Paint.. go premium, or go cheap ?

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StefanSG

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I am getting round to painting the decks of my 50 yr old catamaran, its all in a pretty rough state with bodged repairs, crappy old paint bodge, which I hope to smooth over, and various fibreglass repairs (hatches changed etc) - I want to have a nice looking finish of course, and I'm no expert but I'm prepared to put in the prep, and I was hoping that something like the International Super Gloss HS would give a nice hardwearing finish with a roller. But its very expensive, and I have a big area to cover (34 sq M of deck), is it money well spent or could I get a decent finish from something like the SML paints, which I've seen recommended here before ? Bear in mind, under the top coat is 2 pack epoxy primer, 2 part Polyurethane undercoat, which in the International ecosystem all adds up !
 
You have to ask yourself what value you get from a nice finish other than pride of ownership. Some people go for cheap and cheerful and go sailing, others strive for perfection which is difficult costly and long winded. It's down to you.
 
The prep you’ll have to do is pretty much the same which ever paint you use as top coat, to get a decent finish. I’ve used Wickes high gloss paint with great results. I redid my deck anti slip using cheap floor paint and abrasive granules, very good. I’ve also used SML and Teamac, both very good quality. I tried International, terrible to work with . All the above are single pack, alkyd paints. Good prep and good weather, plus patience and a little skill achieves an acceptable job. Deck is the worst bit to do, hull is easy.
 
I use external House Wall paint .... Sandtex ... Snowcem ...... whatever local DIY shop sells. They mix it to colour I want. Its water based .... goes on easy .... to have a lasting surface - it will need multiple coats.

I used to use International ... Jotun .... but decided cost was not justified and fed up with its less easy application.

PBO some years ago did a test at a Boat Show ... they painted sections of walkway to their stand with different incl. Sandtex ... surprising results.
 
Boathook said:
My decks are painted with textured masonry paint. All the blurb says that it is acrylic resin. Non slip is good and seems to last well and easy to apply. As per other comments preparation is the key. I spend more time masking areas than I do painting.
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Things I like about Masonry paint :

1. Price .....
2. Water based and very easy to apply
3. Very good non-slip but very kind on bare feet
4. Any colour / shade you like - shop mixes to your request.
5. Did I say Price ??

And one fact that I think many do not think about ..... Because its not as hard wearing as 'Deck Paint' - it does not build up layer on layer over the years .... with all those pits and divots ..... If you need to reduce it down - its far easier than any Marine Deck Paint.

My boat with Masonry paint deck ... this is after a few months of use ....

S6oYMHB.jpg
 
StefanSG said:
I am getting round to painting the decks of my 50 yr old catamaran, its all in a pretty rough state with bodged repairs, crappy old paint bodge, which I hope to smooth over, and various fibreglass repairs (hatches changed etc) - I want to have a nice looking finish of course, and I'm no expert but I'm prepared to put in the prep, and I was hoping that something like the International Super Gloss HS would give a nice hardwearing finish with a roller. But its very expensive, and I have a big area to cover (34 sq M of deck), is it money well spent or could I get a decent finish from something like the SML paints, which I've seen recommended here before ? Bear in mind, under the top coat is 2 pack epoxy primer, 2 part Polyurethane undercoat, which in the International ecosystem all adds up !
Click to expand...
Two pack paint will last far longer than single pack paints. We rollered the hull on our last boat with several layers of Jotun paint and polished it flat. Big job but looked good for a very long time.
 
Most of the 'cost' of any paint job is in the preparation though much depends on how you value your time and effort. If you are going to put in time and effort then its worth spending the money on decent paint - designed for the application. You don't need to buying the most expensive you can find - but consider buying near top of the range rather than the bottom AND follow the instructions (they are there for a reason :) ). I concur with Geem on 2 pack paint. Most of the well known surface coating companies have an international market coverage - because they are well accepted - International, Hempel, Jotun, .....

Jonathan

Catamaran owners are a very small and select group here - just out of interest what is yours?
 
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Neeves said:
Most of the 'cost' of any paint job is in the preparation though much depends on how you value your time and effort. If you are going to put in time and effort then its worth spending the money on decent paint - designed for the application. You don't need to buying the most expensive you can find - but consider buying near top of the range rather than the bottom AND follow the instructions (they are there for a reason :) ). I concur with Geem on 2 pack paint. Most of the well known surface coating companies have an international market coverage - because they are well accepted - International, Hempel, Jotun, .....

Jonathan

Catamaran owners are a very small and select group here - just out of interest what is yours?
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This may be of interest to you ...

International / Hempels / Jotun etc. produce deck paints primarily designed for ships use ... for yachts - often adding Yacht word to label.
Due to the huge volume needed to paint ships decks .... example : one ship I was on - I had to order 1200 lts just to 'tart up' the deck before a visit by Office staff. The volumes involved have created a common practice on todays ships :

Roped of walkways .... where a contrast colour applied ...

uz5Ma4pl.jpg


Why ? To reduce wear and tear on overall deck ... with reduced crew numbers / increased costs ....... to try keep maintenance 'contained'.

Some companys reverted to 'Chlorinated Rubber' based paint .... till paint manufacturers caught on and made it harder to order ...

On one 320,000 ton tanker I was on ... (Shell) agreed to trial a new deck paint based on 'ceramics' .... it was like concrete and could only be applied by special gear in dock. We all hated it ... only one colour ... off-white. Standing on bridge - the sun and heat reflected of it and we all suffered headaches. Paint company's solution ? Paint deck from accom block fwd for about 25m ... with normal Shell's Brunswick Green deck paint.
That ceramic paint was still on those ships day were scrapped ...
 
westernman said:
The preparation is a pain, takes a lot of time and you will get through a large number of sanding disks etc etc.
I.e. it has a cost in addition to your own time and effort.

After all that effort, I would not economise on the quality of paint.
Click to expand...

The expression you were looking for is penny wise pound foolish.
 
Baddox said:
I’ve not painted a deck before but would be concerned that a high gloss finish would be slippery when wet. Others who have tried it will be better placed to advise.
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One of the problems of painting a moulded non slip deck is that the paint runs off the pimples and lies in the dimples (if that makes sense). The paint reduces the original non slip and the new paint, a second coat, increasingly smooths off the finish. I don't know the answer, more viscosity, more thixotropic additives in the paint? or scatter non slip granules over the drying paint. If you are doing the latter then painting the whole deck with one coat. Mask off the existing non slip panels, paint the non slip panels and scatter non slip on top (I've heard coarse salt also gives a good rough surface). It is difficult to scatter anything on the deck and get it even, based on my experience. There are a number of tricks needed to get painted decks right - I'd start new threads on each of the problems - once you have decided which paint etc you are going to use. I have never painted anything as large as a catamaran deck - it in itself offers problems as you cannot paint wet on wet, unless you split it up into manageable, reachable, sections. If you get it wrong - painting over non slip you have applied will reduce the effectiveness of the non slip - and you will need to add more non slip.

Painting with a 2 pack is a summer task - you do not have much of summer left. :(. Once the temperatures cool you need to wait till the dew has evaporated and this curtails the length of your working day. Painting is also a 2 person task - one to lay down the paint, one to tip off.

You need to be well organised.

Jonathan
 
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