Painting An Older Boat?

[rmgmag]

I have a 1989 Four Winns Sundowner. Aside from the hull being a dull grey/dark blue color. which I'm not crazy about, the paint/gel coat is looking a bit worn. Can the gel coat be painted? And if so, what would it typically cost for a 21' boat? Also, I'd like to change the color if possible.

Thanks.


Bob

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

Bob, To have someone do all the prep work and then paint the hull would be some serious $$, as you want it to be wet-sanded to 400 grit, and then sprayed. Alternatively, you can get a decent do it yourself paint job with the roll and tip method, using a high quality marine polyurethane paint. The paint is ~$40/qt. The sanding is all labor....

 

[bekosh]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

Exactly what Chris said, sand, prime, then roll and tip.
I would recommend 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint with a light wet 800+ grit sanding between coats.
A 21 footer would probably be about 1 1/2 qt primer and 3 qt of paint. Give or take.
I did an old 15ft trihull a few years ago and it came out pretty good.
It took less than 1 qt of primer and under 2qt of paint.

Went from this...

To this.

 

[oops!]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

the only reason to paint a boat is because you dont like the color...

other than that ....the gellcoat can be re finished with some elbow grease and some time

 

[SDSeville]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

Exactly what Chris said, sand, prime, then roll and tip.
I would recommend 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint with a light wet 800+ grit sanding between coats.
A 21 footer would probably be about 1 1/2 qt primer and 3 qt of paint. Give or take.
I did an old 15ft trihull a few years ago and it came out pretty good.
It took less than 1 qt of primer and under 2qt of paint.

Went from this...

To this.

Wow, nice work bekosh!! That was roll and tip?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

Can the gel coat be painted? And if so, what would it typically cost for a 21' boat? Also, I'd like to change the color if possible.

Yup.. gel can be painted with or without primer ( I suggest primer always ! ).

Shop price would be about 2500-5k and up.. depending on primer/paint system/color/clearcoat and or wetsand and buff your final Mirror .. age of the boat .. condition of the boats surface ( brand new or 30 years old ) .. repairs needed .. and setup of the boat ( removal and replacement of ladders/hardware/decals/vinyl removal.. etc ). .. ( HULL ONLY .. NOT DECK ).

DIY depends on how well you want it to look. You can go Pro everything .. or save yourself some $ on materials and marksmanship ( we pros look for fly Shat and take extra measures to get rid of it .. We want Mirrors where some dont mind having imperfections ). You can/might be able to do it close to 25 % off material cost .. and 2-3 times longer ( at whatever your time is worth ). + Gratification on your part doing it yourself - the $ tools that you would need.

Add it all up .. sometimes a DIY is a bargain .. sometimes it sounds good but your expense is going to just the same ( more or less ) as having someone else do it.

I hope you get what im saying here ..

YD.

 

[bekosh]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

Wow, nice work bekosh!! That was roll and tip?

Thanks. Yup. That was all done with a roller, brush and Fire Red Interlux Brightside polyurethane in my FIL's barn. The paint job wasn't perfect, looked great at 10 ft, up close you could see some imperfections, but for a 1972 tri-hull she looked rather striking in red. Actually she still does. I sold her about 6 years ago but still occasionally see her on the river.

And back to the OP. Bob, I just remembered that Interlux has a very useful pdf on their website called Boat Painting Guide that I think you might find helpful.

 

[rmgmag]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

Wow, that is an amazing job! How long did it take you?

Exactly what Chris said, sand, prime, then roll and tip.
I would recommend 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint with a light wet 800+ grit sanding between coats.
A 21 footer would probably be about 1 1/2 qt primer and 3 qt of paint. Give or take.
I did an old 15ft trihull a few years ago and it came out pretty good.
It took less than 1 qt of primer and under 2qt of paint.

Went from this...

To this.

 

[mrdjflores]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

my 22' was blue hull and off-white cap....repainted it bright yellow hull with white bottom and white cap.
alot of sanding and washing...
my hull got 2-3 coats of primer (since i was covering blue with yellow)
and i currently have 3 coats of yellow on her, will get a 4th coat when i'm done with the restore
i bought 4 qts of yellow...still have 1-1/2 qts left....went through about 3 qts of primer
roll-n-tip method.

you can see some of the sanding and prep work in my thread, and the first few coats of color going on

 

[bekosh]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

Wow, that is an amazing job! How long did it take you?

Thank you very much.
Working only on weekends, it took me about 4 months. I stripped all the hardware off, did some fiberglass repairs to the keel and bow, rewired all the electrical, painted and reassembled everything. I lucked out and the floor and transom were both solid, so I didn't have to rebuild those as well.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Painting An Older Boat?

I painted my old boat with Pettit EasyPoxy on the hull and Valspar Tractor Implement Paint with Hardener on the top. I did use an HVLP spray gun but did some Roll n' Roll on the hull for the first coat. I worked well but I decided to buy a 60 gallon compressor and shoot the rest. Did it all for under $200 bucks. The EasyPoxy was $100. If I did it again, I'd do it ALL with the Valspar and it would cost under $100 bucks. My boat was only a 15 footer, so a 21 footer would prolly cost $150