Interior Paint Disagreement Thread

[Chotu]

This one has got to result in a lot of conflicting information and advice. My google searches were the same.

Looking at paint systems for painting interior wood.

Resulting finish should be an extremely high gloss white, like a brand new white iPhone. Other than looking shiny and nice, the reason for gloss is ease of cleaning. Mold is yet another one of my allergy triggers so I have to clean.. Fun stuff.

Question:

What paint system and process do you suggest to take bare A/B okoume marine plywood up to looking like a glossy, shiny piece of plastic?

We had talked about using 2 part linear polyurethane like awlgrip, but everything I read in wooden boat forums said no to this. That an inflexible hard paint like that won’t last because the wood will move below it and it’ll crack off.

They suggested more flexible paints.

In any case I need to seal up the wood well so the finished product lasts.

What would you use?

This is for cabinetry, berths, settees, etc.

[Cheechako]

I'm not sure, but one thought is use satin, so any ripples, defects etc dont show so much. It can be perfectly smooth like high gloss but doesn't show so much. ?

Any wood with grain will require a filler etc to get a really smooth surface for a high gloss paint.
I really wonder if there is anything wrong with Awlgrip top coat? I understand wooden boat guys may not like it, but wooden boats do expand and contract a lot. Cabinets.. should be fairly stable in the scheme of things.

Guitars are finished with poly, or essentially car paint years ago, and they hold up well. Fiberglass boats do flex and bend, and Awlgrip seems to hold up well on those.

Have you considered formica on the ply? If you are doing an entire interior you could maybe order a bunch of sheets with the laminate done...?

[mikedefieslife]

You will never it like a plastic finish unless you first fill in the grain of the wood. I don't think even high build primer will do that well, but there are wood grain fillers especially for this purpose.

High gloss is usually not desirable inside, have you considered a semi gloss? Sigmadur 520 is a great 2 part top coat. Or for one part there is Hempel Multicoat.

Can't speak to anything else, as I don't have experience of it.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I'm not sure, but one thought is use satin, so any ripples, defects etc dont show so much. It can be perfectly smooth like high gloss but doesn't show so much. ?

Any wood with grain will require a filler etc to get a really smooth surface for a high gloss paint.
I really wonder if there is anything wrong with Awlgrip top coat? I understand wooden boat guys may not like it, but wooden boats do expand and contract a lot. Cabinets.. should be fairly stable in the scheme of things.

Guitars are finished with poly, or essentially car paint years ago, and they hold up well. Fiberglass boats do flex and bend, and Awlgrip seems to hold up well on those.

Have you considered formica on the ply? If you are doing an entire interior you could maybe order a bunch of sheets with the laminate done...?

Certainly my dream would be to just stick Formica prefinished laminate to a surface and be done with it. Wow, that would be amazing.

That’s exactly what I had been trying to do.

But, even Formica over Nomex or Formica over foam weighs too much.

22lbs in the Formica faces alone on a 4x8 sheet, not counting the foam and adhesive.

I have to go wood 1/4” and 1/8” ply for weight.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Chotu

What would you use?

This is for cabinetry, berths, settees, etc.

Easy to clean and bomb proof? probably formica.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

You will never it like a plastic finish unless you first fill in the grain of the wood. I don't think even high build primer will do that well, but there are wood grain fillers especially for this purpose.

High gloss is usually not desirable inside, have you considered a semi gloss? Sigmadur 520 is a great 2 part top coat. Or for one part there is Hempel Multicoat.

Can't speak to anything else, as I don't have experience of it.

Hmmm. The wood grain is type A finish from the factory. I have sprayed it with awlgrip 545, sanded, then shot it with high gloss white all in one Imron topcoat.

This worked reasonably well.

If I need even more of a filler, which I might as it comes to doing joints and stuff, what is that wood grain filler you’re mentioning?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Easy to clean and bomb proof? probably formica.

That’s the dream. Reality is it’s 22lbs per 4x8 panel. Too heavy for this boat.

Unless I stick it on 1/8” ply? Is that going to make something about as strong as 1/4” ply?

That’s the one combination I haven’t considered

Edit: 10kg per standard panel size for Formica both sides. 3mm ply and Formica to make equivalent of 6mm plywood?

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Chotu

What paint system and process do you suggest to take bare A/B okoume marine plywood up to looking like a glossy, shiny piece of plastic?

Nothing looks quite as white and glossy as white glossy plastic. I think the best surface would be to buy plywood with a laminate already applied. I don't know of specific makes or products, but I did find this thread in another boat forum. So many boat interiors are finished this way so there must be several suppliers. A satin finish would be better than high gloss, in my opinion.

Or you could buy laminate and apply it yourself.

I kind of like wood grain. So i would only use laminate where it makes the most sense, and other areas like seat tops and backs that will be covered by cushions could just have a clear finish (varathane or spar varnish)... you could even wipe on some white stain before finishing.

Our house has lots of white semi-gloss trim on the exterior. I find I'm repainting much of it every few years. Likewise, I think that painted wood inside a boat would probably need touchups or repainting just from temperature and humidity changes.

Anyway, there are quite a few paint choices, but none will hold up like laminate.

[Pete7]

The MOD Joint services sailing centre bought a fleet perhaps a dozen Victoria 34ft yachts for sail training 30 years ago. All fitted out with white formica on the bulkheads and and cabinets etc finished with teak wood edging. It has stood the test of time being used by novice sailors in all conditions week in week out. Its a bit clinical, but when the spag boll goes flying off the cooker boy its easy to clean up.

This sort of thing, so easy to hose down the heads etc.

https://storage.googleapis.com/state...GE-620x465.jpg

[mikedefieslife]

What this thread needs is examples. It's not on wood, but Boatworks Today has some great examples of Alexseal. It looks easy to apply and the finish (on camera) looks fantastic. Probably overkill for indoors, but then Chotu was thinking about Awlcraft.

I don't see formica or other sheet panels working well where you have difficult curves, non-right angles, and harsh shapes. For example if you have an L shape, how do you join the two formica panels to not show the 'side grain' of them? Even 1mm is enough to upset the look.

I think what Chotu wants is the same look as the gel coated GRP furniture you see in modern cats.

[Thumbs Up]

While my experience with Awlgrip on wood stands valid, what a toxic and expensive way to do an interior coating! Water based finishes have come a long way. Think of the emulsion floor finishes that we put on floors nowadays. Also oil based enamels if sprayed can give perfect results but lots of voc. Sherwyn Williams industrial literally sells hundreds of types of coatings. Look at this primer:
https://industrial.sherwin-williams....r.9544418.html
and this paint:
https://industrial.sherwin-williams.....10242456.html
It says that it is for cabinets and furniture. These are just examples of what I found on one category of that site. The smaller sherwyn williams stores don't stock any of these products or even know about them but can order them.

[ohdrinkboy]

I would not go with awlgrip because it can't easily be repaired. Have you considered something like a high gloss white bilge paint, or high gloss oil based rustoleum? Buy a quart and test paint some wood.

Our house has gloss white, oil based trim. It wears like iron.

[Matt Johnson]

You don't need to use counter top grade Formica. Wall grade (grade 20) goes down to .180 lbs/sqft . That's just 5.76 pound for a 4x8' sheet.

But i'd still use an oil based paint instead. Lots of cabinet paints available in hard gloss.

Matt

[Chotu]

Whew. Head is spinning already, but definitely keep the opinions and advice/ideas coming.

There are soooo many options. I hope it can be narrowed down.

Considering all of the ideas.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

What this thread needs is examples. It's not on wood, but Boatworks Today has some great examples of Alexseal. It looks easy to apply and the finish (on camera) looks fantastic. Probably overkill for indoors, but then Chotu was thinking about Awlcraft.

I don't see formica or other sheet panels working well where you have difficult curves, non-right angles, and harsh shapes. For example if you have an L shape, how do you join the two formica panels to not show the 'side grain' of them? Even 1mm is enough to upset the look.

I think what Chotu wants is the same look as the gel coated GRP furniture you see in modern cats.

That’s right.

Looking to make it look like a brand new production boat, which are incidentally all Formica. However, I don’t want to take the weight penalty of double sided Formica panels.

So from another thread, I arrived at 1/4” plywood (1/8”) where possible.

I was really set on just sticking Formica to foam, but the plywood weighed a lot less and was less money too. Although you have to finish it yourself.