Painting the Hull Above the Water Line ?

[Rocketman]

Hi everyone, I am brand new to your forum and have been reading all of the great advise everyone has to give, now I am asking for a little advise for myself. I have a Lancer 30 that I just bought, and I want to paint the hull above the water line dark blue. Right now she is white and chalking. She has had a few small repairs to the gel coat over the years that make pollishing out of the question. I have auto body experience but have never painted a boat. Any advise on products to use and process would be helpful. I have a place to pull the boat out and do the work and probably most of the tools. Thanks in advance for the advise.

[boatman61]

Right now in Fig da Foz Portugal we've some guys pushing Vinyl Paint....
looks pretty good on the Beneteau their doing right now...
Be interesting to see what it looks like by the end of next season...

[Lancerbye]

Welcome aboard. Good luck in your search.

[imagine2frolic]

To do the boat over in white will save you time, and money. Not to mention if you do it yourself the flaws will be near invisible. I painted my cat red over red, and it turned out nice with roll & tip AWL-GRIP..........i2f

[boatman61]

Roll and Tip.... a definite skill acquired by few but desired by many....
Well done ...

[LuvToSail]

there is an old saying:
"there are two colors to paint a boat: black or white, and only an idiot would paint a boat black"

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

Any advise on products to use and process would be helpful.

As Boatman says…Rolling on Awlgrip is an acquired skill that needs practice…Here in Subic there are quite a few painters who have it. (Actually they just Roll…(don’t Tip)

Stargazer was done in 2007 this way and I will have them do it again when needed.

From observing them, the key is in mixing the right amount of brushing thinner for the temp and humidity conditions plus the skill of applying even roller coverage at the end of strokes.

They have the faith to allow the paint to fill in and gloss to a perfect finish, ...before it Tacks off.

You save about 45% in costs by not needing the overspray protection and 100% of the paint goes on the boat

Normal practice is;

• Basecoat…sand then rubber squeegee in a coloured basecoat to fair any voids and sand again

• Roll on first topcoat then wet sand with 500 so that it is your show coat

• 2nd Topcoat then wet sand with 800

• Third coat is normally your final coat if you are satisfied with the depth of Gloss

• For Topcoats we did it in the water by pontoon …early in the morning. One guy rolling, one spotting, two assisting to move the pontoon around and one guy with a small brush for corners.

• My blue hull took just 1 pack of Awlgrip 1.5 US Gallons to do 3 topcoats so the coverage is excellent.

• No one believed it was brushed on

If you like the dark hull, then go for it but preparation and fairness is more critical.


Good Luck!

[Rocketman]

Thanks for all of the advise, I never would have believed that rolling on color would be an option. After seeing the boat in the pic I am a believer. Thanks again to all. Any other helpful tips are always welcome.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Rocketman,

Well, if you already have the tools and skills for a spray job, you will likely get better results that way rather than starting at the steep end of the roll/tip learning curve. I've tried that and it ain't easy!

There are lots of excellent paint products available. Each one comes with its own set of detailed application requirements, and most manufacturers supply a manual with the necessary advice about thinners, retarders, anti-blushers, accelerators, and a bewildering array of other additives. Stirling in particular has very complicated combinations of additives.

Having tried a couple of products on the decks, I decided to have a pro paint our topsides, and am glad I did. But if you are indeed a skilled painter, there's no reason to pay someone else!

Incidentally, we ended up using an automotive LPU paint (on the pro's advice). They had found it had better gloss retention than the marine products, and was significantly cheaper. Now only a year old, still looking great...

Finally, consider carefully your decision of putting blue over white. May look great at first, but every scratch will stand out starkly as a white stripe in your blue, and that can be pretty annoying.

Cheers and good luck

[imagine2frolic]

What I found to make the roll & tip easier was making sure the rolling was spread out thin. This avoid runs, and wanting to touch the paint again with the brush minutes later, which leaves streaks. A small board will give you a good place to practice. A gentle hand & patience will save you a ton of money, and as I typed before white will hide any flaws. Then again I am partial to RED................BEFORE & AFTER........i2f

[wetsail1]

Nice now come do mine

[David M]

As you know, spraying will give you a mirror finish. Rolling, depending on how good you are, will give you less than a mirror finish. Being a professional auto body guy yourself, I don't think you would be happy with a brush job. I'm sure have seen that occasional car on the road where the paint has been brushed on or has a Krylon job which looks horrible.

Use a marine grade LPU paint. Automotive pants do not work well on boats because they need to be softer to avoid cracking as at places where a hull might flex and hold up to a salt water environment.

In general, the darker the paint, the sooner it starts to oxidize. Some paints are far more resistant to oxidation than others.

[bstreep]

If you are going to roll/tip, Interlux's Perfection is supposed to be more forgiving. Not quite as glossy as Awlgrip. You should also plan 2 coats of primer. As others have noted, white, and only white.

[imagine2frolic]

You can clearly see the reflection of the lift in my pic. I have seen 2 other roll & tip with the same results.........i2f

[Rocketman]

All of you have given me great advise and I love it all. I know that there are lots of levels of perfection out there. I have a 1985 boat that I want to look good and be proud of. I know that if I were to spend countless hours working on the boat sanding and spraying and with the auto body experince that I have I could make it truely spectacular. But in realaity I just want it to look respectable with the minimam amout of work and investment. I want to sail the thing and have a great time, I am not one that enjoys pride of ownership over ever acually touching it and using it. I want to use the boat, and if I scrach it or rub something I don't want to have a heartatack. I hope you understand, I just want to be practical.