When to start painting?

[jezjez]

Not that I couldn't spend the next few weekends in bed, but when is the optimum moment to paint the hull and varnish the woodwork. When I had a plastic boat, we slapped on anti-foul 2 weeks before launching. Is it the same for the hull as the bottom? Or should I just do it when the sun shines brightest?

 

[Poignard]

I seem to remember someone telling me:

"Not before May or after August, not before 10am or after 3pm, not when it's raining, not when the sun is shining, not when it's windy etc"

Those are my excuses for avoiding doing any.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

If you are painting hull topsides (I have the same dilemma) you need one the one hand to do it when the weather is suitable, and on the other as long in advance of launching as you can manage. The latter point arises particularly if you are launching by crane; new paint takes some time to fully cure and is quite vulnerable to damage by slings and so forth in the first few weeks. Read paint data sheets with care. My own plan is to paint the topsides as soon as there is a suitable weather window and time free to do the preparation and painting, then antifoul a couple of weeks before launching. I think part of the plan should be a mindset that says 'launch when ready' rather than 'have boat ready to launch by date x'. If you are constrained by a club craning in weekend you obviously need to work up to that if you can. Also remember that any painting and varnishing above the gunwale may be as easy or easier to do afloat as ashore.

 

[jezjez]

Thank you, ken. This is my first winter with a wooden boat.
Are you able to throw light onto the preparation, too? The white is pretty reasonable at the moment, but my wife is thinking an off-white cream might be nice.
How far back should I take the current paint job, bearing in mind I am abominably lazy.
I have to get a paint which will bind onto an existing coat if it is still in place, right, but will a quick once over with sandpaper and a couple of coats of new colour, or onoe coat of the old be enough?

 

[jezjez]

twisterowner, are you Capitan of a composite boat or just kidding?

 

[Poignard]

Compo! Thank God. A wooden coachroof and cockpit provides quite enough maintenance load for me. If it wasn't for preferring the looks of a composite Twister I would go for an all-glass one.

How people who aren't retired find time to maintain wooden hulls I don't know but they earn my respect.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

I don't think it matters much what you are painting, it's the preparation of the surface that's crucial. If the surface is in good condition you might manage with just sanding enough to remove any surface film and roughen the surface for adhesion. Bear in mind that with gloss paint irregularities in the underlying surface are more rather than less apparent so you really do get back what you put in in terms of preparation.

If the new paint is the same or similar colour to the old, one coat might be enough and you probably don't need an undercoat although using one should help the layers of paint stick together.

 

[Casey]

Hi Jezjez I hope that you are enjoying life with a wooden boat. When I changed Kala Sona from black to Blakes Pearl White I degreased, sanded down, degreased and painted with two undercoats and one top coat. For the next few years I patch painted as soon as she came out of the water and she is still in quite good condition. While she was still Black I finished, during February, about 3 pm on a fine day and the following day found that the paint had gone off but with horrible looking patches below many of the lands. The experts said that one should stop painting by 1 pm at that time of year to allow the paint to go off before the dew starts dropping.

You will drive the paint manufacturers mad if you follow their instructions exactly - your paint job will last a long time!

 

[bobstrawson]

I'm planning to start painting my wooden boat for the first time in early April. I've been given lots of interesting advice, (apart from the usual!) one recurring theme being don't use yacht paint as it's too hard and expensive, use Dulux, or similar, exterior gloss. They say it's softer and more forgiving of knocks, etc. Would any forumites care to comment? BS

 

[Gordonmc]

I intend painting the topsides this weekend... but I am in a shed. Previously I have painted in March in the open and later in the year with the boat in the water, which is OK hanging off a pontoon, apart from touching up the boot-top (masking tape isn't much good under water).
In any case preparation is the key (pun intended). Each time I use 80 grit on a random orbital sander. If planks are badly seperated fill with white lead and putty. This time they are not bad, so I just faired with fine filler.
Two coats of International primer/undercoat and a light hand-sand and I reckon she's ready for the first coat, Blakes Pearl White which I have used for the last three paint jobs.
However, the painting won't happen if there is a big temperature range this weekend. We had a few days of frost a couple of weeks ago followed by windy warm weather... every boat in the shed was dripping condensation.

Just before painting I will wipe down with a tack-rag to get rid of any fluff or dust.
It helps when painting in the open to use a drop of Owatrol oil in the paint which maintains a wet edge to allow roll 'n tipping (use a fine roller to apply the paint then tip off with a good quality brush to get rid of the orange peel effect)

There is still work to do including coachhouse carpentry but I want the topsides to have as long as possible to harden off before launch.

Ant-foul will be the last job before launch. Look at the manufacturers notes on the tin... there is often a time window for launching.

 

[lenseman]

The most important factor, I was told by a professional painter, regarding when to paint is to take into consideration the humidity (water vapour in the atmosphere).

Obviously dust comes pretty high up the list but apparently, very few people think about the humidity. In fact not many have a sling psychrometer or a hair hygrometer to measure the relative humidity.

EAST COAST FOLKLORE (When I worked on east coast fishing boats in the 50's):
"When the wind is in the East, it blows for 9 days" (meaning a settled high over the North Sea) and an east wind is a "drying wind" as it is a continental polar or continental tropical and carries far less moisture than the normal Maritime polar or Tropical.

That's my twopenny worth /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[rich]

Don't be too fussy with the finnish, as long as it looks good from 20ft away /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[KenMcCulloch]

[ QUOTE ]


EAST COAST FOLKLORE (When I worked on east coast fishing boats in the 50's):
"When the wind is in the East, it blows for 9 days" (meaning a settled high over the North Sea) and an east wind is a "drying wind" as it is a continental polar or continental tropical and carries far less moisture than the normal Maritime polar or Tropical.

That's my twopenny worth /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Here in the north east UK an east wind typically picks up loads of moisture as it drifts across the German Ocean and fills the Firth of Forth with fog or haar as we call it. We don't paint in those conditions if we can avoid it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[jezjez]

Thank you, gents.
Sometimes I wonder what I've let myself in for. I do find it less daunting each time we learn something but I don't half feel like a novice at all this maintenance.
I think I'll spend a few more weekends tucked up yet, though.