On Monday, 24th January we were introduced to a new weapon in the never ending battle against the elements. John Nuccitelli, sales manager for the Ultralast paint and coatings company, based in Sydney and Melbourne, was on hand to describe the company's range of products and the benefits they confer.

ABBA would like to make it clear that it in no way endorses Ultralast products but welcomes this opportunity to describe them and their claims to our members.

Ultralast was first developed in 1967 by one, Danie du Buson in South Africa after musing on the longevity and brightness of ancient cave paintings. He worked on his formulae for about 14 years. We're told he used silicabased ideas, like the original cave paintings, but beyond that it's a bit like the Colonel's 11 secret herbs and spices - it's commercial-inconfidence. Be that as it may, the product is guaranteed for 25 years, far longer than any traditional paints. Why have we not heard about this before? Well, it was developed in South Africa during the period of apartheid and trade sanctions against that country. More recently it's been available in Britain for about ten years and in the E/S of Australia for only about four.

The price for these wonder products averages about 10 - 12% more than other, good quality, land-used paints (see price list below). So far no claims are made for marine applications although John says they are in the pipeline.

Being water and silica based the coatings are very safe, giving off no odours even during application. The most common application (to replace conventional paint) is one coat of Ultra-Bond primer, followed by two coats of Ultra-Coat colour. This applies even on fibreglass. The Ultra-Coat is not tintable, but comes in a wide range of colours anyway, and these can be mixed. This is a matt finish. To get a satin or near-gloss finish Ultra Clear is needed on top. The resulting coat is very flexible, avoiding cracking, and very much impervious to moisture. It will let moisture out in the form of vapour but is completely proof against rain and the elements. Strictly speaking, conventional paints are not 100% waterproof. To illustrate flexibility John had a piece of sponge which had been soaked in Ultra-Bond and allowed to dry. No matter how much we distorted it, the paint remained fast and intact. Similarly, a moulding taken off the bottom half of a PVC Coke bottle, and about 1mm thick, could be twisted and bent all over the place before returning to its original shape. John claimed that it would stretch 600% although since yours truly plays with model aircraft rubber, he finds that a bit hard to accept. Ultra Coat is fire resistant up to 230 degrees and insulating, dropping house temperatures by 5 to 7 degrees.

In that time it's had numerous success stories, one of the most notable being the Bondi Icebergs Pool. This is a tidal pool at the wellknown beach and previously the paint on it lasted only about 9 - 12 months. It was repainted with Ultralast systems in 2006 and is still hanging on very well with no further painting. Another example is the airstrip markings at Brisbane Airport. These originally had a very short life due to humid atmosphere, spilt fuel and general wear and tear. Now with Ultralast they are enduring very well. We asked John about the Sydney Harbour Bridge but he was most reluctant to discuss this. It sounds as if they are trying for a contract now.

Other products in the range include Aqua Seal for cracks and gaps in metal, concrete and wood, Ultra Concrete Seal, an undercoat for concrete etc, Ultra Metal Treat which blocks rust and protects all metals, Ultra Pave which has received top class awards from CSIRO, NSW Rail and Woolworths, Ultra Clear which speaks for itself and is claimed to be U/V resistant, Ultra Thatch (Don't ask), Ultra Line Mark and Ultra Rubber Seal. Coverage is quite high for many of these products, around 10 - 15 sq m/litre, but that depends on how thickly one chooses to apply it. Drying times would appear to match other acrylic, water-based paints, that is around 20 minutes initially with around 24 hours for full hardening. Shelf life in the can is long at around 7 years.

On Saturday, 12th Feb we had the pleasure of visiting John Bougourd's projects at his home in Karawara, which as some know, is a lot more central than some of the Toolbox venues we've visited. John is limited to one half of a double garage for building and this does limit the size of boat he can build but certainly not his enthusiasm. In fact, we went there expecting to see an Oughtred "Tirrik" only but got also a Michael Storer "Quick Canoe" into the bargain. Ian Oughtred hails from Scotland while Storer is Adelaide-based. The Tirrik was started five years ago - the canoe, I'm not sure, but they've both been worked on concurrently, which just goes to show how much John is wrapped up in the fun of building as opposed to finishing.

The Storer Canoe is as simple as it's possible to get - flat bottom, single hard chine in stitch and glue, like a New England sharpie or dory, but based on a traditional Canadian canoe, for all that. It's 4.7m long and fuller in the ends than the originals, with small deadwoods each end to facilitate straight running. John has all but finished it, including epoxy coating the whole thing; he just needs to sand and colour the outside. He's still tossing up whether to make or buy paddles. It seems some paddles are so cheap it's not worth the effort to make them - but then, some can cost $200! The paddles come with some decisions to make, too. Single or double? And if double, right hand preferred or left hand? Storer goes into all this in his very complete building instructions, but one idea would be to buy cheapies to try it out before making good ones in the style preferred, later.

Also at least half made were the centreboard and rudder blade but there was no sign of the centre case as yet. It can't be put in until the temporary frames are removed anyway.

John has plans for both a sloop rig and a balanced lug. He's going for the latter because of its simplicity. This means one sail, on a gaff, with a boom at the foot (as opposed to a loose foot, which would do), but not with the sail tacked down to the stem-head like so many traditional English fishing luggers; they're too slow to go about. The mast, I think, is free standing, without shrouds so the whole thing will be very quick to rig.

The Tirrik is at least one step further along the continuum of difficulty level. Ian Oughtred has three such boats in a series; the Willy Boat is smallest, followed by the Tirrik at 5.35m and then the Ness Boat a little longer again but narrower. They are based on Shetland Island and Norse beach rowing boats but carry sails as well. With their wellrounded fore-feet and rockered keels they can handle a goodly chop and come up on beaches well. John's Tirrik has kick-up centreboard and rudder blade to facilitate this. It's in glued clinker or lapstrake construction but uses broad planks, only about six per side.

John did the usual, setting up a building jig with straight rails about two feet off the floor with temporary frames in MDF added. Then he built in his keel and laminated stem and stern posts, then he glued in his planks taking care not to glue to the MDF frames by accident.

John started about five years ago, so he hasn't been racing but at the stage we saw it, it was off the jig and upright, stacked on top of the jig with shore legs keeping it level. Gun'les had been added, as had stem caps and the external keel. Framing for the fore and aft buoyancy chambers was glued in and no doubt doing their bit to hold the hull shape although the temporary frames were still sticking up as well. Floors (which run across the keel and up the first plank, tying the two halves of the boat together) were cut but not yet glued in.

He now has to complete the buoyancy tanks, centre case, floorboards and so on, before sealing, painting and varnishing, and, of course, do the rig. In the mean time there's the canoe to exercise, too. So he'll be a while yet but getting there is clearly more than half the fun for John.

So as you can see, we had an excellent visit with a good roll-up, which was just as well because John's wife, Anne, had put on an very tasty afternoon tea of scones, chocolate cake and cheese cake which we did our best to demolish but we still had to leave a bit for the Bougourds at the end. Thanks very much, John and Anne, it made a very pleasant visit all round.