Topside boat painting and pain selection

[hudson20227]

I have once again learned a valuable lesson. When it comes to anything and everything you get what you pay for thats a fact. I am restoring a 1986 Proline 23 Sport CC. I was working with a budget and reall just wanted the boat to look decent which would have been a 100% improvement. The boat has never been repainted and the wiring was a nightmare. Back to the painting. I was looking around because I am a very impatient person and found some rustollium topside pain and primer at lows and on top of that it was a dark blue which is the color I was looking for. Great No ordering and no waiting I can get started NOW. Came back home and looked at reviews and what the ppl on iboats had to say. Most common review was its good for the money. I primed the boat and after the third coat of top coat I was very unhappy. It looked like I handed a 10 year old a roller and brush and said here go paint my boat. I beat myself up day after day, mor sanding more coats... I ordered the interlux productes for the inside painting because I really wanted that durrable because of the foot trafic. So I'm on the phone with the rep and asked would it be a problem to put a coat of the perfection over my newly existing top coat? Nope, it would be better if it were interlux all the way but it sould be fine. Pant came in and we caught a clear afternoon yesterday... UNREAL this morning looks like im lookin in a show room at a new boat. The difference is 1000 fold. Do not waist your time and your money on cheep paint or anything else for that matter. I give Interlux all the props! their techs are great their repas are great and I could havesaved 50 man hours of my time and spent around the same amt. of $$...

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Topside boat painting and pain selection

Sorry to hear you had such a problem with the Rustoleum. We have a lot of examples here on the forum of fantastic results using Rustoleum and Valspar paints. I painted the top cap of my boat using it an it too looks like factory and shines like the sun. You can take a look in the My Flamingo link below. What issues did you have with the Rustoleum that you did not have with the Interlux. And your comment about the $$ is not correct IMHO. Rustoleum typically is usually less than $20 per quart and Interlux is usually around $65 per quart. Trying to figure out the man hours difference too! Are you saying you can paint the Interlux faster than the Rustoleum? My prep time for any paint is what takes all the time. I "Painted" my boat in about 30 mins. I rolled n' rolled my hull in an hour using a 6" roller. One last question, did you thin the Rustoleum and use the Acrylic Enamel Hardener that is recommended here on the forum? What type rollers did you use to apply the paint? Were the weather conditions the same for both applications? Just trying to figure out why you had such a bad experience when others including myself have had such good success.


Post some pics, we would love to see your results.