I use this: https://shop.marinehowto.com/products/bed-it-tape
I went the long way round on painting the deck. My boat is out in the weather on stands and I got tired of taping over holes in the deck each time rain was foecasted and worrying about rain ruining my interior, as I've been taking over a year to complete this task. I changed my method to something you may consider. I removed hardware in sections, overdrilled the holes, cut back some balsa core and filled with thicken epoxy and after that cured, I used a 5/8" counter sink bit to index the location by drilling a little vee shaped crater about an 1/8" into the epoxy. That made the deck "rain proof" and I primed over that and can easily see where the hardware like fairleads and cleats and cheek blocks and handrails go. I'm eliminating some hardware but I indexed their holes anyway so a future owner can add them if he chooses. The 5/8" countersink works great for all fastener 1/8" up to 3/8". I also learned some tricks using a tarp to protect the deck when I'm not there and still allow me to work when I am. I cover the deck from the rear of the pulpit, over the cabintop and campanioway as far as the front third of the cockit. I remove about fifteen bolts that hold the stanchions and roll the lifelines up and store in the pulpit and the pushpit. This requires a 10mil white 18' x 25' tarp that drapes well over the toerail enough that I can easily tie lines under the hull to hold it in place. I have about seven lines with a slip knot every third hole along the tarp. I also tie the middle of the tarp edge fore and aft. So when I arrive at the boat, I rig my extension cord for power and undo all of the lines under the hull before I climb a ladder into the cockpit and untie the lines holding the aft edge of the tarp. Then I fold one side of the tarp at a time onto the centerline so I have the whole tarp flaked down the center of the deck. This gets rolled from the cock pit over the cabintop and over the foredeck until it is all rolled up. I lift that roll up off the deck and set it in the pulpit and tie it to the pulpit so I have full access to the deck. The tarp has a line from the bow that remains attached so I can reset the tarp if rain suddenly threatens, by reversing the procedure which takes about twenty minutes total. I improved the tarp's drainage a little by adding a plywood triangle from the two winches at the rear of the coachroof to the mast's deck ring. The wood structure supports the tarp in such a way as to avoid low spots that could allow rain or snow to puddle and freeze and stress the tarp. I once had a tarp develop a belly from strong winter wind. We had a big snowfall and then it turned to rain. After that the snow and rain froze and the weight pulled the tarp down onto the deck. I'd estimate the weight of the ice block to be two to three hundred pounds as it was about seven feet long and over a foot thick and a two feet wide. I had to remove the lifelines to clear a path to push it off the side deck from under the tarp. Chuck Scheaffer Resolute 1989 C&C 34R Pasadena Md
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