Hull paint advice needed

[Gibsonman2005]

Need advice for the best product to paint my fiberglass hull. My gut says epoxy, friend says high solids polyeurethane. I've painted cranes and tug boats w/high solids (at work) but never have seen them 3-5 years later...also, those were mostly iron surfaces unlike my fiberglass.

 

[zool]

Epoxy isn't a good choice as a topcoat, Go with a Linear Polyurethane or an Acrylic Urethane.


LPU's:

Awlgrip
Sterling
Perfection

Acrylics

Awlcraft
Concept
Fullthane

There are many others also...

 

[Gibsonman2005]

Forgive my ignorance here, but when you say top coat my mind thinks 'above the water line'
I'm concerned about the outside part that's in the water....
Are your recommendations suited for this application?
Thanks.

 

[zool]

If your boat is slip kept for the season, you would paint above the water line with poly or AU, below the water line should get an epoxy barrier coat, then an anti fouling paint.

if its trailered, then either topcoat is fine for the whole hull.

 

[produceguy]

I believe top coat refers to the final coat or color. The coat of paint on top of the base coat.

 

[Watermann]

The term is "topside" for the above the waterline paint which as zool says can be used if the boat is not kept in the water. Bottom paint for boats, sorry I don't know anything about them other than they have nasty sounding names like 'ablative'.

 

[zool]

When I was referring epoxy is not a good choice for a topcoat, I meant as a finish coat, because it has poor uv resistance, unless you get a hybrid with acrylic added. It good for a barrier coat or sealer, and is fine in bilges and other areas where direct sunlight is rare. Used as a barrier on the hull bottom, its essentially a sealer, to protect the fiberglass from absorbing moisture and causing blisters...some use a different color barrier coat than the ablative antifouling coat, so you can tell when the AF coat wears down to the barrier. .....both waterman and produceguy are correct in terminology, I was unclear, and tend to speak in paint slang

 

[Gibsonman2005]

Perfect, epoxy barrier coat it is...with a yet unselected AF as a final coating for the hull.