Thread: Paint and varnish

If the boat will have full encapsulation techniques used on it, then any paint system can be employed. Everything from cheap house paint to multiple part industrial coatings.

With the exception of very few acrylics, all paint systems are toxic in some way or another. Assuming you're not going to eat or drink the uncured products, then cured paint is fairly benign, passing through the body and being left in your waste.

As a rule you get what you pay for with paint. By this I mean gloss retention, durability, UV degradation, abrasion resistance, hardness, flexibility, etc. If you elect to use a low grade acrylic that's $25 a gallon, then you can expect it to fail fairly quickly. On the other hand if you use a quality LPU that's $300 a gallon, it will preform much better as a coating in every regard.

Most folks find they can live with a middle of the road alkyd paint (oil based) or modified alkyd. These generally are reasonably priced, easy to apply, offer good looking results and you don't need a second mortgage to afford to paint your boat.