Opinion on just painting rough surfaces?

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by Bill O

I like Neil's idea above to make panels for a more finished look.

A little more work would be to incorporate the panels into a "drop ceiling" to allow for some insulation under the deck. This will keep a lot of heat out of the boat coming through the deck, keeping the interior cooler.

Painting would be quicker than adding insulation and more finished panels. A high build type paint/primer may help take out some of the texture and level out the appearance of the f/g. Definitely would not go w/a textured material as it will be more difficult to clean or match the texture if you need to touch it up.

I agree with Neill and Bill. The overheads at least should be insulated, and it's easier to do this if you are panelling over it. Blocks of wood glued to the overhead to screw the retaining strips to. Retaining strips hold the finished sheets in place. Finish with paint, use melamine coated boards, add leather, vinyl, cloth.....up to you and your tastes.


Behind or where hidden, leave raw or just paint over.


In the few areas left where you might rub against it, fill, sand and paint.


You will be best pleased with the total finish if you do it this way.


Takes a little bit longer, but also gets the deacjhead insulated, whihc will make living aboard that much more comfortable.

[Chotu]

As mentioned a couple times up thread that’s exactly what I’m doing for the ceiling. I’m doing that because it’s easier to run the wires for lighting and other things.

Insulating the ceiling will make little to no difference. My boat is made of insulation.

The R value of my hull is 4.5

The windows are what dominate the temperature in this boat. By a wide margin. So much so, I had to construct insulation inserts for times the temperature gets to be too much. That and 32,000 BTUs of air conditioning.

[Benz]

Sorry for the delay, Chotu--I think I've attached a picture here, but I'm not sure. If I did, it's of my foc's'le--a sort of separated rope/chain/sail/tool locker that's not a living space, so it has neither insulation nor hull ceiling.

If I haven't attached it here, well, it's the thought that counts...

[Chotu]

Thank you, Ben!

Between your picture and the ones from SMJ as well as the one in my first post from markjsmith, I’m doing it like that.

This is exactly what I was picturing it would look like.

If you picture some very very fancy looking shiny cabinetry taking up half of that wall, I don’t think the texture will look bad. And if it does? I’ll do it later.

Building boats is fantastic and all (sarcasm), But I would rather be sailing.

[Matt Johnson]

I believe you'll have to strip the paint back off to apply any fairing compound if you later decide you don't like the look. The fairing compounds typically don't like going over one part paints.


This might be very difficult due to the textured fiberglass surface. I'd investigate if there is a tie coat primer or some other option before committing to going just paint.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Matt Johnson

I believe you'll have to strip the paint back off to apply any fairing compound if you later decide you don't like the look. The fairing compounds typically don't like going over one part paints.


This might be very difficult due to the textured fiberglass surface. I'd investigate if there is a tie coat primer or some other option before committing to going just paint.

I’m never going to smooth it. (It’s already fair)

I will use a liner if I am still worried about it later in life.

This is an area I did with a liner.

I don’t have any good pictures of the area I did with the liner because it was immediately before the heart attack.

[s/v Jedi]

I had those panels with foam and vinyl. Itis very costly and the vinyl goes bad like a PVC dinghy: it discolors and becomes sticky.

I’m currently building new ceilings made out of 5mm thin plywood panels 15” wide that I will paint “satin white” Rustoleum oil based paint with TotalBoat 1-part primer underneath. After the primer I do one coat of Rustoleum, then a second coat that I add some Flood Penetrol to.
I have tested every indoor suitable paint system and this combination won over everything else.

A warning though: the project is very time consuming. New lighting, new vents for dorades instead of just a hole etc. all take up time. I need to make a pattern for almost every panel… upside down.

The panels have no fasteners. They are held in place by the trim pieces in between them which are 2 part with rebates for the panels.

[Chotu]

Yes, Jedi. That’s the kind of stuff I’m doing on the ceilings. Slightly different. But just about the same. I would never use that foam junk you are talking about. So no worries there.

But the drop ceiling is actually the fastest way to do it. Why? Can you imagine trying to plan all of that out to run the wires inside the core of the boat? That’s not for a one off. That’s for a production boat that has an engineering team and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars planning.

I still don’t know where my lights will go. Not exactly yet. So that’s why it’s the last step.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by gulfislandfred

If you have a paint that will stick to the bare epoxy/glass, where it's inside cabinets, just paint it. I have had good luck with Rustoleum brand oil base paint.



If you can use it, coal tar epoxy (from an industrial supplier) is relatively cheap, sticks well, and fills a lot of rough areas. That's if you're OK with black.
If you want white, Kilz primer sticks to pretty much anything, and leaves a mold resistant, flat white finish. It goes on thin, so the texture will show.
Any kind of paint will stick to the Kilz primer.



I think your texture looks fine for inside of cabinets. Not further smoothing needed.

Regarding that Kilz paints viscosity.
I did not use it, but once painted a bathroom floor panel on the boat with a paint which was a bit to runny. Tried adding silica gel in combination with a foam roller. Gave a nice structured surface and holds up very well.

Apparently silica gel is what most paint manufacturers use to control viscosity when producing paint.

Paint has the advantage over anything glued on, that no mold can grow behind it.

[Chotu]

Yeah. I always laugh at Keewee grip Because all they do is add silica to pain and charge you $500 a gallon or something. Lol

My entire deck was done with two-part linear polyurethane using colloidal silica. Came out pretty good. But got ruined.

[smj]

One thing to remember when doing ceiling panels is sometimes you are dealing with compound curves, so not as easy as would first appear.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Yeah. I always laugh at Keewee grip Because all they do is add silica to pain and charge you $500 a gallon or something. Lol

My entire deck was done with two-part linear polyurethane using colloidal silica. Came out pretty good. But got ruined.

I’ve never dealt with a paint that adhered as well or was as tough as Kiwigrip. Not sure if that would be the silica or a quality feature of the paint?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

I’ve never dealt with a paint that adhered as well or was as tough as Kiwigrip. Not sure if that would be the silica or a quality feature of the paint?

It’s probably a nice high-quality paint. But it’s just silica making it thick and stand up.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

One thing to remember when doing ceiling panels is sometimes you are dealing with compound curves, so not as easy as would first appear.

Yeah I don’t know if I’ll be doing that down in the cabins. I might just paint that stuff. I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out.

That’s the bridgedeck plan.

I feel like I could get away with some really bumpy paint on the ceilings in the cabins. Because no one really cares what that looks like the same way you do when you look at a wall.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Yeah I don’t know if I’ll be doing that down in the cabins. I might just paint that stuff. I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out.

That’s the bridgedeck plan.

I feel like I could get away with some really bumpy paint on the ceilings in the cabins. Because no one really cares what that looks like the same way you do when you look at a wall.

It’s not difficult because this is the age of lasers

Just set up a laser and hold a stick up against the ceiling where you want an attachment and mark the laser line.

Of course the ceiling doesn’t need to be level, so you lock the laser and tilt it to the angle you like.