Painting a Fiberglass Houseboat

[coalminerswife]

We are getting ready to sign on the dotted line for a 1990 Gibson 12x36 houseboat with a fiberglass hull. My husband wants to paint the bottom of the hull. It's not in bad shape; it just doesn't look pretty. What kind of paint do you use for this kind of job? The boat will be kept on the lake through the summer, and on the trailer through the winter. It's the smaller boat on the right hand side of the photo.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Congratulations on the boat admiral (the iBoats forums semiofficial title for the captain’s better half) J
What you guys are looking for is called bottom paint. It is specially formulated paint designed to release very – very – small amounts of toxic substance around the hull to prevent marine growth.
Since you boat is painted before, unfortunately it is not going to be as simple as recommending a product name for you guys. Bottom paints belongs to different categories and some are not compatible with the others. So, unless you are willing to sand down back to fiber glass and start over, you most likely have to use the same kind of paint you have now or some other class of paint that is compatible with it.
This article is a very good read and the video in it is also worth watching

http://www.***************/WestAdviso...ottom-Painting

EDIT: The URL was masked out after I posted it. Seems to be a forum rule. Just google "West marine Do-It-Yourself bottom paint". It should come as the first link from west marine website.

I would start by asking the previous owner what type of paint he used before and with help of the info in the article above, you can decide on your next steps. Any questions, ask away
Best of luck to you and yours

 

[coalminerswife]

Thank you. I'm pretty sure the previous owner did not paint it. It was already done before she bought it. What about the blue stripes at the top? What would you paint those with?

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Hard to say if it is a paint or gel coat from the picture. If I am blindly guessing, I would say it looks like an oxidized gel coat. Do you know? One way to tell is to wet a Q-tip with acetone and wipe gently in a hidden area. If it is a paint, you will see the color in the q-tip. Gel coat is hardened resin and will not be removed or soften by acetone.

Each substance has different procedure to follow, please test and let us know what are we dealing with. By the way, bottom paint is not designed to last forever. The repainted frequency will var by the paint type from 1 to few seasons. Some paints are designed to wear out and reveal the primer color underneath as a sign of reprinting time. If the previous owner had the boat for few seasons and she never repainted it, she overlooked a required maintenance.

 

[Bondo]

What about the blue stripes at the top? What would you paint those with?

Ayuh,.... I've got a 34' Nautiline, I'm slowly paintin' the topsides with Rustoleum enamel on the vertical surfaces, 'n nicely colored rubbery bedliner type stuff on the horizontal surfaces,....

There's Lotsa info on the Rustoleum application techniques here in the forums,...

 

[coalminerswife]

We'll have to drive back over and look at it, unless my husband knows if it's paint or gel coat. I just talked to the previous owner. It has been painted since she's had it, but she doesn't remember what product exactly was put on it. I have some better pictures to upload, but my camera is not here with me. If it's gel coat, is there more to this than sand and apply new paint?

 

[Bondo]

We'll have to drive back over and look at it, unless my husband knows if it's paint or gel coat. I just talked to the previous owner. It has been painted since she's had it, but she doesn't remember what product exactly was put on it. I have some better pictures to upload, but my camera is not here with me. If it's gel coat, is there more to this than sand and apply new paint?

Naw,... Same deal,...

 

[DeepBlue2010]

It would be a different technique if you want to restore the gelcoat or spray new layer of it. If you decided to paint anyway, as Bondo stated, it would be the same deal. I personally never used Rustoleum on a boat. Not to say it is inferior or a bad choice. I just never used it. Bondo and WoodOnGlass - both very experienced members of iBoats community - have a lot of good thing to say about the product and I am sure they will not recommend it unless they are very comfortable to.

I got used to Interlux products. Both Interlux brightside (one part) and Perfection (two parts) are very easy to work with and produce very good results. Both work well with roll and tip method. Brightside can be sprayed without special equipment. Perfection can only sprayed by professionals who own a full body paint suite with dedicated air supply. But as I said, no need to worry about spraying at all since both will achieve very good results with roll and tip.

Just another option to consider.

 

[Woodonglass]

Rustoleum won't work on your hull below the waterline if you're gunna leave it in the marina all summer. You must use a bottom coat type paint. For anything Above the waterline then Yup, I do like the Rustoleum Pro Acrylic enamel paint but...I also add the acrylic enamel hardener to it. This gives it a higher gloss and harder finish. You must wear protective filter masks when spraying it but if you roll and tip it you'll be fine. You can also mix different paint colors to get just about any color you want. Bottom Coat paint is some Nasty stuff and you really want to be careful when removing it and when applying it. It can be hazardous to your health.

 

[coalminerswife]

We've spent two days now looking at bottom paint options. I think we're more confused than we were when we started. There's a West Marine store about two hours from here. What's the likelihood of finding someone there who really knows all about paint?

 

[g0nef1sshn]

Im not expert on this subject matter, so if it were me buying this adventure, and it is currently dry docked at or near a marina, Id look up the local boat painters in that area and get their expertise and quotes. To me that bottom paint is important in maintaining the durability of the hull and potential resale value. Documented reciepts from those guys would help.


Unless you have the time and means to do the research and sand/prime/paint yourselves.

 

[zool]

We've spent two days now looking at bottom paint options. I think we're more confused than we were when we started. There's a West Marine store about two hours from here. What's the likelihood of finding someone there who really knows all about paint?

Hello Mrs Coalminer

You have a few options to get that bottom protected, the professional and somewhat costly, and the quick, easy, and inexpensive. Either one will be adequate for a freshwater in slip houseboat.

Quick and easy:

Get your hubby an organic half face respirator from home depot, about 20 bux+-, a pair of goggles 5 bux+-, and a disposable tyvec suite 10 bux, and some nitrile gloves, 2 bux.....you also need a sanding block and some 80 grit sandpaper. This is important because of what you will be sanding is toxic most likely.

Scuff up the bottom, getting it semi smooth, and knocking down any chipping paint. Then just roll and brush on 2 coats of an ablative antifouling paint, like Pettit Hydracoat, this is water based ablative antifouling paint, so its non toxic to apply, and lasts a few seasons...ablative paint is meant to wear off over time.

Its about 140 bux a gallon, and one gallon may be enough for a low deadrise like on that boat....tape off the water line and paint it right before launch time. Done

It will last about 2-3 seasons.

I can help with the pro way, if u like, but that will run over 700 bux just for materials, and the procedure is somewhat difficult and its highly toxic...

 

[coalminerswife]

The quick and easy way sounds good to me. There are no local boat painters, so that's not an option. We live out in the sticks, and we no longer have a big truck that can haul this anywhere.

 

[Woodonglass]

Zool is very knowledgeable about Bottom Painting and I asked him to drop by and give you his experienced advice. I'm certain if you follow his advice and use the products he's suggested you'll have great success. If you click on his avatar you can send him a Private Message anytime you need/want to ask specific questions and I Know he'll be glad to help. He's a great guy and always willing to lend a hand.

Thanks Larry for giving this new member some great, knowledgeable input!!! You're the BEST!!!!:rockon:

 

[coalminerswife]

Thank you all so much. I'm trying to post some more pictures of it, but the files are too big.

 

[coalminerswife]

No Title

 

[Woodonglass]

Looks like your Hubby has his work cut out for him. Will need to hoist her up off the trailer and block her up to get her prepped and then apply the new paint to one end then set her back down and do the same thing to the other end. I think that would be my suggestion. Seems like it would be the easiest way. Maybe someone else will have a better suggestion. Anywhoooo, good luck and keep us posted on your progress. You might want to consider opening a Free Photobucket account and upload your pics to it and then copy and paste the IMG Code into your iboats thread. Makes things a lot easier and no worries about pic sizes.

 

[zool]

I really like that boat, in fact, I could live on one of those ....

That's Volvo duoprop is a great outdrive, and should serve you well if maintained. As for the blue bootstripe, an easy solution would be a few rolls of 2" bootstripe tape (if its under 2" at its widest point)...if not, they make wider. Someone did a poor job on the bottom paint tape line, as well as the bootstripe, but if you set the tape for the bottom paint, level with its highest point, then you can set the bootstripe tape parallel with the water line...

And like what woodonglass said, jacking it up on the trailer is the normal method of getting under the bunk areas, if that's not possible, paint whats exposed, and try to loadt the boat a bit offset next season, and get the uncoated areas..if you use black bottom paint, it wont be that noticeable, if at all..

 

[g0nef1sshn]

Thank you all so much. I'm trying to post some more pictures of it, but the files are too big.

I use my cell phone, I know there are a lot of different ones but; I take the picture, then email it to myself from the phone. I gives me an option before sending to send large, medium, or small file. I select to do the small file. Then when I down load it out of my email to my computer it always works for. If your phone has this option it may help.

Others use the free photobucket website and link the pictures here.

I try convincing my Admiral we should retire on a house boat. We come to the agreement of a condo at a marina. Ill sleep on the boat, she'll be in the condo. :facepalm:

 

[coalminerswife]

I ended up pulling the photos up on my computer, and then taking pictures with my cell phone. I remember uploading a lot of photos here when we restored our Starcraft a few years ago. I must have used photobucket. The boat is sitting in the parking lot of the marina, which is in a state park. I don't know how much work they'll let us do with it sitting there. We may end up having to pay somebody to move it to another location (not sure where) to work on it. My husband wants to do some interior painting too, but I'm trying to convince him that is a bad idea.