How To Cover up Texture of Fiberglass

[Jon Neely]

Ok guys and gals, about a year in to our complete restoration, and I have now gotten to the stage where I have to make all of the fiberglass that is showing i.e. the entire headliner/ insides that are not covered by wood look uniform. My question is if anyone has tried to or succeeded to make a more uniform texture of all the surfaces. I have ground and faired with west systems all of the big divots and high rises so I have it pretty "flat", but some areas have heavy roving and some have light, some have none. soooooooo I could use some advise. I have been thinking a kind of nonskid paint to give a good thick texture and then painting with a heavy enamel of the color i want. Any ideas are great!

Thanks,

Jon

[sww914]

I would consider rocker guard for cars. It lasts forever. It's the texture on the lower 1/4 of Toyota doors, for instance. I can only imagine what non skid would do to your skin if you banged up against it in heavy seas.
It's available in aerosol cans. I'd practice on a piece of cardboard first to get the hang of applying it evenly. You should probably wear a respirator too or else you'll be DUI if you try to get in the car to go get more if you run out.

[aquarian]

How "finished" is your interior otherwise? It is possible to fair is smooth and paint, but is a very dusty process. I am debating the same with my boat at the moment. And while I have the ability and experience to fair it smooth, I don't know if I want to deal with the dust. My interior is otherwise complete. I am leaning toward hull liner at the moment.

[Jon Neely]

Well mine is not finished at all, but I don't want it to be flat, I want a texture, I will look in to the automotive stuff, I have used it before and didn't even think of it, thanks. Any other comments and ideas are great.

[aquarian]

A texture option that I used when restoring cars was textured spray paints. A crinkle finish paint can mimic vinyl. There are a lot of texture finishes available. If you have no interior to worry about damaging, it might be worth a look. They can be found most anywhere spray paint is sold.

You might also consider textured roller coaters. The paint will have to be a the correct consistency to get the claimed effect.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Not entirely sure what you are after. But if surface not good enough for paint, but does not warrant a covering panel - then my pet solutions are either carpet (squares) or...........formica.........the sneaky way to use formica to cover over underlying surfaces is to not to try and use a single piece - fill in the gaps / edges, and rub down the surface and then paint (a good primer is key ). The formica gives you a grrrreat painting surface - the look (at least for my painting skills ) is the same as painted wood (i.e. nice, but not moulded gelcoat)......durability is much the same as painted wood (i.e. less than Formica, but can still take knocks).

If you do a test piece will be surprised how well it copes with the thumbnail test.

[ggray]

You can get a texture paint, and they make a texture roller togive it a bumpy finish. Then overcoat with the color you want. That's how the factory did a lot of the surfaces of my boat.

I think they spent some effort in getting a uniform surface first, but sounds like you have done this.

[SailFastTri]

I think ggray has the right approach if you want a hard surface. However for a headliner you need to find some sort of rubber material -- a hard material applied with a texture roller could result in scuffed and scraped scalps for the crew when conditions are rough.

If you're looking for a high finish level you could build a headliner made of a variety of materials. Plastic or thin wood panels held to furring strips, or you can buy foam-backed vinyl and apply it to thin plywood panels using 3M spray adhesive, and put it up in sections with the covering wrapped around the edge of each section.

Another approach is to use heavy woven felt material that looks like gray burlap, only much softer, and apply with spray adhesive. This is used by Corsair trimarans and the owners refer to it jokingly as "mouse fur". If you search the Farrier F-boat forums for mousefur or "mouse fur" you will find discussions and that could lead you to a supply source.

The advantages to mouse fur or padded headliners are they will be softer if you bump your head and they will also help deaden sound.

[ggray]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

I think ggray has the right approach if you want a hard surface. However for a headliner you need to find some sort of rubber material -- a hard material applied with a texture roller could result in scuffed and scraped scalps for the crew when conditions are rough.
.

I'm familiar with the rough surface you are talking about. Our old boat had a rough texture, sharp peaks and "deep" crevices. My bald sailing buddy would frequently wear a hat below because contact was so painful.

But what our Voyage cat has is much smoother. I'm remembering now they called it a ripple finish, and a roller was provided with the boat for any future need. This surface would cause no abrasion.

[hellosailor]

Pickup truck "bedliner" paint. Applied with a roller.