Hull Painting over GRP Gell coat

[wytco0]

I have spent the last few months inspecting boats, I am finding it very frustrating for a number of reasons (unrealistic price and owners not really interested in selling being the main ones) but one thing I keep coming up against is GRP boats where the hull has been painted. I know I am looking at older boats which have had a few decades of wear and knocks but personally I find painted hulls a real negative and I tend to suspect that they have been painted to cover something nasty, however I also find that they often look far worse than an honest boat with a few scrapes.

Last weekend I was looking at a decent Colvic Watson which has a few blemishes in the hull (and one large repair) but was still original and which I thought looked really nice, the owner told me he was planning to paint it. I asked why and he said it would look nice, I told him that it would put me off as a buyer.

I don’t think the Colvic owner want to sell his boat either but this got me wondering what others thing of painted hulls. I know that sometimes painting is the only option but I get the feeling that often owner slap on a coat of paint which allows them to take nice photos but when you get anywhere near the boat it looks terrible.

 

[Bobobolinsky]

There are some beautiful paint jobs, some even done by the owner.

However a plastic overcoat is the least of the worries with an older boat. If you want a really cheap boat, buy a project off Ebay and polish the hull yourself. you will find that the older boat has spider cracking, impact damage, but mostly the small dings preferred by antique dealers as the patina of age and so hated by boaters.

 

[30boat]

Painted hulls are a perfectly normal thing once the boat is over 25 or 30 years old.Gelcoat often becomes discouloured and very hard if not impossible to keep looking good.I painted mine because the hull looked horrible and I was tired of the discouloured waterline.It is a bit paranoid to think that boats are only painted to hide major repairs.

 

[lw395]

I have spent the last few months inspecting boats, I am finding it very frustrating for a number of reasons (unrealistic price and owners not really interested in selling being the main ones) but one thing I keep coming up against is GRP boats where the hull has been painted. I know I am looking at older boats which have had a few decades of wear and knocks but personally I find painted hulls a real negative and I tend to suspect that they have been painted to cover something nasty, however I also find that they often look far worse than an honest boat with a few scrapes.

Last weekend I was looking at a decent Colvic Watson which has a few blemishes in the hull (and one large repair) but was still original and which I thought looked really nice, the owner told me he was planning to paint it. I asked why and he said it would look nice, I told him that it would put me off as a buyer.

I don’t think the Colvic owner want to sell his boat either but this got me wondering what others thing of painted hulls. I know that sometimes painting is the only option but I get the feeling that often owner slap on a coat of paint which allows them to take nice photos but when you get anywhere near the boat it looks terrible.

A decent coat of paint not only looks better than worn out gelcoat, it protects the GRP from sunlight and water.
A mediocre pantjob may not look too good from 2 ft away, but viewed on the water will probably look good compared to most off-white dull gelcoats.
A well cared for gelcoat may be better than paint, but even minor repairs can look poor on an older boat due to fading.
I suspect that our impressions of a boat close up when actually sailing are more driven by the view from on deck or alongside, so the deck, cockpit and coach roof may be more important in terms of smartness than the topsides?

A good paint job would not put me off.
Also remember some older boats were moulded in some awful colours these sell much better painted white.

 

[dhippey]

A decent coat of paint not only looks better than worn out gelcoat, it protects the GRP from sunlight and water.
A mediocre pantjob may not look too good from 2 ft away, but viewed on the water will probably look good compared to most off-white dull gelcoats.
A well cared for gelcoat may be better than paint, but even minor repairs can look poor on an older boat due to fading.
I suspect that our impressions of a boat close up when actually sailing are more driven by the view from on deck or alongside, so the deck, cockpit and coach roof may be more important in terms of smartness than the topsides?

A good paint job would not put me off.
Also remember some older boats were moulded in some awful colours these sell much better painted white.

+1 from me

 

[the_branflake]

Im in the middle on this i can see positives and negatives. My current boat has been painted by the previous owner with International paint as the hull was mustard colour

Hes done a very good job of the painting it, the boat looks better / more modern. However scuffs or marks are going to require painting im not going to be able to polish them out and also im sure i'm going to have to paint it again at some point.

As has been said the paint job was good and it didn't put us off buying.

 

[Flapjack]

Our boat is 39 years old and at some point in the past she was painted and in the very very near future she will be painted again, not because I'm trying to hide anything but because I hope to keep her until either I am to old and doddery to sail or I pop my clogs and as she is my pride and joy I want her to look her best

 

[jwilson]

I have spent the last few months inspecting boats, I am finding it very frustrating for a number of reasons (unrealistic price and owners not really interested in selling being the main ones) but one thing I keep coming up against is GRP boats where the hull has been painted. I know I am looking at older boats which have had a few decades of wear and knocks but personally I find painted hulls a real negative and I tend to suspect that they have been painted to cover something nasty, however I also find that they often look far worse than an honest boat with a few scrapes.

Last weekend I was looking at a decent Colvic Watson which has a few blemishes in the hull (and one large repair) but was still original and which I thought looked really nice, the owner told me he was planning to paint it. I asked why and he said it would look nice, I told him that it would put me off as a buyer.

I don’t think the Colvic owner want to sell his boat either but this got me wondering what others thing of painted hulls. I know that sometimes painting is the only option but I get the feeling that often owner slap on a coat of paint which allows them to take nice photos but when you get anywhere near the boat it looks terrible.

Virtually all "superyachts" are painted from new. And if not from new, then very soon afterwards. A good paint job looks even better than new gelcoat, as some of the J class and other big stuff currently arriving in Falmouth demonstrate.

Paint as been good enough for yachts for at least a hundred years - why is everyone so terrified of it now?

 

[rob2]

A good paint job looks even better than new gelcoat, as some of the J class and other big stuff currently arriving in Falmouth demonstrate.

All the J class yachts are metal! Back when the original boats were racing, many of the American boats were built of cupronickel so didn't require antifouling, but I believe they still painted the topsides. British yachts were all steel, but now the replicas/new builds are being built in aluminium.

For myself, I would prefer a gelcoat in good condition, but many older boats suffer from chalking so the best option is to stabilise the surface with a paint system. Yes, I've seen many a boat which didn't bear close scrutiny - but these have been painted by owners with little or no experience of painting. In an ideal world, you'd trailer your boat into a clean dry shed and have it sprayed with a lavish number of coats of two-pack paint. Those on a more modest budget will take comfort in their less than perfect paintjob by brush/roller which is preventing the gelcoat from eroding any further whilst they get plenty of sailing in.

Rob.

 

[30boat]

Those on a more modest budget will take comfort in their less than perfect paintjob by brush/roller which is preventing the gelcoat from eroding any further whilst they get plenty of sailing in.

Rob.

That could be a description of myself...

 

[elioti]

I agree, i dont like paint on boat too much, prefer original gelcoat ideally. My Nelson 34 is 40 years old and when i got it the topsides were painted and looked rough, so scraped it all off and it didnt look too bad, why on earth did they paint it in the first place . Re -gelcoated the whole boat in the end, was alot of work, but worth it i think. I have just painted another boat the finish is no way near as nice. When i regelcoated mine, i put 5 layers on, so is alot thicker than paint. Think the the downside of paint too, will scrape off easily. I buy and sell some boats, and have seen many painted boats that put me off too. Just scraped the topsides of a boat that had lovely teak underneath, why on earth paint it!

 

[Jim@sea]

A Paintsprayer who saw one of my Brush painted jobs once said "If you have brushed that Van (Transit) I will swap my Spraygun for your Brush" The problem is that few boat people have actually seen a decent paint job done with a brush. A good hand painted job should be virtually indistinguishable from a sprayed job. I went looking to buy a boat earlier this year and could not believe some of the paint jobs which had been done on boats offered for sale. When painting a boat hull you should achieve the same sort of finish which you would expect if you were painting a vehicle. If you cant all you are going to do is devalue it.
I suppose after hand painting over 100 Vans over a 20 year period gave me the experience to achieve a quality finish. And all the Vans went into my showroom and sold. Its all down to preparation. If I was doing a boat hull now I would be inclined to hire a small compressor, fill the pot with a mixture of the top coat colour and primer and spray, then rub it down, warm the paint you are going to hand paint and try the transom. If you are hand painting 2 Pack. after 3 days you can flat any runs out with 1000's Wet and Dry. Here endeth the first lesson. Sorry. !!!

 

[Avocet]

Avocet got to about 35 years old and then the topside gelcoat started failing. Like the OP, I prefer a gelcoat to a painted finish, but in our case, the gelcoat really was at the end of its life. It was further complicated by a fairly complicated moulded cove line in a raised rubbing strake, moulded into the original hull. After a lot of deliberation, I replaced the gelcoat with epoxy and microballoons. I'm nearly ready to paint in 2-pack (if it ever stops raining)!

I think you pays your money and takes your choice really. Older boats are more likely to have gelcoats in poor condition. You either get one unpainted and try to keep the gelcoat as good as possible, or buy a painted one and keep touching the paint up. If Avocet had been a simpler shape, I might have tried to re-gelcoat, but didn't in the end.

 

[Iain C]

Because sometimes, it's just one hell of a lot easier, and looks one hell of a lot better.

Before...

After...

No one has ever said "yuk, why did you paint her" people tend to say "looks good" and I say "not bad for 40 years old now". Incidentally the coachroof gelcoat is more or less as new after a good buff, however the top sides gelcoat was just too far gone.