Thread: Painting an epoxy coated boat.

Gidday Rob!

You can pretty much use anything at all, depending on the level of finish you want to achieve.

At the bottom end of the scale, if you don't mind a little texture and a few (well a lot) of brush marks, you could use good old plastic house paint.

At the top end, a sprayed two-pack of any description.

With all systems, you'll need to use a primer/undercoat and unless you are sure of the epoxy you will need to dewax the epoxy surface first.

On our PDRacers we went the middle route, and used a Wattyl turps based primer-undercoat, but the marine one from International (Precote) is a much more forgiving and easier to learn product.

We used International Brightside top coat, which is a fantastically hard glossy product and even though it's brushed on, looks almost mirror-like.

All paint systems will reflect the amount of sanding and surface preparation, and I've had Michael here working his already small bottom right off. (Perhaps I can send him to you next? ).

No need to sand any finer than 180 grit when using wet and dry, or 220 on a random orbital sander.

I hope the question means that you're preparing for the trip to Goolwa!

Don't be afraid to turn up with an unpainted boat, our "white" ones have lived in their primer "undies" all year, and that means that we've now got nice fresh paint!

Cheers,

P

Yes Peter I am preparing for Goolwa , but I can't be sure yet.
In fact we got some negative news today , but I'm still working on the boat , hoping to get there.
Rob J.

I know what it's like to be still working on the boat, every morning I get out of bed and watch Michael doing that!

We'll be there though!

Hope you are too.

Cheers,

P

What do I dewax with?

Soap and water. A mix a little regular vinegar in with the water or you could use denatured alcohol and it'll cut the amine blush off quickly.

Epoxy is unique, in that for most paints, particularly the aggressive ones (LPU's and epoxies) generally don't need primer for a good bond.

This said, one thing that primer does do, that most don't appreciate, is it provides a nice, even base, so the color topcoat goes down uniformly and covers with fewer coats. For novice painters, primer is a must, for one other reason, it can be "leveled" or smoothed to make the topcoat look like a mirror.

Painting is 90% surface preparation and 10% brush/roller/spray gun in hand time.

I so agree with PAR,

An undercoat, while not strictly necessary to protect the boat does make the final gloss coats work much more reliably.

Top Coats tend to be a lot more transparent these days than a few DECADES ago. So I always get the boat an even colour with undercoat first.

With Alkyd or Turpentine based paints over epoxy I always use undercoat because one time in 20 the final coats may not harden properly. But with the undercoat there there is never a problem.

MIK

Thanks for that, I will give it a try