1st Coat On! (Blackbottoming Fiddlesticks)

It's been a day of preparation - Frank had to wire brush the hull to get any loose bits off and then I brushed all the dust away.
The blacking had to be thinned down a bit with white spirit and we put the first coat on. It has to be really worked in to all the the pocking and indentations. Narrowboats get a hard time on their travels and get knocked about a bit. 24 hours drying time means we have to wait till tomorrow to put the 2nd coat on. 
At least we're not missing any sunshine, it's been bucketing down all day!