2-part Polyurethane Paints

[Medusa]

Hi all

I have an albin vega 27 and I am thinking to paint the hull and the deck
I am interesting for dark blue hull and a cream deck.
What is your opinion about 2-part polyurethane paints. Does any one know
the NAUTIX - L2 2-part polyurethane?
My Gel coat is in quite good condition.

[roverhi]

If the gel coat is in good condition, I'd leave it. You'll have to do a very good job with the prep, masking and painting not to decrease the value of the boat. Professionals will do it right but are costly and it's probably money that you won't get back when you sell. Just painted the hull and deck on my boat and it ended up way way more work and costing way more than I anticipated. My gel coat was stained, worn through and lots of holes to fill from long since departed hardware after 45 years so I didn't have a choice.

There are a bunch of two part polyurethanes out there. AwlGrip has the bragging rights and price to go with it. Supposedly a little tricky to apply but will give the shiniest finish. I used a commercial LPU that was cheaper and hired a professional to spray it. Doesn't have the brilliant shine of AwlGrip but I didn't want that and everyone's been complementing me on the paint.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Medusa.

Originally Posted by roverhi

If the gel coat is in good condition, I'd leave it...

I wouldn't recommend painting over a good gelcoat finish.

As I understand it, L2 must be applied over undercoating of U2 (undercoat), and perhaps P1( gelcoat adhesion).

➥ http://www.nautix.com/Nautix/Nautix.nsf/VuPeintureFamille/efecb37aa53db081c125744800521da7!OpenDocument&Lang ue=En

[s/v Jedi]

Besides Awlgrip, check out AlexSeal.

Paint works on good gelcoat as well as on old gelcoat. It works better on good gelcoat.

Funny how spending some money on looks of a yacht draws the "don't-do-it" crowd
If you want dark blue with cream deck, go right ahead and enjoy! The only remark I will give is that it will be a hotter boat to live on in the tropics.

cheers,
Nick.

[Medusa]

Thanks to every body for your efort.

That is going to be a hot boat is something that I wory about. The good think is that I am sailing and leaving in Greece that is not so Hot as in Tropics. At Least not all the year.
I took the desision to refit my boat this year. So the boat is out of the water and the Project is on going. So far I have Sandblast and Repaint my engine (Kubota V1200 30HP) I am very proud of the result. It's like brand new.
Next coming all the intirior woods. I have already streap everything and I am ready to order new plywood. I am lucky on this becouse a frind of mine is a profetional carpenter so he will do all the work in a very fair cost. Next coming the electrical installation of the boat. As you notice I am already in the midl of an intirior refit. For this reason I was thinking to refit - paint also the hull and the deck.

Any help ideas or Tips is very much appriciated

Thanks a lot

[neilpride]

All what can i say is if the gelcoat is in good condition with litle $$$ you can bring it to shine condition again, Gelcoat is harder than paint , and you can repair gelcoat , when you spray LPU topcoats in the boat you are stick to the paint forever, i just recomend painting if the gelcoat is in bad shape, now if money is not a isue and you want it blue color and dont care about to loose the gelcoat surface , Awlgrip is the best stuff around, others like Perfection or alex seal give nice finish to, beware that if you choose blue color for the topsides you need to reach a perfect surface free of defects , blue color show up any imperfection better than other light colors like white. Good luck!

[Roy M]

Dark colors also force you into the trap of diminishing point of returns, i.e., since the dark colors are now very shiny, the hull becomes a better mirror. A better mirror now means that EVERY SINGLE defect in the prep and finish coats is magnified to the eye of the beholder. White seems to show off the least. To prove this, go look at the finish on a car body. Beware.

OOOps, someone beat me to it, sorry.

[David M]

With dark blue you will want it sprayed. Dark colors show all the imperfections much more than the lighter colors do. No matter how good one might be with a brush, spraying comes out with a mirror finish that is impossible to achieve with a brush.

[Jim Cate]

Another consideration: When you paint a dark color over white gelcoat, EVERY scratch suffered down the road shows up brilliantly... the white/blue contrast is so very visible!

But, your proposed color scheme will look good for a while.

Cheers,'

Jim

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Another consideration: When you paint a dark color over white gelcoat, EVERY scratch suffered down the road shows up brilliantly... the white/blue contrast is so very visible!

But, your proposed color scheme will look good for a while.

Cheers,'

Jim

I think there is a primer between gelcoat and topcoat, awlgrip 545 is grey in color, others are white, grey, with a blue color at least 3 coats or 4 can make the finish thick and rich color .

[virginia boy]

Originally Posted by Roy M

Dark colors also force you into the trap of diminishing point of returns, i.e., since the dark colors are now very shiny, the hull becomes a better mirror. A better mirror now means that EVERY SINGLE defect in the prep and finish coats is magnified to the eye of the beholder. White seems to show off the least. To prove this, go look at the finish on a car body. Beware.

OOOps, someone beat me to it, sorry.

I'm a big fan of colored boats (I own a white boat) and being a former house painter I understand the point about some colors accentuating defects, but I wouldn't purposely choose a white boat for that reason, anymore than I would choose a white car to minimize the visibility of scratches.

I dislike white cars even more than white boats.

[Aloha_float]

I painted my boat with awl grip. Flag blue base colour and three coats of clear. It looks awesome but is prone to rub marks from fenders over prolonged period of time. It has held up extremely well over the past 4 years. My gel coat was cracked and in very rough shape.

Tim

[chas5131]

My gel coat is red and bears what I think are marks from a bad job of compounding.
I think it has been waxed and compounded a lot.
Do I need to apply something to get the wax, etc. off before painting?
Thinking of brushing the paint on in my garage. How dumb it that?

[belizesailor]

Careful how you paint your decks. I've been aboard a few boats with re-painted decks which were very slippery. Depends on how aggressive any molded in non-skid pattern may be. You can mix in silica to create a textured deck coating.

[Roy M]

Garage painting pro/con: out of direct sunlight and heat, allows maintaining a "wet line" easier, reduced wind-borne dust and bugs. Cons: higher fume concentration, so be careful about a gas heater pilot flame and getting loopy. I paint small projects in the garage, but nothing the size of a dinghy hull.