Rhodes Reliants are classic sailing yachts, built in the 60’s and 70’s, which are now being lovingly restored and maintained by their owners and continue to sail the oceans of the world. The boats are distinguished by the extensive use of wood on the topside, including handsome teak decking, which has to be protected against the harmful rays of the sun and the aggressive elements of a marine environment.

One Reliant enthusiast, Mark Treat from Rhode Island in the USA, has found the perfect solution in Coma Berenice Super Marine Varnish, an outstanding high build, ultra high gloss, ultraviolet-resistant yacht varnish from HMG Paints. Supplied by HMG’s American subsidiary in South Carolina and applied to the cabin sides, covings, toe rail, boxes, handrails, masts and elsewhere, the finish has now lasted its fifth year, with an annual maintenance coat, and according to Mark ‘it still looks like new!’.

Named after the ‘crowning glory’ of an Egyptian princess and a stellar constellation, Coma Berenice is a brush-applied single pack product, which enables a deep, rich finish to be achieved straight from the can, without complex mixing and with fewer coats. Formulated from an exclusive blend of resins and polymers, with microscopic metal filaments to reflect away UV light, it is available in mahogany, amber and clear versions from HMG in Manchester and approved stockists.

Now the subject of dedicated websites, the Rhodes Reliant was designed by Philip Rhodes and built in Hong Kong by Choey Lee, between 1963 and 1976. Classic bluewater sail boats, they are fast, comfortable cruisers, secure under all conditions at sea, and described by marine author Arthur Beiser as ‘proper yachts’. Now close to or more than thirty years old, many Reliants are being restored, refitted and modernised by their owners, who reason that new boats of similar quality and specification would cost up to $200,000.

Mark Treat’s 40ft boat ‘Windigo’ is a Choey Lee Reliant yawl, with a 28ft waterline, 10’9” beam and an IMS certified displacement of 22,357lb. Sailing out of Newport RI and Westport MA, he nowadays travels mainly to the Elizabeth Islands, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Maine, although the boat did actually circumnavigate the globe under a previous owner. An obvious enthusiast, who has been sailing since childhood, Mark pays particular attention to maintenance and passes on advice to other Reliant owners via websites and newsletters.

“I have been experimenting with varnish for a few years now and have finally found a system that holds up well,” he says. “The biggest causes of varnish failure are moisture and ultraviolet light. Moisture is dealt with by having properly sealed wood and well-maintained coatings. UV light is resisted by incorporating UV stabilisers in the varnish, but most manufacturers add unstable molecules to the resin and, after a while, these break down and the varnish fails.”

“After much research, I discovered HMG’s Coma Berenice,” he continues. “This uses reflective long-strand molecule technology, rather than UV absorbers, which reflects out harmful sun rays to protect the wood. Following an initial build up of 4 to 6 coats, a single annual maintenance coat provides sufficient protection.”

Proper preparation is essential for ensuring the effectiveness of any coating system against sea, rain, wind and sun, so Mark is meticulous about this, sanding the surfaces with progressively finer grades of paper, sweeping or vacuuming the deck before varnishing, always using new hair brushes, pouring the paint into a separate container and never returning the remainder to the can.

Surfaces are sealed and spot primed with clear penetrating epoxy sealer, then overcoated once cured with a series of varnish topcoats. Cabin sides are finished in Coma Berenice Mahagony, with masts, spars, toe rail and other details in Amber. His tip is to apply one or two coats of colour until the desired shade is attained, then finish the remaining build-up coats in Clear.

“Coma Berenice does not give the traditional varnish yellow, it is truly clear,” he reports. “It’s very easy to apply and the finish is excellent. The varnish is now into its fifth year and still looks like new. Great stuff!”

For further information about Coma Berenice Super Marine Varnish, contact:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

Client Contact Alison Patterson
Tel 0161 205 7631
email apatterson@hmgpaint.com

Can an antifoul paint actually make your boat run faster? Cigarette 38’ Top Gun owner Tony Collins from Florida certainly believes so. After putting HMG’s Slippy Bottom on the hull of his offshore raceboat, he found it planed at lower rpm and was measurably faster than with a conventional gel coat.

Tony also uses HMG’s Acrythane acrylic urethane coating on the topside of his 1990 powerboat and says the finish looks better than new hulls coming out of the nearby US factory.

Slippy Bottom and Acrythane are part of a range of high performance marine coatings made by HMG Paints of Manchester, which have been tried and tested in the oceans of the world and distributed in the USA through offshoot HMG America.

Originally from Georgia and now based out of Fort Lauderdale, Tony has owned one boat or another since leaving college and ten years ago graduated from a 27’ Excalibur to the 38’ Cigarette Top Gun, a ‘go fast’ boat that’s as sleek as its name. He applied Acrythane to the topside fibreglass, after years of waxing and trying other finishes unsuccessfully, and was delighted with the results.

“It produces a finish on the fibreglass that no-one can believe,” he says. “I live very near the Cigarette factory here in Florida and, even after three years, it still has a higher surface brightness than the new hulls from down the street. Everyone is astonished by the coating and I don’t do anything but wash it – and most of the time I don’t even do that!”

This success with HMG’s topside paint encouraged Tony to apply the same company’s ecofriendly antifouling, Slippy Bottom, to the hull.

“Putting bottom paint on an offshore race boat is almost unheard of,” he continues, “but I had a special need. We were planning a move to the Bahamas and there was no way for me to remove the boat from the water on a daily basis, as I had in the past.”

”I was amazed when we launched the boat. It planed at a lower rpm and ran faster than before. Normally three clicks forward on the throttles give me around 2300 rpm, then another click and we climb to 3000 rpm, gradually rising to 3400 rpm when it planed. Now, on the third click the boat kept coming up on plane. I don’t know what WOT (wide open throttle) is any more, because I don’t need to open it right up.” “At the end of the year repainting was a snap, with none of the sanding required for most antifouls, just pressure wash the bottom and apply the new paint,” he concluded.

For further information about HMG’s Slippy Bottom antifouling and Acrythane topside paint, contact:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

Client Contact Alison Patterson
Tel 0161 205 7631
email apatterson@hmgpaint.com