Best paint for topside

[shanemax]

@Refueler
Just an FYI, if you're keeping a can of Perfection for touch ups, once you've opened the 'B' part it'll be a ticking clock. The stuff is highly hygroscopic and within a few months will have turned to useless jelly.
I have thrown away far too much of this stuff over the years.

The SML paint I linked to must have a different chemical composition because it doesn't appear to do this.

Same problem with Toplac one coat. If left in a can for sometime the touch ups come out a different colour or shade of colour or at least that's what happened to me.

 

[Concerto]

Painted hulls are always a discussion point ...

My 38ft was painted professionally by yard in Sweden at request of previous owner .... they used two pack Perfection. A hard wearing paint ....

I bought the yacht and moved her to an alongside pontoon berth ... the fenders ended up stained red ... the hull ended up with worn through patches where the original white hull could be seen.

View attachment 205218

Note the fender in the far left bottom corner of photo ..... stains that I have tried everything to remove - but impossible.

View attachment 205219

Now I have a boat with a perfect port hull side and a worn patched stbd side.

It has been suggested to me to strip the hull back to its original white GRP Gel ... but despite my general dislike of Red hull boats - I have actually come to like it ... but OH the shite to get this sorted ...

The yard where she is now has the unenviable job of sorting it ... they offered to use a Dutch Brand of two part that they have used for years ... but then found being Two Part similar to Perfection - sale and use was restricted. They looked at car Paints and then the hard lavquer top coat ... we discussed Toplac ... but its softness will mean a shorter life than Perfection.

The discussion revolves around factors :

1. What paint to use that is hard wearing and suited to the environment.
2. Stripping back to white Gel - the transom which has large TORO Yard lettering ... and then completely painting in Red - before applying the Vinyl lettering.
3. Leaving port side alone except for the slight nicks made by some twat who berthed near me just before moving boat to yard for lift out.
4. Blending in patched paint on stbd side - I do have a small tin of Prefection for touch ups.
5. Or a complete stbd side paint job
6. Or a complete hull repaint job ...


Sorry if the post steps outside of OP's thread - but I think it relevant as maybe OP has similar factors etc to think about ? For me as having surveyed many yachts in the past - painting of a hull is a two edged sword ... can be beautiful - but few years down the line or LESS - can bite hard .... consider the probable costs I am looking at for this 38ft boat ... and I know that I will only get a few years if lucky before needing re-sorting.

Its still in discussion as Yard looks at possible solutions.

As vyv cox stated, paint will never be as hard as gel coat. As to removing paint from gel coat, when I bought Concerto she had a red painted transom. It took me 4 days to sand through 5 different colours of red paint and then compound the gel coat back to a high shine. Strange that everyone told me just to paint it white, but when they saw the results everyone agreed I was right and they were wrong.

 

[Refueler]

Same problem with Toplac one coat. If left in a can for sometime the touch ups come out a different colour or shade of colour or at least that's what happened to me.

That would be environmental effects on the paintwork ? Its same when you have a car acident repaired ... the repair guys have to match the paint due to the car's paint having been subject to environment.

 

[Minerva]

About 3/4 years ago I went to see a boat for sale in the later summer or early autumn. The broker proudly told me that in the spring of the same year, the owner had the boat professionally sprays in the marinas yard at considerable cost. By the time I saw the boat, the hull was already badly scratched by the fenders. Ouch! I walked away.

The only time I’d have a painted boat is if it was / when I satisfy the urge to own a steel boat. Then it will be a work boat painting applied every other year and embrace it though painting a different color scheme each time.

 

[Refueler]

Pal of mine decided to0 sort his faded dull white Gel .... talked to me about and I recc'd a good light sanding - then a polishing to bring back the gloss .... but that is hard work.

Next I heard - he had got hold of Industrial grade paint through the Fishing Harbour Yard ..... and had painted the boat.

I asked what Brand .. he didn't know ! They just gave him a container of it.

I went down to see it and she looked good. 2yrs on and its still reasonably good - better than I expected actually. Remains to be seen how long before its up for recoat.

 

[rib]

Few years ago (4 ish ) I had my teak decks replaced here in Turkey..after which the tracks ,cleats,fairlead, etc looked a bit sorry for them selves ,so I aventually found some one in izmir to re anodised them ,was sent pictures as he went thru each stage ,unfortunately they did not turn out very well .in my hurry to get back cruising I applied one coat of twopack poly silver metallic.no under coat (did a test piece first hitting it with a hammer after it had harden and trying to scratch it with a screw driver )it had before painting a rough ish finish to it from the anodising. It still looks great ..I'm a liveaboard cruiser sailing at least 9 months a year .(I'm currently out now cruising near kas )on my last attempt to bring the bloomed dark green gell back to life I rubbed my 41 footer down by my self with 240 grit.320 .400.600.800.1000.1200.course compound.fine compound. And then the polishing ..took a lot of effort and time .looked great ....for 6 months .. since painting I have so far washed and polished ...I do use a fender blanket when needed.painting by roller and doing all the work my self was so much easier .my boat had been re gelled by guys from pendenis ship yard 12/14 years before ..med sun is cruel..I must add I had a specialist paint company 30 odd years ago ..but now so out of date on modern paints ..all my paint used was from Turkey own brand

 

[lustyd]

Paint so will be running down and cleaning first

Before you start, get some "Grunt" from Force4/Marinesuperstore/Amazon and a 4" paintbrush. Paint it on liberally to the whole lot and wait 20 minutes before washing off. It should get most of the stains out with no work at all.

 

[lustyd]

Strange that everyone told me just to paint it white, but when they saw the results everyone agreed I was right and they were wrong.

To be fair, you put considerably more effort in that most people would be willing to. I doubt many of us would have persevered to such a finish so while you were right about it being a better finish, I don't agree most would achieve that result so I don't consider the advice "wrong".

 

[greeny]

Have you thought of a vinyl wrap system. Never done it but have seen a couple done and didn't look half bad. Price wise I have no idea.

 

[Sea Change]

Have you thought of a vinyl wrap system. Never done it but have seen a couple done and didn't look half bad. Price wise I have no idea.

Once your fenders rub through, a vinyl wrap looks pretty bad.

 

[Concerto]

Have you thought of a vinyl wrap system. Never done it but have seen a couple done and didn't look half bad. Price wise I have no idea.

A lot of charter boats are vinyl wrapped to minimise the surface damage to the hull by charterers. The vinyl is removed before leaving the charter fleet and is easier than trying to remove lots of vinyl lettering, which can change the gel coat surface.