"It's not just a case of 'give it a stir and away we go', " says John Barnard. It's the start of the first actual tuition I've had in how to paint during almost 30 years of amateur narrowboat maintenance. Come to think of it, the first since I failed art O-level in the 1970s! Another thing he puts across early is that paint is to protect the boat - "a pretty boat is a bonus" (That said, he tells us a lot about getting a good finish). We're at John's painting school for narrowboats at Debdale Marina, and he's starting with some theory. And there's plenty to learn, even for those of us who've been painting our boats for years and might have thought we knew most of it. Starting with the materials to use - and in particular, the paint.
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