Painting topsides

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samwise

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kalessin-of-orwell.blogspot.com
I need to do something about our topsides this season. The gelcoat has gone chalky and gets grubby very quickly. I have tried cutting it back and applying protective polish but it is no long term solution. I have since discovered that the previous owner had a friend who "helped" clean down the boat about a year ago with an over-enthusiastic session with a power washer.
I would like to re-paint for this season ( when the weather gets warmer). International Toplac seems to be getting a good press. Anyone with any experience? Could a fairly proficient amateur achieve a good result ? All suggestions welcome.
 
G,day Samwise,

The 2 pot Polyurethane will give you long lasting finish and, If you plan to spray her yourself, you will almost certainly get a better finish.

Hope this helps, Oh, and please fill in your profile, it will help us answer your questions a little better if we know what sort of vessel is involved.

Avagoodweekend Old Salt Oz /forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
International Toplac is very user friendly and will produce a first class finish. International also produce an excellent brochure covering all their products available from all their stockists. Remember that once you paint your topsides going back is not easy. Have you tried useing fine grade wet and dry paper to rub them down before useing cutting compound and polish. A very good sealing polish to use is an Americian product called Big White easy to use and gives a first class finish used extensively in my neck of the woods by the the boat cleaners, properly applied I get a seasion out of it.
 
Used Toplac last year to repaint our boat - It does give an acceptable finish when using roller to apply and brush to lay off - its not as good as spraying close up but once on the water it looks great.

Preparation is vital - and takes ages unless you have access to an air sander to get a good key on the gel coat.

We got best results by thinning the Toplac with Owatrol but the correct International thinner was OK (we were working inside in a resin shop at c 20degC). Providing there are no paint nibs to remove Scotch brite pads are far better than fine grade wet and dry to flat off between coats.
 
Toplac

A friend of mine painted his boat with Toplac spring 1999. The result was surprisingly good despite he was doing it by hand with a brush, and in less than ideal temperatures.

But, now, less than 4 years later the colour is fading considerably and the finish getting dull, despite his efforts to polish!
So, now he´s facing redoing this tremendeous job again - or keeping the boat as she is - back to square one.
I´ve seen him happier!

On the other hand, I´ve seen 2-pot polyurethane lasting more than 10 years and it is considerable more wear resistant.

So when I resprayed my boat last summer there was no discussion - 2-pot polyurethane it was!

The preparation work is the same regardless of paint type, and it´s an awful lot of work!
It took me and my wife almost 3 weeks of continious work, 7 days a week, 10 + hours a day to prepare the hull for respraying.
But the result is perfect, she looks like she came from the yard a week ago.

Even the thought doing this again in 4-5 years time makes me sick. So go for the best paint you can get! And don´t spoil a perfect preparation job by painting by hand, get a professional sprayer, at least in Sweden it was surprisingly cheap.

So my conclusion is, that Toplac might be a good choice for acheiving good results in the short term, or on a small boat where the effort to prepare and repaint is not too big.
But a 2 pot polyurethane is the ultimate choice.
 
If you have no experience of spraying do not even consider doing it
yourself, It will end up as a disaster, far better IMHO to use roller/
brush combination,
mike
 
Re: Toplac

Agree with that. I'll just stick to one manufacturers products (International) but, in my opinion, this applies to the products from all paint suppliers.

Interlux super - easy to apply conventional marine paint. Application by roller/ pad/ brush . A nice finish when first applied requires several coats and has a fairly soft surface which scratches easily. Fine for wooden boats which flex. Damage can easily be touched up. After two or three seasons will look quite scruffy. Looks great for the first season.

Toplac - A more advanced paint similar to interlux super. It has better gloss, easier to apply and will give between two and five years life depending on how the boat is treated.

Perfection - A two part polyurethene paint.
A less tolerant paint when applying.
This cannot be used directly over super or toplac. If you try it over the wrong paint you just lift the old paint and produces a surface full of wrinkles.
It also requires a higher minimum temperature for application.

It has however a much harder surface, is much longer lasting and has a much better gloss WHEN PROPERLY APPLIED.

It can be applied by roller/pad/brush and needs two people to
apply. With care a very good finish can be obtained. The finish and gloss will well outlast either toplac or interlux. It can also be burnished if necessary.

You can also spray two part paint for the ultimate finish.

BUT.

The fumes are extremely toxic.
You MUST use a seperate air fed mask. A clip on mask is a waste of time.
Spectators are not advised.

Having said that, when everything is set up properly. The paint is drying almost as soon as it is applied and if there is a gantry at the correct height then another coat can be applied as soon as the original start point is reached. All the topside can easily be sprayed several coats in a very short time.

You obviously have to budget for spraying thinners and perhaps some other addatives to get the viscosity and drying times of the paint right for spraying.

If I were going to do it myself I would use a 1.2 nozzle, about 60 psi from the spray gun compressor and use an entirely seperate compressor with it's air intake well away from the boat to feed the face mask. I would also wear a one piece suit, gloves and a scarf.

There are other and even better two part paints than perfection which are used for spraying professionally. Those are marketed by various companies.
 
a word of caution

i've used toplac and 2-pack. the former is good but nothing like as tough as 2-pack.

if you opt for 2-pack, best to use roller/brush for safety and economy. it's vital to keep 2-pack completely dry until fully cured, min 24 hours. if it gets damp with dew it will go chalky in a few months.
 
Our boat was painted with Toplac for the same reason as you are intending to paint. It looks well for a while, but we find the finish dulls and rubs off onto the fenders.

Tried the two pack system last Spring for the water line and rudder and after a year in the Med those bits look brilliant.

We applied with a very short mohair type roller and even now you feel as though you can put your hand into the shine. As it is so much cheaper over here we are doing complete topsides by roller as we are positive result will be better than Toplac, and definately a lot tougher


Phil
 
I've used Toplac for the last 3 years, over preKote undercoat. I've used a roller to apply, and a foam (nanny?) pad on a stick to lay it off. Gives an excellent finish. However, I've been disappointed with the durability of Toplac, and I'm thinking of trying Brightside this year (single pack polyurethane, International), as I don't want to strip right back to primer (steel boat) to enable use of 2 pack pu. What's the verdict on 1 pack pu's?
 
In the past I have found it has been very difficult to get one part polyurertene varnishes to bond on properly. Water has tended to get under the edges.

Perhaps Brightside will be better in that respect. Too new to really know.

Much the same with any relatively new product. I have just won a tin of UNO antifouling but dont know whether to try it or not.

Iain
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. It looks as if the Toplac option is essentially a short term fix, so I think I'll investigate the two pack option. As one poster mentioned, the International leaflets are very helpful.
The big question remains. Two pack application is a two person job, who applies and who lays off -- me or the wife?
 
> As it is so much cheaper over here we are doing
> complete topsides by roller

As this will be a d.i.y. job I assume, what element of the job is cheaper - the paint?
 
Watch out!

We tried, my wife and I to paint our hull by hand with Hempels Polybest 2-pot polyurethane. My wife applied the paint and I laid it off - or rather, tried to do that.
Despite perfect ambient and surface temperature (appr 22 degrees), low humidity, right amount of thinner, everything by the book, it turned out to be a catastrophe!

The paint settled so fast that there was no chance at all to maintain a wet edge, at least not on our yacht with high freeboards.
So, after doing about 3 metres of boat lenght we realized that the only thing to do was to throw away the mixed paint, wait for the painted area to harden, sand it down again and call for a professional sprayer!

The finish we had acheived reminded us more of tarmac than of the topsides of a yacht!

The guy with the spray gun arrived about 12 one day, got his compressor up, and started to spray the primer/undercoat one hour later. Two coats of primer, without any pausing, then one hour drying for the primer, then 2 coats of of topcoat, again without a pause between the two coats. He was away before 5 o´clock, and the cost was less than £ 200.- + paint, and the results were stunning!

So I would never, ever, even consider painting by hand again!

So, before you do a serious attempt to paint 2-pot by hand, do at least some trials too see if you can manage, and if you find the result satisfactory - we didn´t - resulting in lots of frustation and extra costs.
 
Sorry Jono, I should be more precise. Yes the paint retails in paint shops in Valencia and Barcelona for £12 as opposed to £28 for the same brand in a Suffolk marina.

Phil
 
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