Thread: Boat Painting Help

Almost any standard colour done really nicely will look good.

MIK

Paint her black mate....think how that will play with the minds of the superstitious ones! ....did it for a lark once on a Stingray 20 odd years ago....had 'em worried for a while!

Al.

Thanks for the replys. Now I would like to throw in another question. As this boat is in its twenties which means that it is not a glamor queen, how would gloss enamel with a flattening agent look as a finish? Any one used this before?

Mate, just sand her smooth and paint her. It's a boat, not a Roll's Royce. You'll find that all surface imperfections disappear as soon as you splash some water on her.

Richard

Flattening agent will certainly enable you to get a semi-gloss. I used it inside my boat because I don't like shiny interiors and am happy with it. Haven't seen that colour on a boat. It's an 'in your face' kind of colour so think of it in terms of the kind of mood or feeling you want. Maybe orange is just the trick for a bright fast 'out there' kind of thing.
Daddles is just jealous because he doesn't have an orange boat yet.
(but he's right about it being a thing that some of us worry too much about. Look along any marina at what life does to boats, but the boats seem happy enough)

I like a semi-gloss finish.It hides small imperfections & you'll find lots of "traditional" wooden boats have always used a low-sheen finish....it can look quite classy especially in darker colours.

IMHO

Al.

this isn't the same orange but it may give you some idea for yours

this is my first build and i think the orange looks great it wasn't my choice i asked the other half what colour to paint my dinghy and she came up with orange, at first i was a bit sceptical but as soon as the paint was on i loved it

Gary,

Here are pics of a dinghy I made some years ago.

The yellow is similar to that on old military air-sea crash boats that was called "crash boat yellow"!

It is International(Interlux outside Australia) Brightsides single pack yellow enamel with Norglass "Pearl White" interior... a pale grey that is not too bright in full sun.The yellow is deeper in colour than it appears in the pics.

Not all that far removed from your orange in that it is bright & highly visible.

I don't suggest you use this colour,just thought it might help you decide to go with something bright.

Al.

btw,I forgot to mention that Norglass single pack enamel is excellent paint....tough & hard-wearing & easy to touch-up.As is International Brightsides.Couldn't be happier with either of them.

Al.

Does it self flatten like the brightside. It is pretty easy to get rolled finishes (using special foam rollers) very close to a good average spray job.

MIK

Yep.Not that I've tried to compare different marine enamels.I've used several brands & they all seem to give similar results,although I mainly use Norglass these days.

I do remember first trying Brightsides to see if the added teflon made the difference the company claimed & it certainly flowed & flattened extra well.Maybe it is a little better in this regard,but the others seem to do much the same.

Because these coatings skin up fairly quickly,I use West System 800 thin foam rollers, that you use to apply epoxy,to apply marine enamel.I find these great even on big jobs as they do not hold too much paint & as you can only do a small area at a time,it is easy to control the film thickness.This is important especially on vertical surfaces to prevent the dreaded runs & sags.

I use the standard "roll & tip" method of rolling a small area,say no more than 1 square meter,depending on temperature,& then "tipping" off the paint by gently brushing it with the tip of a high quality long-bristled brush.This smooths out any small bubbles & you keep working your way around the job keeping a "wet" edge.The result,as Mik says, is nearly as good as a sprayed finish, & with a little practice you can work quite quickly.Start with a small area & increase it as you get better at it,but don't go too big or it will not overlap neatly with the previously tipped-off area as these enamels skin up fast & you can not go back over old paint.This is a good characteristic though as the surface cures quickly & insects & dust are less likely to stick. I actually enjoy it.

Enjoy painting?...maybe I'm a bit strange.

The advantage of the thin roller is to put down a thin film.Better to have an extra thin coat or two than trying to get it all done with thick coats & run the risk of runs & sags.

Also,on vertical surfaces,always tip off vertically...if you do it horizontally you may end up with brush marks overlapping & not flattening out fully.

You can get rollers that do not leave as many bubbles as foam,but the bubbles are not a problem ...in fact they act as a guide to see the overlap as you tip off.

Al.

When using flattening agent, do you use it only in the final coat or both when doing 2 coats? How will it effect the top coat if used on the first coat too, does it alter the colour depth of the final coat?

Gary

One thing I had trouble with initially using foam rollers with the brightside were thousands of little bubbles. These mean that there is too much paint on the roller.

I used to tip off with a brush too, but brightside makes it unnecessary. Saves a lot of time. The soft thick rollers with one edge radiused off prevent overlap marks too.

I couldn't believe it when I say someone doing it this way - using a six inch wide soft foam roller and working along the whole hull. No fuss or tipping, paint straight out of the can.

So I do it that way now too.

I had a pic of the rollers somewhere ... never get the ones with plastic handles.

Have a look at the soft foam rollers here

http://www.trade1st.co.uk/productdet...llers/536.aspx

The handle is shown bottom right - just a bent wire handle that the plastic insert in the middle of the roller slides onto.

No more tipping or thinning - though you will still need a brush to do under the gunwales and other tricky bits. Roll vertically with the radiused edge of the foam roller going back the way you came from.

MIK