Anyone have any experience on painting a boat?

Member Joined: Oct 31, 2009 Posts: 30

I have a Orkney Longliner, oldish one with wooden gunwhales,
at the mo the hull is painted white, I do not know what type of paint, but I feel I would like to repaint it,
Please ould someone give me some pointers?
Thanks
John

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:47 am

Give it a good sanding down and use marine paint only.
Cheers
keith big grin

Member Joined: Jan 20, 2010 Posts: 43 Location: Midlands

Take a deep breath! big grin

Member Joined: Oct 31, 2009 Posts: 30

rabbi2 wrote:

Give it a good sanding down and use marine paint only.
Cheers
keith big grin

Hi there keith, when you say sanding down, do you mean just to make it smooth etc or to get right down to the raw fibreglass?
Thanks

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:18 am

Sand it until smooth. The finish depends on the preperation, use wet and dry for the final prep.
If you have acees to spraying facilities then all the better to get into all the tiny nooks and crannies.
Not a job for the faint hearted but good results can be acieved if you take your time and don't rush the job.
If you think that its not quite right and say too yourself oh it ill do. It won't remember that the lump or whatever will magnify itself once the paint is on.

Best of luck mate.
Cheers
keith big grin

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:53 am

also try not to brush it on but use one of them wool rollers to do it as you will get a smoother finish

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:13 pm

as far as the prep work is concerned as long as you've no large scratches to repair a nice sand over with 1200 paper/wet n dry, once you've done this tac it all over with acetone (white spirit will leave a residue leading to fish eyes in the paint) and you're ready to paint, my personal choice would be awlgrip, goes off really hard and is very good paint, as for application as said a roller would be best,
good luck

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:37 pm

I rebuilt a 17ft hull about 20 years ago and although I enjoyed it I wouldn't repeat the experience!

When it comes to painting the hull I'd echo everything said about taking your time, sanding, cleaning etc but I'd add a few points that will save a ton of heartache. i add at this point that this is what I did for a living at one point.

Do it inside a garage etc (even if you have to rent one) as it will produce much better results and a much longer lasting finish - and wait till the warm, dry weather. Whatever you do get it sprayed, no other method will give you anything like the finish you get off spraying ... and use marine 2 pack paint, I found that nothing else cuts it as far as painting hulls are concerned.

The other point relates to getting it to stay on and that's to use GRP Primer. The primer makes the surface of the gelcoat on the hull soft and sticky and allows the paint to bond to it .... nothing else (not even Acetone) will give you the same adhesion, if you just paint onto a rubbed down hull, even with two pack, it generally starts to flake with the first scrape or tap.

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 6:33 am

If you're going to put on a couple of coats, you need to 'sand' each layer lightly to allow the new paint to key into the previous coat. I use oven cleaner (not the really causic stuff but Jif) which works like t cut for cars and roughs the surface up just enough to let the new paint bond.

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 10:31 pm

Hi Johnn, I paint my sailing yacht every second year and this is how I do it.
First key the surface with 200 grit emery/sand paper, take out as many deep scratches as possible , any that dont come out with the rubdown fill in with a filler that can be obtained from any boat chandlers. Rub down with a dry cloth then a cloth damp with white spirit to remove dust. Use International paints 'Bright side' paint it is the best on the market. Using a
SPONGE roller (a woolen one leaves an orange peel effect) work from bow to stern in 12 to 18 inch panels, before you start the next panel 'lay off' or
lightly brush out anymarks left by the roller. I get a finish that leaves a reflection with this method. Good luck.
Bluto winking