Painting advice needed.

[Hushinish]

I have a red GRP 24ft yacht 15 years old, never launched. The Gell coat is intact, but much discoloured, I've tried wet and dry then repolishing sections, but to restore original colour would mean removing too much gell coat. I don't like the colour, Osmosis is a concern, so I have decided to paint the hull and decks. I have visited the International and Blakes sites, but it seems complicated. So my questions are as follows.

1. Using say International's Gelshield 200 as a first layer anti osmosis treatment of 5 coats, do I coat the entire hull? or just below the waterline?

2. Assuming the gelshield serves as the primer, how many coats of undercoat and then 2 pack 'perfection' do I apply?

3. I want to paint the hull dark blue, in everyone's opinion what is the the most suitable deck colour to match, cream? In what order do I paint anti foul, waterline etc? Would it look ok if I keep an exposed area of hull (red) as the waterline?

4. Might use blakes broads antifoul, my sailing will be mainly Windermere, plus some coastal. comments



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[ccscott49]

1) gelshiled is normally used below the waterline, in many coats, as osmosis treatment.
2) Two undercoat, flatted, then two or three topcoat, follow internationals instructions. For the bottom, gelshield etc, then epoxy antifoul primer and antifoul
3) Matter of taste, but I like cream.
4) Blakes broads would be ideal.
All IMHO

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[Strathglass]

Start point by point.

My 33 ft red hull has also never been launched. The bloom will not polish out. So I am also faced with painting.

Gelshield 200 is not the best stuff to use. It is not solvent free, but it is quite easy to use. International Gelshield (without the 200 number). Or the Blades anti-osmosis treatment. I have purchased the Blades stuff.

Coat it to just above the waterline. Make sure that you put the bonding coat on top of the anti osmosis coats within the required time. Read the instructions carefully otherwise your antifouling will not stay on.

If your hull is in perfect condition then it is possible to apply Perfection directly to the gelcoat if it has been properly degreased and sanded with wet and dry. Because of your proposed dramatic change of colour you will need 'undercoat for Perfection' on the hull first. Certainly no more than two coats of undercoat.

I would do the painting in this order
Anti osmosis to hull, antifouling primer to hull, Paint topsides, apply antifouling, Paint deck.

I would not leave a line of the original gellcoat near the waterline. This is inviting osmosis.

Cream sounds a good colour for the deck.

When I paint the hull I will be using the same colour as the original gelcoat. Thus any dings or scratches will not show up too much.

I was originally going to respray the hull Maritous Blue and even bought International professional paint and all the thinners, accelerators etc. but have changed my mind. (I do have all the equipment and experience to spray the hull)

If you are sailing both in freshwater and at sea you should use a saltwater antifouling and any anodes should be for sea water. Changing from salt to fresh water will effectively clean the hull.

This is a very brief summery of what you need to do. It would take many pages to cover everything. For example the keel will require different treatment.

It is quite a big task to repaint a boat and should not be taken on lightly.

Best of luck

Iain



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[Hushinish]

Thank you, Great advice in plain English! Hmm, Iain, so you have a quantity of Maritous Blue paint to dispose of ??? PM me if you are interested in parting with some!

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[Shanty]

Useful rule of thumb: Every litre of paint used requires four litres of sweat to be applied first. The quality of job you do depends mainly on the amount of time & effort you put into preparing the surface, and rubbing down between coats. Actually getting to apply the paint is the treat after all the hard work. Good luck.


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