Painting inside a fiberglass hull wood boat after rain

[jonesym33]

I've been working on a 50 year old cedar and mahogany runabout and have it close to done. I skinned over the hull at and below the waterline with fiberglass blanket, have the outside all urethaned and looking pretty good, and am now in the process of sanding and painting the inside of the boat. I have 2 issues.<br /><br />1. is there something other than boat "topcoat" paint I can use for the inside? it's gonna take nearly a gallon and around here it costs about $30 a quart. <br /><br />2. Last night it POURED and though my boat is under a carport it somehow filled with about 7 inches of water. I opened up the drain hole (i had fiberglassed over it, and it's draining, but I am now worried the wood maybe pretty wet and I need to know some tips on drying it before I try and paint more. How long should I wait? Could I try putting a space heater in it or something, etc. Any advice will help.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Painting inside a fiberglass hull wood boat after rain

I definately would not paint it wet. I would cover the boat with a tarp that can breath but still hold in some heat and use a space heater. I'm not sure how long to tell you to wait. A moisture meter would be the best to use.<br /><br />I have no opinions on optional paint, but I would get to the drying while you make a decision.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Painting inside a fiberglass hull wood boat after rain

On the inside, I would think any exterior oil base paint would work. I don't think those top paints are meant for painting wood, I think they are really for painting fiberglass, gelcoat, etc. I used exterior oil based house paint for the plywood bottoms of the ski racks in my boat. A couple of coats did it. After one season, it is holding up great. The salt water and sun didn't bother it. You can thin the first coat so it sinks in better, then follow with un-thinned coat(s). <br /><br />I would give it a week in the Texas sun before trying to paint. An easy way to check for moisture is to tape some foil over a small area for a day or two then remove it and see how much condensation there is on the inside of the foil. If it's real wet, it needs more dry time.<br /><br />Just my 2¢.

 

[petrolhead]

Re: Painting inside a fiberglass hull wood boat after rain

Dry it as thoroughly as you can before applying any sort of finish, painting damp wood will give you problems later on that will be 100 x harder to fix than drying it properly now.<br />As for interior paint, I've mentioned this here several times but I'll repeat it as you've asked, my favourite is garage floor paint. It's cheap, tough (they drive cars on it!), and is water, petrol, and oil resistant. You can even get it with a grip additive ready mixed if you need it. <br />The only downside I've found is a limited range of colours, I can get grey and red easily, and I've seen black and blue too, but that seems to be it.<br />The one I like is a heavy duty polyurethane alkyd resin, which appears to be pretty much the same formulation sold by several marine paint manufacturers as bilge paint, but at around half the price.<br />It's amazing how much the word "boat" on the label increases the value of a product!