Help with what paint products for fiberglass boat

[63BigTwin40]

Hi,
I'm almost done sanding my old sport lido fiberglass boat and want to put some paint on her myself, but do not know what paint products I should use.

I'm not against getting a spray gun and going that route, but also not against rolling it on. This is an old boat I use to fish with, and in no way does it need to look perfect.

My questions are, can I use one primer for top and bottom? Same question for the paint, do I need to use a topside and bottom paint or can I use just one kind?

What's up with thinners? Do I need it too?

What about a custom color? Is that possible and if so, is it cost prohibitive?

Thanks in advance, Josh

 

[redfury]

Re: Help with what paint products for fiberglass boat

Well, it really depends on what you plan to budget for paint as to what you do. Good paint for boats isn't cheap. You can easily spend $200/gal on paint.

If you trailer your boat, don't bother with bottom side paint or Ablative, which is the type that keeps the slime from growing on the boat. If it sits in the water for weeks on end, then you may want to consider it, but you basically just have to wash the boat with a good cleaner to get rid of the scum.

Buy a good topside paint and use the roll and tip method. For one, you don't have to worry about masking off an area to keep paint from getting on everything, you just have to worry about everything getting on your paint

Secondly, you don't have to worry about a water seperator and a compressor large enough to spray it, nor worry about junk spray equipment and poor spray patterns, not to mention the overspray and runs.

Thirdly, the roll and tip method seems to produce really nice results, you can work at your own pace, and all it really requires you to do as far as the paint goes is to reduce it so it will flow properly when you tip it with the brush. I plan to paint my project boat this way. The bigger reason being that spraying paint under the boat will be way to awkward and I want to make sure I get plenty of paint thickness under there, also, I've decided on a red/white paint scheme, I think it will be easier to accomplish this.

Custom colors...probably going to cost you a decent amount more...I can't attest to that, but there are a lot of colors you can buy right off the shelf or from a dealer. Look at the new boats and find a color you like, find the color code from the manufacturer and go pick it up.

 

[Grits]

Re: Help with what paint products for fiberglass boat

RedFury has a lot of good points.

If you spray, you will need a pretty hefty compressor. Cheap gun do not produce good results and may not work. There is nothing worse that catalyzing $200 worth of paint and having the gun quite half way through the job. If you had spray equipment, I would put in my two cents; however, you have already been pointed in a very good direction.

FYI-Just my opinion, you do not have to spend three or four hundred dollars for a decent spray gun. You can buy something in the one hundred dollar range that will work fine for most projects that you do occasionally. Again, in my opinion, I would not want a thirty dollar gun. Sharpe makes guns, in the US, in the one hundred that work well. I have used them with good results. Your comressor needs are a whole different stroy.

Grits

 

[63BigTwin40]

Re: Help with what paint products for fiberglass boat

Thanks for the responses. redfury that looks like quite a project you have going on there. I want to use a P40 paint scheme with the tiger shark. That is the reason for a custom color. You have convinced me to use the roll method. I will be fiber glassing the floor a few other areas today.

Here is a pic of the subject. With the 40hp BigTwin, she really flys! I dub her the "Lido Torpedo".

(pic shows her with just my trolling motor)