Let's Talk Hull Painting

[MicHughV]

I painted my hull with a two part polyurethane...myself....I used a roller with a fine foam nap and tipped it with a foam brush after each stroke...it came out perfect....but it's hard work...you have to plan ahead as once you start, you can't stop...you need to leave a wet edge to continue..
the professionals will spray it on.....but it can be rolled and tipped.....and can't be done willy nilly....start at the top and work your way down, then start at the top again...I did about 3-4' wide sections at a time...this way I could control the brush tipping....also starting from the top working down...the key is leaving a wet edge to start the next 3-4' wide strip...if your strip becomes too wide....you will loose that wet edge, that's a no-no...
it helps to have a helper to mix the next batch of paint....so you don't have to stop painting...
it gets pretty darn hard....and I never had a problem with it afterwards...loved it....

on the deck I used one part, too many bits and pieces in the way for a roller.....so just used a foam brush....

you need to have plenty of those foam brushes on hand...they are cheap....but once the foam gets saggy....it's hard to maintain a clean edge...just get a new brush...

one last tip, if you plan on doing this yourself....clean the hull properly...even the tiniest blemish will show....

if you get the boat sprayed, a lot of prep time is involved....everything that won't get painted needs to be taped off...not easy to do.....plus all the protective gear....which is why it is so expensive...

[gonesail]

the rolling and tipping is not for the inexperienced .. for sure. i saw a hull very botched up by this technique. i really couldn't figure out how they screwed up so badly.. and there were 2 people doing it. maybe as you say they waited too long to tip it? maybe cheap paint or brushes.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Creedence

Absolutely loving the replies, thank you all for the feedback. I especially love the pictures, please keep those coming!! (Even if they do make mine look far worse by comparison)

I am very pleasantly surprised to hear ~$3000 figures being thrown around. I originally budgeted $25,000 for this job, and even the $300 per foot was a welcome surprise. At the very least, it sounds like my budget is at least realistic with sufficient room for surprises. As you mentioned, MVWeebles (awesome boat name by the way) I'm sure there's going to be a good bit of gouge and ding repair needed before they start painting.

Ol' girl has a lot going for her, but the hull aesthetics really do her a disservice. Keep the discussion going, I'm taking it all in, and appreciate the feedback. Trying to learn this through Googlefu is overwhelming as it's difficult to separate the truth from the hype.


Based on the feedback so far, I may have found a yard for the service locally, they specialize in sprayed application of Awlgrip, but I'll keep looking for options as well.

My guy (post above) did my Awlgrip by brush. I was highly impressed with his perfect finish. Just saying, doesn’t need to be sprayed.

[MicHughV]

I had heard horror stories about people doing their own two part paint job....and it certainly gave me room to pause...
I had the good fortune to know a professional painter and he is the one that suggested the roll and tip it procedure..work from the top down....use a brush to tip it and keep a wet edge...a 3-4' strip at a time, this enables you to go quickly one from one 3-4' section to the next...that was key.....small strips, done quickly, keep a wet edge....and move on to the next...
without that advice....hmmm....my up-to-then painting technique .....would likely not have come out well at all, it's not like painting a house wall....for one thing....I would have never considered the tipping technique and likely have painted an area as far as my hand could reach, small areas at a time is key to the whole process...there is certainly an art to it....after the first few 3-4' strips, my confidence grew, and I was like a machine....
my hull came out perfectly...I was very pleased....probably my best paint job ever !
I used the smaller quart size paint cans...one quart covered a surprisingly large area...some people don't like or use the foam brushes..but a really good tip brush can be quite expensive, I opted for the foam brushes, as I had used them before...and you don't have to clean them afterwards....
I didn't have scaffolding, just a ladder, which I had to move all the time, but got a rhythm going...
Doing it yourself is not for every one, but certainly a fraction of the cost of a professional job.

[MicHughV]

oh, one last thing to consider....
I used a blue vinyl stick-on tape about 1.5" wide to accent the sheerline and also the bootstripe, it takes two people to really do this right....one person eyeballs the tape to keep a straight line and to follow the flow of the sheerline, the other person dabs it to the hull...like the paint, it stayed on for as long as I owned the boat...not a wrinkle or other blemish to be seen...the bootstripe would occasionally get dirty, but a quick wipe would clean it....
I've attached a pic.....you may have to zoom in on it...

[Chotu]

Interesting I had the opposite experience of MicHughV.

My 50’ cat was my first spray job. LOL. Crazy, right??

It came out flawless.

The paint rep loaned me a good gun. Not HVLP, just a regular gun. He also loaned me a pressure pot. I’d pour a gallon or 2 in there and go to town getting an amazing area of hull done quickly.

It’s all about two things. Keeping your air dry and free of oil from the compressor, and knowing how much paint to put on.

Knowing how much paint was second nature to me. The right amount just felt right. I’d done a lot of regular roller indoor painting in the past as part time jobs. It’s got to be enough to cover, so you get good color and no dry, bumpy orange peel, but not so much that it starts to run or sag.

Getting the air dry was a much bigger challenge. I had to make an incredible complicated contraption to tease water out of the air before it got to the hose leading to the gun. In Florida, a little filter dryer thing is a joke. You need a lot of plumbing set up to allow for expansion of the air, so the water can come out in your plumbing system and run off. Gallons of water come out. Then you need filter dryers to catch more.

It’s not for everyone but I actually enjoyed spraying my boat. It was the most satisfying part of the project. So much awesome looking boat in so little time.

[FlightPlan]

I have a flag blue hull and the previous owner patch painted the awlgrip with awlgrip to make it look good for the sale. After my purchase, I was in the dingy and it was obvious that the color did not blend and it looked bad. I lived with it for a couple of years until I hauled it for a bottom job. The dockmaster told me he could fix it with a new paint job, only using awlcraft instead of awlgrip. He said that awlcraft blends better with light sanding. I allowed him to do the work and have been pleased. The dark hull shows every blemish the hull touches and we all know that we bump or get bumped when docking and when the dingy is alongside. The awlcraft does blend well. The next time I hauled, the tech's sanded out a few blemishes and it looked great. I was suggested at that time that I apply two coats of clear coat over the paint. This turned out to be a great idea, and I highly recommend it if you can afford it. I picked up my boat at the yard this past April and because it was in the water, I didn't notice the scratches left by the lift straps until I got back to the marina. I got in the dingy and was able to sand them out with 5000s grit and awlgrip polish. Couldn't be happier.

[s/v Jedi]

I will be spraying my own boat, away from boat yards and probably at anchor, and for the large surfaces decided on a turbine hvlp system. Much more hours will be spent on detail work, for which I have a Paasche model H airbrush (3.5” fan width) and will add an Iwata LPH80 detail gun (1.6” - 5.5” fan width). These need only a small amount of air, think 2 CFM so easy to do with a small compressor. For a large gun you need so much air that a really big compressor is required unless you take the (more expensive) turbine path. The Fuji Q5 turbine does 320 CFM iirc.

About moisture in air: yes, a big problem. I will be using a relatively small compressor aboard: 3 CFM at 90 psi, 4 CFM at 40 psi with a 2 gallon tank. I’m going to set it up with it’s regulator at 45-50 psi then into a 50’ large diameter hose (1/2”) which is to expand and cool the air so that moisture condensates, then into a 3-stage filter/regulator that filters particles and moisture out and brings pressure further down to 13-20 psi as needed by the gun, then a short small diameter whip hose to the gun/airbrush.
If a more demanding gun is used you can add a tank at the 50 psi end away from the compressor. I looked at the 3M Accuspray gun because of it’s disposable tips that eliminate cleaning but it requires 12 CFM which is too much unless a beast of compressor is put aboard (hence the turbine system instead).

Until now I have used the roll and tip method which is fine but whenever there are corners, ridges, fasteners, hardware etc. it is a pain dealing with that while spray doesn’t even slow you down.

[George DuBose]

You rich guys make me weep...

I use Epiphanes 2 part paint, mohair rollers and do it myself.

My first attempt, I went through two primer coats and four topcoats and had so much sanding that I gave myself bursitis.

I learned a lot about how to avoid runs and not to let the roller get to "lean" with paint.

My results have gotten better on my last job and I am going to paint Skylark again this winter in a hall.

One thing about doing the job oneself is that when I get a scratch (yes, I use my boat a lot in locks and strange docks) I am not ruining a $4000 paint job...

[George DuBose]

Also, I have experimented using roller and tipping, brush only and then roller only.

For me, just using a quality roller alone does produce a wonderful finish.

Again, this is with Epiphanes 2 part.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by George DuBose

Also, I have experimented using roller and tipping, brush only and then roller only.

For me, just using a quality roller alone does produce a wonderful finish.

Again, this is with Epiphanes 2 part.

The same is said for Awlgrip light colors. For dark blue I think tipping is required for Awlgrip.

[Scrimshaw4]

I second the vote for Awlcraft 2000. For a high gloss and added protection I'd suggest the topcoat to be a mix of solid and gloss. Had mine done in 2016. it's great and was easily touched up. JMHO

[canman]

On my wood sailboat I used Interlux Enamel as it’s much more flexible for the wood as it expands and contracts. Paint project was fairly easy and looked great going on six years. On my current Freedom 39 I used Interlux Perfection on my two carbon Masts and booms. The results were spectacular. So will use it on topsides next year.

[MicHughV]

I don't know much about paints....at all....but this what I used...

I used : Interlux Perfection Two Part Polyurethane Gloss Finish and was very happy with the result....today it's about $35 per quart...I think your average 40' boat may require 2-3 quarts per coat for the hull, you can also buy 4 and return 1 if you don't use it. You don't want to run out of paint doing a paint job..my original hull color was a light blue, I had to do two coats to hide the blue....1 coat one day, the next the next day....you can't have a beer until the job is done.

for best results, I do believe it needs a prime coat...my boat was originally painted with a two part epoxy paint and I was told this would suffice as the primer, after a good sanding...but interlux makes a primer for their paint...if you use a primer you can likely get away with one coat..

a DIY hull paint job.....is maybe 1/10 the cost of getting it professional done. Off course, you provide your own manual labor...and nobody is gonna pay you....

[s/v michaela]

Alexseal... you can roll it without tipping and repair it easily.. Awlcraft 2000 doesn't roll, and Awlgrip requires tipping and not easily repairable.