Topside Painting

[Dump]

My 1991 Searray Sundancer surrers oxidation each season and seems to get worse each year. I have the boat detailed every Spring (buffed, waxed, etc.). I have been thinking of having the entire boat painted. Is this a a mistake as far as future maintenance and appearance? If painting is a viable alternative what is the best brand and type of paint to use? The boat is kept on a lift and used in salwater. I am having the bottom repainted this Spring with a Teflon paint. <br />Any suggestions about painting the rest of the boat?

 

[JB]

Re: Topside Painting

Dump, this forum is for reporting stupid mistakes.<br /><br />Moving to Boat Topics.

 

[ThomWV]

Re: Topside Painting

This is my opnion only.<br /><br />People tend to be a lot more careful about their gel coat than then need to be, particularly by the time the boat is a few years old and no amount of compounding will bring out the gloss again. That stuff is on there a lot thicker than you might think.<br /><br />OK at this point you have to quit letting the yard do it and you have to get out there yourself. There are two reasons, one is they won't want to do the work and if they did they will charge you a small fortune.<br /><br />Sand it.<br /><br />Sand it first with about 320 paper and don't leave a square inch of the hull undone. Just sand it until it is hazy, no reason to go any farther than that. When you get done with the 320 move up to 400, sand the boat again. Then go to 600, and sand the boat again. Then go to 1500 and sand the boat again. From there go up to the finest paper you can find, usually 4000 around here. Sand the boat again.<br /><br />With the sanding done break out the buffer and the Dupont rubbing compound. When that's done hit it with McGuires polishing goop. Follow that up with a waxing using Collinite Fleet Wax.<br /><br />You do that and that boat will look like brand new, in fact it will look better than brand new.<br /><br />By the way, it takes my wife and I about 2 hours to completely sand the entire hull of our 23' walkaround.<br /><br />Thom

 

[imported_Mike_M2]

Re: Topside Painting

I've gone around with this before. Last year we had a boat here in the yard, we were replacing one motor. While it was here, the owner asked if he could send a paint crew out for a few days work while it sat. No problem there, but i was agianst it. The hull and topsides were in great shape if it weren't for the oxidation. I thought he could have compound and buffed, but he was determined to get it painted. Well, they came, they painted, they left. I must admit, it turned out looking great but was sceptical as to how well it would hold up. I met the guy a few times out on the water, even walked on it. It was very slippery to walk on, but held up pretty well. It did show scratches a lot tho. <br />I ended up hiring the same paint guys to come and do just the hull on my cruiser. They will be doing it in the spring. I'm afraid doing the top would drive me crazy, worrying whether someone would hurt themselves trying to walk on it. <br />They use an Interlux called Brightside, it comes in a bunch of colors.

 

[airman]

Re: Topside Painting

Whatever you choose, when you're done, invest in a good cover. If you had bought one 10 years ago, you wouldn't even be having this problem. A good one won't be cheap, but when you add up the cost of buffing every year and repainting every ten it will quickly pay for itself. It it will also go a long way towards preventing water damage and rot. Personally, I like the sanding idea. If it doesn't work paint over it. You aren't really risking anything.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: Topside Painting

Hello Dump.Hopefully you can get it back into shape by wet sanding and buffing but dont expect it to last forever.It will fade again in time.Sometimes it refades right away because there is less gelcoat after the sanding and buffing.I have done it before and I had my boat painted with Imron last year.Everyone thought I bought a new boat.I am very happy with the way it looks.every scratch and niche was taken out of the hull before painting.I dont even tell people what year it is anymore.You DO have to be more careful with a painted hull because it will scratch if you hit the dock where gelcoat might just scuff,but you can repaint sections and get perfect results where with a gelcoat repair it is impossible to get a perfect repair.Imron is the way to go but it aint cheap.Expect to pay a few thousand dollars to have it done right.Charlie