painting hull and deck...why make the boat smooth?

[lorenzo b]

Go walk over to a commercial fiberglass fishing boat and ask the captain what he uses, beyond that it's all fluff. Sort of the difference between a utility vehicle to get you to the market and a cherried out sports car. Weekend sailors take great pride and spare no expense making their boats look perfect. A solo sailor who goes around the world in a 32' boat won't waste his money on fluff.
Your choice.

[mrohr]

On the microscopic level where the paint or varnish is bonding to the existing surface ,the finer grit paper will give the sanded surface much more surface area (tooth) to bond to than a large grit will that which will create fewer deeper gouges. The surface that has been sanded with fine grit will feel smooth to your macro fingers but will not "appear" so down at the microscopic level where the new paint molecules are bonding to the old surface. Hope this helps.

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by mrohr

On the microscopic level where the paint or varnish is bonding to the existing surface ,the finer grit paper will give the sanded surface much more surface area (tooth) to bond to than a large grit will that which will create fewer deeper gouges. The surface that has been sanded with fine grit will feel smooth to your macro fingers but will not "appear" so down at the microscopic level where the new paint molecules are bonding to the old surface. Hope this helps.

Sorry in advance for my short reply. Typing on my phone at the boat. Your logic makes sense. Thanks.

[Cheechako]

DO NOT use latex Paint on a boat.

[Roy M]

Hell, Cheechako, let him go ahead and do it. Or, for that matter, insist on one-part paints that will probably last as long, which isn't very, and won't look any better afterwards. I keep noticing that this same question keeps arising and none of the newbies seem to get the message. LPU paints only really are appreciated by the folks who don't have to paint every couple of years and enjoy the durability, color fastness and appearance. If people convert to the cheaper application techniques the economy will come back sooner because they will be repeating their efforts all the more. And when they sell their shabby boats, the prices will be low enough to guarantee some new entrants to the boating experience. It would be unAmerican to recommend a durable, cost effective and attractive solution to this commonly faced issue.

[Cheechako]

My problem with Latex is , once done, you are stuck with latex. It wont sand and is impervious to strippers. You are essentially dooming the boat.

[model 10]

Hey Roy that is so true. I saw a a dream boat (for me) the other day that was actually afforadable because of some shoddy paint work.

[CharlieCobra]

Latex will come off with a heat gun. Not pretty or easy but doable.

[boatsail]

So rule...no latex on a boat

What about the oil based enamel from rustolium professional?

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

My problem with Latex is , once done, you are stuck with latex. It wont sand and is impervious to strippers. You are essentially dooming the boat.

Thanks. Nobody has given reasons why no latex, just no latex.

I read, not just to get the answer, but to understand why

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by Roy M

Hell, Cheechako, let him go ahead and do it. Or, for that matter, insist on one-part paints that will probably last as long, which isn't very, and won't look any better afterwards. I keep noticing that this same question keeps arising and none of the newbies seem to get the message. LPU paints only really are appreciated by the folks who don't have to paint every couple of years and enjoy the durability, color fastness and appearance. If people convert to the cheaper application techniques the economy will come back sooner because they will be repeating their efforts all the more. And when they sell their shabby boats, the prices will be low enough to guarantee some new entrants to the boating experience. It would be unAmerican to recommend a durable, cost effective and attractive solution to this commonly faced issue.

What kind of resale will a 1978 boat that is 27 foot have? I appreciate your opinion, and I am not going to use latex, but I need to be able to paint and sand it myself and do so easily and cheaply.

Just this week, I ordered new sails, new stove and new rub rail. Spent more on that than I paid for the boat. I look at the value of this boat as zero to anyone, bit priceless to me. When it sells, I'll get whatever I can get for it, I won't be mad.

I'm not looking for a perfect paint job. The boat is 34! Anything will look better than the original gel coat that chalks away when you touch it.

[Roy M]

When I built my boat, back in the 70's, there was an industrial latex non-skid that was being promoted as the greatest thing ever, used on aircraft carrier decks, etc., etc. I was very poor by the time I launched, so I tried it. Two months later, I noticed that dark stains, from aircraft poop or whatever, were beginning to affect the beautiful deck. I tried everything to clean it, unsuccessfully. Since my hulls and superstructure were already painted with LPU (linear polyurethane) paint, it was to be an impossible matching of materials. I had to recoat it with more of the same latex. It looked great! Two months later, it looked like a scuffed and stained sloppy mess. So I painted again. Insanity has been described as repeating an action and expecting different results. I was clearly institutional by this stage.

I tried the heat gun to remove it. As previously mentioned, it works, sort of.... The paint became like a semi plastic paste that hardens into entertaining and very hard lumps. Acetone didn't help much with the cleaning. I used 60 grit paper to remove the latex. It gummed up and didn't powder, leading me to realize how much money I was about to spend on very expensive sandpaper. In desperation, I turned to Jassco Premium Epoxy and Paint stripper. Truly nasty stuff. It burns your skin on contact, I needed my fancy respirator to work with the Methylene chloride active agent, and if I left it on too long, it began to eat the West System epoxy underneath. But, it worked like a dream. I would work a one-square-foot section at a time, stripping with a wide blade stiff blade putty knife, leaving only the epoxy behind. At some point, not wanting the epoxy to be damaged by ultraviolet, and because the stripped surface made the boat look like a major wreck, I sanded, then used epoxy primer. I kept this up for the couple months it took to complete the awful task. By then I had acquired some cash, so I spent it all on LPU paint, masking tape, and plaster sand, then painted the decks as I should have done originally. Every 15 years of so, I strip the non-skid back to the epoxy and re coat because it keeps the weight down (I'm a multihuller) and it looks and feels brand-new again. It's getting to be that time again.

The lesson I learned? Save latex for surfaces that no one will ever see, touch, spill things on, or care about. That rules out anything on my boat. But the cool thing is that anybody gets to choose whatever they want on their own boats. They don't even have to pay attention to the experiences of others. And they can keep doing their thing until the folks in white suits and butterfly nets come for them. Boating is a great freedom to do what you want, and you get to be responsible for the outcomes, assuming you survive them.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by boatsail

What kind of resale will a 1978 boat that is 27 foot have? I appreciate your opinion, and I am not going to use latex, but I need to be able to paint and sand it myself and do so easily and cheaply.

Just this week, I ordered new sails, new stove and new rub rail. Spent more on that than I paid for the boat. I look at the value of this boat as zero to anyone, bit priceless to me. When it sells, I'll get whatever I can get for it, I won't be mad.

I'm not looking for a perfect paint job. The boat is 34! Anything will look better than the original gel coat that chalks away when you touch it.

Can I suggest you take a buffing machine and some cutting paste to the boat first... you may be surprised..
If you've already tried this.... 'Hush ma Mouff...'

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Can I suggest you take a buffing machine and some cutting paste to the boat first... you may be surprised..
If you've already tried this.... 'Hush ma Mouff...'

I've filled so many holes it looked like swiss cheese. Also, tried to do the what you suggested, but to many Knicks and things I had to fill. Holes from things that are not there anymore and hardware that is now gone. Trust me, if I did not need to paint, I would not.

I recently changed out my crappy hose scupper drains and glasses in two four inch pipes from the cockpit to the rear, so no leaks from the crappy tiny hoses that used to hold water in them from the angle they were in there. I'm running my bilge to drain into one of them to keep the holes on the ext down to minimum. Looks pretty good. I'll be posting photos once completer.

[savoir]

Restoring gel coat is better than painting because, if the resulting finish is right, it will last longer. Give the cutting paste a shot on one section - perhaps the transom. If the gel coat is really bad machine sand with 1000 grit paper first and then go to the cutting.