration, working with Alaska weather, and one very close race against the tide. Thanks for following along with the Alaskan Gypsy Life. #alaska #sailboat #boatrestoration #steelboat #liveaboardlife Chapters: 00:00 Racing Alaska Weather 02:07 Prepping the 80-Foot Steel Hull 06:30 Moving Gypsy to the Dock 10:58 What We Found Under the Paint 16:07 Final Prep Before Paint 19:24 Keeping Gypsy’s Original Colors 25:33 The First Fresh Paint Goes On 32:08 From Nearly Sinking to Living Aboard 38:09 Bringing the Old Red Hull Back to Life 43:29 Scott’s Other Steel Schooner 49:09 A Major Transformation 54:29 Going for the Whole Side 1:00:14 Racing the Tide 1:02:29 We’re Running Out of Water 1:03:22 Pulling Away With Wet Paint 1:06:19 Painting While Adrift 1:07:27 Alaska Weather Changes the Plan 1:08:25 Finishing the Other Side 1:09:48 The Final Transformation