Painting the hull doubts

[4fish]

I am going to paint the above waterline hull...Now I have the original marine blue "tinted" gelcoat from the shipyard that is seriously faded.

I was decided to use the awlgrip system . But I read serious problems on the finish that appear a few years ago due to a change on components ...to be more ecological....At the same time I read that if worked correctly is beautiful and will last at least 10 years.... The problem will be to repair that is very difficult , and almost not possible to polish it back ....

Other systems not really know the name are very good since they can be polished and recuperate the high gloss...or repair scratches easily...

Can I get some opinions and advice....

A professional painter will do the job....

[boatman61]

Had 2 awlgripped boats... great paint but...
if you know better.. And have a pro to do the work...
Consult the man... he'll be upto date... my knowledge is from 2003...

[GlenM]

I agree with boatman, have a pro shoot it. It is a lot cheaper if you do the prep work, which is most of the paint job.
You can not sand and polish Awlgrip, the finish floats to the top.
If you want to go that route you need to use Awlcraft or Imron.

Glen

[SVAndante9]

We just did this! Hubby and I did all the prep work on our 34' Kaiser Gale Force. The current paint job was 20 years old and in bad shape. A LOT of sanding later . . . and the pros shot it. We worked with Diversified Marine in Annapolis and it just worked out with their schedule that they could work with us on budget by us doing the prep work. They gave us lots of advice along the way.

Most pros use awlcraft these days and not awlgrip due to the difficulty of making repairs on awlgrip. Awlcraft looks beautiful, comes in the same colors as alwgrip, holds up well and supposedly we'll be able to do touch ups ourselves. They even gave us a bit of paint so we're all set.

Any questions, just ask! And start working on your forearm muscles!

[David M]

Go with a painter who shoots Awlgrip professionally and frequently. He will know all the little nuances that make it perfect paint job....like the paint on a new car.

Awlgrip that has dulled out a little can be shined up with SoftScrub....I do this once in a while. I use a super soft deck brush to apply it...no need for a time consuming buffer.

[clockwork orange]

Awlgrip is a polyester/urethane formulation that is quite hard, it does a good job but if damaged you really cant touch it up so end up having to repaint the whole side,so they came out with Awlcraft 2000, which is an acrylic/urethane just like the high end car paints,that can be touched up, its a nice paint that is not as hard as the original but a more sensible choice imho, personally i prefer car paint because of the almost unlimited color choices and the ability to buy it anywhere. The car paint companies like PPG and Dupont have been making these acrylic/urethanes much longer than the boat paint guys and it has to be easily retouchable as do boats, the original Awlgrip polyester/urethane is not a marine paint either,its an aircraft paint, aircraft dont have fender benders so they dont need to be easy to touch up.

[4fish]

So what I am reading is that people is happy with awl grip. I talk to the painter and he tolds me that is possible to repair awl grip if you have done the work correctly from one beginning ...and if you know the exact color... He is telling me also that International is also a very good paint....any opinions on that ?
How long is awlcraft 2000 have been around ? is the majority of professionals switching from awl grip to awl craft , not for an easier work but for a better long time result ?

Also , all the work will be done by a good professional. I don´t want to mess by doing some part of it and latter be sorry. I am sure that people that has done it is because they are able to do it. But in my case I rather have it done.

I am also having redo my teack deck, yes a big , big inversion, do you think is possible to do both things at the same time, or is a risky situation to do it togheter and get contamination on the paint.......

[4fish]

I have read the tech data and figure out, that awl craft WILL NEED to be polished over the time...and should be good, but how often and how many times could be done before repainting?. Also I understand that could be repainted but not going back to the imprimation .....so it can be painted on top if done correctly......
Awlgrip, will have a real nice aspect during many years and is more resistant, but could not be buffered and more difficult to repair.....if need for repair o recober the high gloss will need to start all over again.
So for me the key is :
awlcraft will be as nice as awlgrip at the start point ?
How often we will need to buffer awlcraft to stay looking as good as awlgrip?
How many times can be done?
Awlcraft , can be repainted ?
Awlgrip how many years can hold the initial situation , since cannot be really buffeted etc...?

[daddle]

My only gripe with Awlgrip is its great affinity for oily pollution. Near a big city a rain storm will leave the finish dark and streaky. Not simple to wash off.

Otherwise very tough and durable. The dink can rub on it for months to no effect.

[clockwork orange]

To me it is a no brainer, boats tend to come into contact with things more often than cars or aeroplanes suc,h as docking, rafting up, rubbing against fenders etc so it makes no sense at all to use a paint that cant be touched up. Acrylic urethanes last a long time, ive used awlcraft and the equivilent car paints such as PPG Concept and have pretty much settled on Nason Fullthane. My preference is the car paints because you are not stuck with the boring color choices of the boat paints and if touch up is needed i can just walk into the local auto body supply and have it mixed, if i dont know the color they will send a guy down with a special camera that plugs into their computer to come up with a perfect match.

Steve.

[minaret]

For the umpteenth time, Awlgrip is fairly easy to do repairs on. I've done many hundreds of Awlgrip repairs. No problem for a pro. Awlcraft is much easier to do repairs on, but it can't compare to Awlgrip for looks or durability. This has all been said so many times on the forum, does no one use the search function?

[s/v Jedi]

Also check out Alex Seal paint.

[4fish]

I am quite new on the forum and I missed some items like the search tool , thank you for the advice on the paint and on the search.

[Cheechako]

Had my 44 footer done with Imron and touching up worked very well. It is a hard paint, almost like gel coat, so can be sanded and repaired. I'd go with Allcraft or Imron.
WOW! nice job Adante!

[hpeer]

Damn Adante,

Now I won't recognize you anymore!

Super.