Painting the decks

[unbusted67]

I am thinking of painting my decks this spring but am feeling like it is a bit of a daunting task. You see we are living aboard. I am just wondering what people's general methods are for painting a deck. What type of paint do you use? Do you paint the white parts first or the non skid parts first? How much pulling of deck hardware do you do? Cleats? Stanchions? Anchor windlass? I am interested from hearing from any liveaboards who might have endeavored to paint the decks while aboard.

[S/V Antares]

Have you posted on the Cal owners assoc. forum? I am sure there are others with your exact issue.

Do you have patterned nonskid ?

[Rex Delay]

I have been contemplating this for a couple of years but keep putting it off. Waiting for a neighbor to do it first. My decks are gelcoat with painted non skid. The plan is to only deal with the non skid portion and use Kiwi Grip. All hardware is mounted on the gelcoat so no issue except for a lot of taping. Plan is to tape, wait for the right day and go for it. Liveaboard should not make any difference, go for a hike or other distraction for at least several hours while things cure. The biggest challenge is to match the color or accept contrasting colors. That is what has stopped me, I am lousy at matching colours or choosing acceptable contrast.

[Beersmith]

Remove everything you can. It is a great time to re-bed hardware anyways. Whatever you don't remove you will have to tape and create an edge in the paint. The problem with taping things off is that edge, it is where the paint will begin to fail (eventually).

I suggest (and will be using on my own decks soon) Interlux Perfection for roll-and-tip application; Kiwi-Grip for non-skid.

Prepare decks by fixing any dings. Sand and prime. If it is painted non-skid, prime over everything.

Paint the white areas (where non-skid isn't) and overlap onto the non-skid areas a few inches. Once you have finished painting, you can go over the non-skid areas with the kiwi-grip.

For the details, download the Interlux Paint Guide and study hard:

http://www.yachtpaint.com/Literature...de-usa-eng.pdf

[unbusted67]

Thanks I think this is what I was looking for. If I plan on re-bedding most everything, which I do, how long will this project take me. How many days straight?

Originally Posted by Beersmith

Remove everything you can. It is a great time to re-bed hardware anyways. Whatever you don't remove you will have to tape and create an edge in the paint. The problem with taping things off is that edge, it is where the paint will begin to fail (eventually).

I suggest (and will be using on my own decks soon) Interlux Perfection for roll-and-tip application; Kiwi-Grip for non-skid.

Prepare decks by fixing any dings. Sand and prime. If it is painted non-skid, prime over everything.

Paint the white areas (where non-skid isn't) and overlap onto the non-skid areas a few inches. Once you have finished painting, you can go over the non-skid areas with the kiwi-grip.

For the details, download the Interlux Paint Guide and study hard:

http://www.yachtpaint.com/Literature...de-usa-eng.pdf

[Rex Delay]

One very intense day.

[David M]

How much do you want to spend and how perfect does it need to look? How much labor are you willing to put into it.

You could do anything from having a professional prep and spray it with Awlgrip all the way down to using a marine enamel and brushing it on yourself.

Somewhere in between would be prepping it yourself and brushing on a two part LPU. Tape off the borders where you do and do not want non-skid. Non-skidding everything would look pretty funky. You paint the non, non-skid areas first. Awlgrip has a pretty nice fine nonskid material. It's good enough for your shoes to stick to and yet not threaten to tear the skin off your knees nor hold much grime.

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by David M

How much do you want to spend and how perfect does it need to look? How much labor are you willing to put into it.

You could do anything from having a professional prep and spray it with Awlgrip all the way down to using a marine enamel and brushing it on yourself.

Somewhere in between would be prepping it yourself and brushing on a two part LPU. Tape off the borders where you do and do not want non-skid. Non-skidding everything would look pretty funky. You paint the non, non-skid areas first. Awlgrip has a pretty nice fine nonskid material. It's good enough for your shoes to stick to and yet not threaten to tear the skin off your knees nor hold much grime.

What does LPU stand for?

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by S/V Antares

Have you posted on the Cal owners assoc. forum? I am sure there are others with your exact issue.

Do you have patterned nonskid ?

Yes

Originally Posted by Rex Delay

One very intense day.

Yeah in our dreams. I am thinking a week to pull off hardware, re-bed and prep. Then another week of sanding painting and putting hardware back together.

[David M]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

What does LPU stand for?

Linear Polyurethane. Awlgrip, Sterling, Imron etc. They are two part paints requiring a catalyst. They are very durable and pretty much don't oxidize, like one part paints tend to. The downside is they are more expensive and can be tricky to apply. If you have never used an LPU, you probably want to practice a little before you apply it to your boat. If you do it right it can look like car paint....which is what car paint is.

[unbusted67]

Oh yes of course. I have used awlgrip before. What about using gel coat on the non-nonskid parts? Too expensive/tough to work with? I always thought enamel was the tough stuff you want to walk on.

[David M]

Reapplying gelcoat I don't think is worth it. It's fine for coming out of a mold because it takes the exact shape of the mold which means it comes out shiny, smooth and pretty much perfect. But as you know gelcoat over time oxidizes, cracks and is porous which means it holds stains.

All the times I have been in boatyards where someone has a hull or deck that is old gelcoat that is looking pretty bad, I always see them painting the deck and not applying new gel coat.

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by David M

Reapplying gelcoat I don't think is worth it. It's fine for coming out of a mold because it takes the exact shape of the mold which means it comes out shiny, smooth and pretty much perfect. But as you know gelcoat over time oxidizes, cracks and is porous which means it holds stains.

All the times I have been in boatyards where someone has a hull or deck that is old gelcoat that is looking pretty bad, I always see them painting the deck and not applying new gel coat.

Gotcha thanks for your info

[bstreep]

We are in the midst of this very same project. We are weekenders. We've been at this project, off and on, for about a year and a half!

That being said...

We spent about a year of part time work of grinding and filling all of the surface cracks, hairline cracks, etc. Filled with MarineTex because it is UV stable.

Once we got to this point, we degreased the entire surface, and then we sanded the entire surface with 80 grit, followed by 120/130.

You HAVE to prime the bare fiberglass. 2 coats of Interlux PrimeKote with sanding between coats. We split the deck up into 5 sections. It takes a FULL weekend to prime, with taping, sanding between, etc. We used blue painter's tape with a thin 1/4" green autobody tape overtop. The blue tape was not placed on the edge. The thin tape goes around corners better, and only it has to be removed between coats.

We then sanded the primer SMOOTH, and topped with 1 coat of Interlux Perfection (2 part).

This spring, we will pick what we hope is a perfect paint weekend (we have a HUGE problem with wind - it blows over 20kts most weekends - it actually will blow ripples in the paint). The Admiral will spend the WEEK taping (yes, WEEK - that's how long it really takes - but we are 47'). Then we will roll and tip the white.

The non-skid will then get it's turn. Ours is painted with a 2-part (you can't put 2-part over a 1-part paint - EVER). It does not have to be primed.

[anotherT34C]

I have patterned non-skid. I used a scuff pad to sand it (by hand) and rolled on a coat of the interlux interdeck. Broke it up into 3 sectons (cockpit, deck, cabintop) and it took 3 days (one day per section). All I can say so far, is that it's held up well for 4 years. Last year I did the non- non-skid with interlux perfection. Roll and tip. Boat looks like new from 5 feet. Looks like newly painted from <5 feet. I'm happy with it.