Painting the hull

[pcatterall]

Well, the old girl is looking really shabby now; time to think of a paint job.
The original gell coat has been painted white by a previous owner, using what I guess was an emulsion paint roller!!
I have commenced rubbing this down to produce a flat surface without orange peel effect or roller pin holes.
In some areas this means that the gell coat is exposed but for the majority of the hull the paint is still on (and sound)
Bearing in mind that I want to produce a presentable appearance rather than concours how do I proceed?
My instinct is some kind of primer/undercoat and then a couple of coats of 'toplac'?
Concerning application and bearing in mind that I am 'handy' but not a skilled painter what is the best way to proceed/ can one person roller or brush on folled by someone tipping off with a brush or one of those foam thingies.
Or should I buy loads of drinks for the clubs 'resident' painter!!
Thanks for any advice ('Old Ozz' dont worry I will not be working in over 40 degrees (centigrade that is))

 

[petethetreat]

I recently repainted with International Perfection 2 coats of undercoat and 2 of top coat. Looks fantastic but was hard work and it dries so quickly there's no stopping for tea!

 

[Lizzie_B]

We did ours in April this year. We used Pettits Easypoxy - two coats of Pettits undercoat and two of their Easypoxy gloss.

It lived up to it's name, was very easy with two people (both untrained) one with roller and one following immediately with brush.

Found important tips were,
1. Do not over thin - we used very little thinner and on the hottest day didn't thin at all. - if you over thin it will run about five minutes after you apply it. The only remedy is to wait for it to dry and sand it back.
2. Apply it really quickly without trying to be too fussy and the blemishes vanish as it dries. The best coat we did was when we were going like stink in order to get done before the light failed
BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gifPlease indulge my pix, I was obviously pleased with the job /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Materials, including paints, rollers, brushes and everything down to protective gloves and masks came to about £750, most of which was for sanding materials to get the old blue paint off (including 2 orbital sanders) and very good quality brushes - the better the quality of the brushes the quicker and better the painting - really the one area not to skimp.

 

[Evadne]

As you might guess, this has been covered a few times before so if you want to read lots of opinions, the search engine (or google) will throw up a lot of them using your post header.
I have used toplac on grp for many years. It will last me 5 years before repainting, although if you're more fussy 3 will be more realistic. It goes on easily and can be touched up if necessary. Eventually (on my mooring) it starts to absorb the yellow pigment from the surrounding mud and needs rubbing down and a further two coats put on. I also clean the hull and polish with "Mer" each spring.
This autumn, the touched up bits from the spring are looking pristine white against a yellow background around the waterline. Although I confess it needed scotchbrite to clean the yellowing off the old paint last spring. Methinks a degrease, rub down and a single coat of toplac is in order.

Regarding application, Toplac has a great gloss and seems to self flatten to a certain extent. As with all paints the meticulous cleaning and rubbing down before the first coat is 90% of the way to a good job. If you can paint a skirting board you can paint a yacht.

 

[bigwow]

Painted BigWow this summer, used Interthane, a polyurethane 2 pack. After preparation I used good quality foam rollers to apply. Hard work but worth it,.

 

[KeithH]

International Perfection is very good - but, as already been said, the two pack epoxy system does not allow much time for relaxation. You have to be organised to avoid dry edges when you get back to where you started. The other problem is that 2 pack epoxy systems use rather powerful solvents - which are OK with overcoating gel coats and epoxy finishes, but may cause problems with the paint you already have on top of the gel coat. If it causes that old paint to lift, then you are in deep do-do's. I suppose a trial painting could be done on a bit which wont show, though the system is expensive if it has to be scrapped.

A safer option would be Toplac, which is an alkyd paint, so uses "kinder" solvents. You can always test compatability with that paint by testing the old finish with a wipe of white spirit.

hope that helps

 

[26ft_bathtub]

That's a great paint job, Mark. I thought it was gelcoat.

 

[essexboy]

I had mine done last year, they used 1 undercoat, 1 coat 50/50 mix, 1 coat toplac, roller / pad. Looks v.nice imho

 

[Roach1948]

Well I have done the undercoat this August with International Primer and B&Q sponge roller heads - I am waiting for next spring to do the topcoats. I found the sponge roller heads useless (leaving a very dappled surface and needing a lot of tipping off). I found the artificial woolen types much better - but still not brilliant. Apologies for mildly hi-jacking the thread, but what sort of roller heads have others used with such ease?

 

[Lizzie_B]

And it's a simple to use one pack - very temperature tolerant /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Lizzie_B]

I used ones specifically for HI-Gloss finish, will try and find out the make. They cost a little bit extra but were well worth it.

 

[Lizzie_B]

Just to clarify, Easypoxy (in spite of its name) is a one pack, straight from tin useage , might need a little thinning depending on temperature.
On our 38footer one coat took about an hour or so and then we had 16 hours for relaxation.
Heartily agree well prepared surface is the key to it all. Liberal use of sanding discs and tack cloths.
It also helps to have enough scaffolding that you can paint straight through one side /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[bigwow]

B&Q rollers, about £4 for 10, are useless I agree, you need the closer grained sponge rollers, they cost about £1 each and leave no marks.

 

[sjchilde]

I used expensive roller heads from a chandler and a lot of the fluff came off and stuck in the paint. I was able to polish it away but you can tell. And I did it on a hot day so thinned the paint as directed, wished I hadn't cos it wanted to run. But the finished job is ok and the paint is as hard as iron. Int. 2-pack.