Time to Paint.. Who has been down this road?

[Ativa]

To start I would like to ask for people to kindly respond to this thread avoiding the nasty personal attacks that are happening on daily basis on his board. I have so many questions to ask but have been afraid to jump in on this board due to the negative character attacks that happen to so many threads.

With the purchase of a new used boat I budgeted for a complete re-paint of the boat. The reason for a re-paint instead of a gel coat is due to repairs that were previously done and none of the gel coat matches. There are a few hundred shades of white out there and the previous owner did a great job on the repairs but completely screwed up on the color match.

I have done a few thread searches and have read about a few people's experiences, I am curious to hear from other people who have done the complete repaint including stress crack repair. As well can anyone point me to web site that focuses on boat "remodeling"
The boat is a Multi Hull Gemini
Thank you ahead of time for the replies and keeping it "civil"

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Ativa,
I'm not certain what you are refering to on personal attacks. I must not have checked into those threads. At any rate, I found the book "This Old Boat" by Don Casey to be very helpful.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[captden]

awlgrip.com - the ultimate topside paint system for yachts Ativa. check out this web site it helped a lot when we did our boat. Most of the prep information applies to most marine paints
Good luck
Captden

[AnchorageGuy]

Ativa, We painted Sea Trek 5 years ago from the waterline to the masthead with Awlgrip and she still looks great. We have been told by professional painters that it looks as good as a spray job even though we rolled the paint on. Stress cracks need to be opened up and filled with epoxy. We actually laid in thin slivers of cloth after we opened it up and none have returned. But that is dependent upon no more stress in that area. The gelcoat had been damaged in the storm of the century when one entire side of the boat was blasted with hail driven by 80 knot winds. Surface prep is absolutely key to the success. We had to repair all damaged areas and lay on 7 coats of high build primer before the first coat of 545 went on. That will be where the process is the most time consuming. The paint was rolled on with 4" white foam rollers found at Home Depot. No other rollers would work other than these without tipping. It takes a bit of practice but once you get your technique down, applying the paint is easy. We put down 3 coats of 545 then 3 coats of paint after the surface prep and high build. It is quite an undertaking but well worth not spending the $12,000.00 we were quoted by the pros.

[Heron]

I recently painted my topsides on HERON. As stated, good preperation is where the time comes in. Painting takes about 30 minutes per coat (32' sailboat).

I used a great filler put out by System 3. It's a two part epoxy that combines to make a smooth penut butter consistency. It dries quickly and sands to a smooth finish.

From there I used Interlux Perfection products for priming and painting. It was VERY challenging to work with and it took a couple coats before I got the hang of it. It wants to go on THIN! I mean THIN!!!! This is the only way to control runs which happens after you've left an area. Once the run occurs, it cannot be feathered out. It requires sanding once it's dry. It is best to use a foam roller. Roll some paint onto the roller and roll out as much paint off the roller before applying to the hull. DID I MENTION THIN???

Only try to work on a small area such as 2 feet of hull at a time. We then SOFTLY used a good quality china brush to TIP the bubbles left from the roller. The method is to hold the brush at a 45 degree angle and SOFTLY tip the paint in a verticle direction from top to bottom. SOFTLY!! SOFTLY!!

If the brush leaves ridges, add more of the appropriate thinner to the paint. Too much thinner and it runs.

My wife and I painted the vessel in 30 minutes per coat. I rolled and she tipped behind me. Don't move too fast, allow her to finish tipping before adding more paint with roller. Keep a wet edge.

Our first coat looked terrible. I had to sand the hull down to get rid of mistakes and runs. You are going to have to do multiple coats so don't over apply the paint. DID I MENTION THIN?

On our third coat, the boat looked incredible. A professional painter came to look at it. He said it was hard to tell it was rolled, except for a couple spots. Don't get too fusy by examining the boat closely. I did this and started to "mess around" with it by trying to do touch ups. A BAD mistake. You have just got to say "good enough" unless you want to spend $200. per foot to have a pro do it.

We did the entire job for $350.

BEFORE DOING ANY PREP SANDING OR REPAIR, MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN THE BOAT WITH A SPECIAL SOLVENT TO REMOVE DIRT, OLD WAX AND OTHER IMPURITIES. SANDING BEFORE THIS STEP CAN IMBED THIS SURFACE MATERIAL DEEP INTO THE OLD GELCOAT.

Hope this helps you out.

HERON

[captden]

A friend of mine who paints cars for a living showed me a neat trick, before applying paint to the hull try to paint a piece fo glass that is held vertical, if you are brushing, if you see brush streaks the paint is to thick and if it runs it's to thin. This will also work if you are going to spray. I found it easier to spray the hull tried the tip and roll on two boats and found it very difficult. I did roll and tip the deck and it was a lot easier. As Heron said wash the boat with a solvent before you do any prep work and if the hull already has paint on it make sure you test that the new paint is compatable with the old finish.

Cheers

Captden

Life is for living

[Jon D]

We had our boat sprayed professionally with Awlgrip 4 yrs ago. Still looks great. The key as everyone has said is prep. Couple of spots on the deck were not prepped right and we are having some paint peeling off or cracking. Real minor but I know it's there. OTOH I did not pay retail so I can't complain. I heartily endorse Awlgrip.

[Drexel Engineer]

Where does one buy these paints? What about the gel coat is that rolled on as well?

[AnchorageGuy]

Most any Marine supply sells the paint, primer, etc. Gelcoat must be sprayed on large areas.

[cat man do]

The only problem with most Poly-urethane paint's like Awlgrip and Sterling is that they are hard to do repair's on, usualy requiring a respray of the entire boat.

A Urethane paint is easily repaired, not requiring the whole boat to be resprayed. They can also be buffed to bring back that new look and I have seen 10 year old paint job's come back to new after a quick buff.

Saying that I now use a recoatable and buffable poly-urethane from Ameron Coating's with great success, and stiil a lot cheaper than Awlgrip and Sterling

Epoxy Hi Build

Amercoat CC24 | Ameron Australia | protective coatings - marine, timber, automotive, and industrial

Top coat

Amercoat 450K | Ameron Australia | protective coatings - marine, timber, automotive, and industrial

Company Details

Homepage | Ameron Australia | protective coatings - marine, timber, automotive, and industrial


No pictures of superyacht's here, just mining and industrial equipment, that has to stand up to a lot more abuse, everyday.

Dave

[chad.lawie]

I am a professional painter, but becuase we spray, I don't have much advice that would be useful to you.

The best advice I can offer has already been mentioned, that is Prep. Spend time prepping the boat correctly. it truly is the key to a good paint job.

I think this is a great website:
Pearson Triton #381 Glissando | The Rebuilding Project
the guy guts an old boat and does a complete restoration.

[Ram]

I also use alw Grip in South Florida, and it holds up very well, after 5 years in the tropics-it still looks new, I rolled it on-The Gel Coat CAN be rolled on .
BYw I see very little personal attacks on this board with the exception of one thread that was pulled recently

[Raven]

Any of you have experience with products to clean and protect an Awlgrip finish? (Awlwash and Awlcare among them)

[Alan Wheeler]

Yep 85% of the finish is in the prep, 40% in the ability to apply the finish and 10% is in the weather. :-)

I would suggest you go to a smaller marine chandler/supply store. Someone that has a few really good guys that know what they are taliking about. Teh large marine stores simply don't have that expertese and will push you out the door with the flavour of the month.
I have worked with International/Epiglass and AltexDevoe. Both are top class paints for the DIY. Altex have just come out with a topcoat specially designed for hand application rather than spray.
I have been out of the paint side for sometime know, but when I was involved, Altex had the reputation of being top clas in Gloss and colour choice. But had a reputation of being difficult to apply. It required special attention and had to be sprayed. Although I had seen some top examples of hulls hand rolled with the product. International/Epiglass had an easier product to work with, but was very limited in colour choice. I am sure the scene has all changed now these days.
When my boat is painted at the end of the year, I am pretty sure it will be Ameron that is applied.

[unbusted67]

Is there a paint that I can buy at a regular paint store that mimics some of these really nice paints that are mostly for glossy topsides? I just need to put down a couple of coats of white on the deck of a dinghy. I hate to cut corners but do any of you know a way to?