Guide me in painting

[tgalea]

Hi all.

Just finished painting the deck on my boat as part of this winter's refurbishment.

My problem is that now i desperately need to paint the sides and would like to spray paint them.

Some friends have mentioned literally spraying her with a normal car paint. Others mentioned complicated "two-packs".

Please help. I'd like to do a good job but at the same time something reasonable for a DIY guy.

This is my first time so please help me out here.

Thanks in advance and regards.
Tyrone

 

[dah]

I have a Centaur (26ft) and painted the hull (donegal green) using International TOPLAC paint. This goes on like any normal houshold type paint. The secret really is in the preparation. I sanded the old paint using a fine grade wet/dry sandpaper, then applied the first coat using a small foam roller to put the paint on ( in approx 3ft wide strips) and then went over with a good quality, largish brush to lay off. Gave that a couple of days to dry, gave another fine sanding and painting (again using roller/brush and to be honest the result was really rather good. That was some 5 years ago and the hull still looks good. Check the Inernational web site art www.yachtpaint.com - lots of good tips and hints. I have heard the the latest paint called Brightsides is rather good and is teflon based. Hope this helps.
Dave H

 

[Joe_Cole]

Two pack car paints are much more durable than the single pack paints and, when properly applied, can give a fantastic finish. Most of them are polyurethane based and will be similar to the 2 pack boating paints from Blakes, International etc. I suspect that they have all been "tweaked" to give the best performance for the particular application (brush/spray, boat/car, hot/cold temperature etc) but they will be broadly similar. They will be more expensive than single packs. Last year it cost me nearly £60 for the different primers, thinners, topcoats etc (Blakes)just to paint a rudder! Yes I did go a bit over the top, yes there was a little paint left over, but I was really pleased with the result. If you are spending that much money I would check with the manufacturer before you use car paint on a boat. They'll probably run a mile! FWIW I'ld stick to using a boat paint

I don't know if you have any experience of spray painting but, if you haven't, I would caution against making a boat your first job. You'll be dissappointed, unless you are very lucky indeed. Stick to the brush and roller as suggested in the last posting.

Finally, if you do spray a two pack material then take great care with the Health and Safety side. Most of them will recommend quite sophisticated breathing equipment because there's some nasty chemicals which, in spray form, you definitely do not want to breath in.

Good luck

Joe

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Tyrone,

Two pack polyurethane is not a complicated paint, just a mix of part A and B, add a drop of thinner and let it stand for 10 minutes before spraying.

Look for one with a high solids content, and long chain polymers, this will cover small imperfections better and give a fantastic finish.

Polyurethane paints dry to a very hard and very high gloss finish, they last many years and are easy to keep clean.

Start with a couple of very light coats then go for the finish or top coat. The paint should be dry by the time you have been around the boat once, so spraying does not take long.

If you are not confident about doing it yourself, get a pro in, the trick here is to have the whole thing set up so the walks in, sprays, and leaves: this should take perhaps an hour all up, so not a great expense.

I hope this helps

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