Painting a Sailaway

[bidders]

I am wondering the best approach to painting a sailaway due for delivery in Jan. At this early point in the fitout, in the cold winter months,I reason I should take out the windows and paint round the opening just further than the window frame with the final paint coat. This is to ensure once refitted and the boat finished in late spring - to ambitious? no gaps will be seen when the windows are masked up for the full paqint job.

What advice do you have for me?

 

In anticipation

[arlow11]

think it would be easyer to get the builder to paint it round the windows,sure its wouldnt cost that much,and iam sure they dont just screw out ether,or ask the builder to fox them temp until you paint?

[DHutch]

I would indeed approach the builder, and eather ask them to run some paint round under the windows before puting them in, and then paint yours upto that. Or else tell them to just loose-fit the windows so you can take them off before properbly fitting them.

- Alternativly, ask if you cant spend half a week at the boat yard and paint the cabinsides before they get to puting the windows in?

 

I think if it was my brand new boat, i would want the first paint job to be a good one, and done before the windows went in.

- However, i do have a bit of a think about that sort of thing, and very few people (including me) remove the windows when they next repaint.

 

But all ways up, your deffonarly right about the need to get proper paint under the windows, rooflights and vents, and all other fittings.

- The numbers of boats you see with the window in on just primer, five years down the road and theres rust under the edges of all of them.

- Simularly, i would deffonatly incourage anyone to do a decent job of painting the INSIDE of the hull, partiualarly the inside of the base plate.

 

 

 

Daniel

[John Orentas]

I think you are right Bidders, if the boat is now accessible and preferably under cover, I too would be inclined to take the widows out and get some paint behind the frames, it will be much more difficult at a later stage when the cabin is lined out and the boat is out in the elements..

 

People tend to imagine that builders are far more fastidious than they actually are, hundreds of boat owners imagine that these awkward areas have been painted and protected at some stage, I think many would be very disappointed if they were to investigate.

[ChrisPy]

I think you are right Bidders, if the boat is now accessible and preferably under cover, I too would be inclined to take the widows out and get some paint behind the frames, it will be much more difficult at a later stage when the cabin is lined out and the boat is out in the elements..

 

People tend to imagine that builders are far more fastidious than they actually are, hundreds of boat owners imagine that these awkward areas have been painted and protected at some stage, I think many would be very disappointed if they were to investigate.

I concur.

It is well worth while to get the windows fitted and sealed in place, ready for the first 10 years, before you start fitting out. Which means a good complete paint job including top coat around the windows. Make sure you allow a week or so for the paint to cure before applying sealant and fitting the windows.

[smileypete]

I am wondering the best approach to painting a sailaway due for delivery in Jan. At this early point in the fitout, in the cold winter months,I reason I should take out the windows and paint round the opening just further than the window frame with the final paint coat. This is to ensure once refitted and the boat finished in late spring - to ambitious? no gaps will be seen when the windows are masked up for the full paqint job.

What advice do you have for me?

 

Will it just have a coat of primer and be out in the rain?

 

cheers,

Pete.

[tomsk]

Get your builder to do it and then fix the windows properly, If you later have a load of leaks and he gets a sniff of the fact you have fiddled with them I wouldn't think he would entertain any leaking window complaints as a defect.

[Boot wharf man]

If you could get a coat of protective undercoat under the frames before fitting then it might be beneficial but I would not recommend putting on a top coat as when you fit the windows it is almost impossible not to badly scratch the paint around the edges of the frame. If this occurs then water will ingress between the layers of paint resulting in the speeding up of the rusting process, plus if you intend to have a modern very smooth finish then the pain around the frames will need to took back again for a final coat which usually results in the accidental removal of the external frame coating (you're lovely brass or chrome coating). Boat builders do not usually bother painting them in more than primer because when the windows are fitted properly in the correct conditions, so there is no moisture, then the water proof sealant protects the metal for you. It is also important to remember that the top coat is much smoother and therefore the sealant will not adhere to this well at all increasing the likely hood of leaks. My own boat and many others I know to have been done in this method have survived at least a decade without a sign of rust visible round the edges of the frame.

 

To summarize it is my opinion that it is not necessary if your windows are fitted properly. However for peace of mind in case there are flaws in the fitting which are often unavoidable then I recommend you brush round the frames with some protective undercoat. I think international do this and it acts like a waterproof primer and was specially designed for those fitting out there own boats. We have a boat on site where I work exposed to there elements on the bank with 1 coat of this and it has not rusted for over 18months now.

[Phil Speight]

If you could get a coat of protective undercoat under the frames before fitting then it might be beneficial but I would not recommend putting on a top coat as when you fit the windows it is almost impossible not to badly scratch the paint around the edges of the frame. If this occurs then water will ingress between the layers of paint resulting in the speeding up of the rusting process, plus if you intend to have a modern very smooth finish then the pain around the frames will need to took back again for a final coat which usually results in the accidental removal of the external frame coating (you're lovely brass or chrome coating). Boat builders do not usually bother painting them in more than primer because when the windows are fitted properly in the correct conditions, so there is no moisture, then the water proof sealant protects the metal for you. It is also important to remember that the top coat is much smoother and therefore the sealant will not adhere to this well at all increasing the likely hood of leaks. My own boat and many others I know to have been done in this method have survived at least a decade without a sign of rust visible round the edges of the frame.

 

To summarize it is my opinion that it is not necessary if your windows are fitted properly. However for peace of mind in case there are flaws in the fitting which are often unavoidable then I recommend you brush round the frames with some protective undercoat. I think international do this and it acts like a waterproof primer and was specially designed for those fitting out there own boats. We have a boat on site where I work exposed to there elements on the bank with 1 coat of this and it has not rusted for over 18months now.

With respect - I don`t agree . Sealant of any type is the cheap and easy way of doing the job as is any method of installing the windows in a way which precludes their easy removal. The rust that forms around window frames doesn`t come only from the area immediately under the frames. It also comes from the raw edge of the aperture and the inner cabin side if it has not been adequately painted. Undercoat incidentally is not designed to be protective. Such paints are almost invariably porous. The product you mention is probably actually a "holding primer" however the marketing men choose to describe it.

Ask the boatbuilder to apply a FINISH to the areas under the window frames ( and the mushroom vents , portholes and etc.) and a holding coat , again of a finish, over the entire superstructure of the boat. Failing that do it yourself , preferably in the building shed. All this of course over a sufficient quantity of a good primer.Once the boat is fitted out and there is no longer any risk of damaging it in the process, remove the windows ( come what may ), mask the apertures , rub the holding coat down and paint the boat properly.

Then drill and tap the cabin sides etc and replace the windows and fittings with stainless or brass machine screws bedded down on window tape ( a compressed rubber/foam tape with adhesive on one side - which sticks to the inner surface of the window frame.The machine screws tighten it down and make a good seal but the windows can then be removed at need without risk of damage to the paint. ) This is a complicated way of doing it - but from an engineering standpoint it is very sound and valuable in the long term. Every boat we paint is treated this way. If you want to paint the boat before the fit out is finished do exactly the same ( skipping the holding coat if you are going to do it immediately upon getting the boat ) and try your best not todamage it getting timber in and drilling holes and so on.

I don`t mean to denigrate the workmanship on Boot Wharf Man`s boat in the slightest but it must be of an unusually high order if the method he describes has been so successful. Window tape of the type we use was perhaps not so readily available and widely known a decade ago when his windows were installed and not every boatbuilder is as diligent as his obviously was. There is one more reason that I favour our method. If some ars*hole chucks a brick through your window you need to be able to remove it without harming the paint. Tough luck if they are rivetted in or if there is a mastic type sealant infringing anywhere onto the paint finish around the perimeter or under the widow itself.

Cheers

Phil

Edited November 29, 2007 by Phil Speight

[bidders]

Thank you all for your replys. I now need to speak to the hull supplier !!

[Boot wharf man]

Some excellent pionts there Phil.

Probably much more sound advice than mine.

The paint the which i referred is a special non-pourous undercoat. I am unsure of the market name though and will try to find it out this weekend. It is very useful stuff though.

[Phil Speight]

Some excellent pionts there Phil.

Probably much more sound advice than mine.

The paint the which i referred is a special non-pourous undercoat. I am unsure of the market name though and will try to find it out this weekend. It is very useful stuff though.

thanks for that. The International product is one I`m quite jealous off! However witin our own systems we would refer to it as a primer rather thanan undercoat since , as a primer it has qualites that undercoat doesn`t have but would be lacking some of the qualities undercoat DOES have . If you get my drift!

Cheers

Phil