Hull Blacking

[Bones]

Hi Folks

 

I was wondering about this whole blacking thing.

 

To be honest as a liveaboard its a pain because I have to put my wife and kidz somewhere while the boat is in the dry dock.

 

If only there was paint that would work underwater so you could paint it whilst it was in the water. (nuts eh!)

 

 

Why do you have to put them somewhere? You can live on it while its in dry dock

[Liam]

When you get the boat out, it's obviously high and dry and I'm guessing it'd be a right pain to keep carrying the kids on and off the boat.

[Bones]

When you get the boat out, it's obviously high and dry and I'm guessing it'd be a right pain to keep carrying the kids on and off the boat.

 

 

but its dry dock... not on land... oh well. Suppose it depends on your personal requirements.

[Liam]

A dry dock would be even worse, depending on which one it is. After struggling to get the kids down off the boat, and onto the dock floor you then have to get them up and onto the bank.

[Bones]

A dry dock would be even worse, depending on which one it is. After struggling to get the kids down off the boat, and onto the dock floor you then have to get them up and onto the bank.

 

I didn't have trouble especially with a lovely set of steps or a gang plank. Must depend where you are.

[peasant]

You could have problems with the elf' & safety.The insurance companies are getting iffy about public access to working boatyards or so my local boat repairer tells me.He say's he doesn't have a problem with us staying aboard while blacking s done but he has to arrange his insurance.Ive just arranged mine at £6 a foot plus a £100 to paint the bottom.I'm having the stern gland done while the boat is out of the water as that's the easiest time to do it I'm told.

[dor]

My local boatyard no longer hires out its dry dock due to cost of insurance premiums.

[DHutch]

At worsley you can put a gang-plank acrross from the drydock wall to the boat, and walk on that.

- However, its not somthing for small kids, or the faint hearted.

- Your 8ft up, and its stight concrete below, and no hand rail or anything.

 

Infact, while we where there last year someone fell over the side having triped and missed the plank all together.

 

 

Daniel

[vernon]

Does anyone have experience of epoxy hull coatings? I am having the boat shotblasted this summer and am not sure what to recoat with. Howlong does epoxy last; do you still need to dock every 2 years to check hull condition and touch up;are there differences between brands.

[Gary Peacock]

Ok this is my view not the view of people who make money out of blacking.

 

Use the best quality traditional blacking you can get (There are quite a few that fit the bill) and if it's a new hull make sure it's applied properly on to a fully prepared hull.

 

At the two year point dry dock the boat for inspection, it more likely than not the majority of the black will be fine but attention will need to be paid to scrapes, bad patches etc. Sort these out and pencil in your diary a weekends DIY work to definitely black the boat next year. Blacking for the sake of it is a waste of time and money, your hull will not dissolve into a pile of rust for the sake of another year!

 

Comastic (Vinyl tar) will last longer and cost you a bit more, the stuff is nasty and will make you ill if you breath it in. I don't think it's worth the difference.

 

Epoxy Based blacking lasts a long time and costs a lot to purchase and apply. It is not a DIY product and can do you a lot of serious arm if you breath it in or the vapour comes into contact with your skin. Although it outlasts all other options it will still suffer scrapes and knocks so what are you going to touch these up with? If you use Epoxy black which is what you should do where and who is going to do it. (Most yards can't risk exposing the public to hazardous fumes.)

 

 

You need to carefully consider your initial choice because it will determine the complication and expense of future work.

 

 

A boat fitter (Part time full time Shop fitter) who we do work for swears by gloss wagon chassis black even over the anodes to protect them! It did give a very nice shiny finish!

[DHutch]

As i've said manytimes before, we use Two-part paint from Leigh's Paints (bolton), which we get direct, in "5L" tins, with a small tin containing the other part.

 

The blacking is Resistex M535 which calls itself a "Pitch Free Underwater Vinyl Primer"

 

I wasnt involved in the choice of paint, but my grandad did a lot of research as well as his personal knowlage into every part of our boat, and this is the paint that he decided to use. (this was 15years ago)

- Ive never used any other type of paint on the hull of a N.Boat but compaired to other boats i see around the system, in and out of the water, our blacking consistantly impresses me.

- Its really fairly nice to apply, buy hand, with a roller. And i lasts very well too.

 

The whole boat, inside and out, was grit blasted, and then gritbalsing primer (also from leighs) was aplied as soon after as possable (few hours tops) then painted.

- The blacking has then been done every 3/4years and everytime we pull out we get people commenting about how good she looks for 3/4 years in the water.

 

Topsides, we use:

- Resistex C137V2 Twopart Acrylic Urethane Topcoat

- Resistex C237 Undercoat Two Part Polyurethane Undercoat

 

Like the blacking, the finish is extreamtly durable, and although its not the as hard and high-gloss as a lot of boats have, but being a little softer means it never flakes off, and lasts years. (the cabin sides have so far only been repainted once, in 15 years)

- Agian, we apply it with 4" foam rollers. It goes on a treat, but we got though about 6/8 rollers doing just the roof (58ft'er)

 

Also, being two part, you do need a bare-minimum of two people, prefrable three. One rollering, and one mixing up the next batch of paint and "edgeing" around features with a brush, and the third making tea and covering breaks for the other two and generally mucking in where needed.

- A mix is only workable for about 20/25mins and its quite hard to keep a wet edge, but you get into a patern, and its suprisin how time flyes. Then when you look back on it after 3hours of grafting, my god is it satisfying!!

 

 

Also, i'd like to appolgise to everyone whos hears this (and parts there of) about 200times before, and also i'd like to say i am in now way conected with leighs paint. They just seam to knock out good paint, and a reasonable price, and are very frendly and helpfull if/when you ring them.

 

 

 

Daniel

[Phil Speight]

Ok this is my view not the view of people who make money out of blacking.

 

Use the best quality traditional blacking you can get (There are quite a few that fit the bill) and if it's a new hull make sure it's applied properly on to a fully prepared hull.

 

At the two year point dry dock the boat for inspection, it more likely than not the majority of the black will be fine but attention will need to be paid to scrapes, bad patches etc. Sort these out and pencil in your diary a weekends DIY work to definitely black the boat next year. Blacking for the sake of it is a waste of time and money, your hull will not dissolve into a pile of rust for the sake of another year!

 

Comastic (Vinyl tar) will last longer and cost you a bit more, the stuff is nasty and will make you ill if you breath it in. I don't think it's worth the difference.

 

Epoxy Based blacking lasts a long time and costs a lot to purchase and apply. It is not a DIY product and can do you a lot of serious arm if you breath it in or the vapour comes into contact with your skin. Although it outlasts all other options it will still suffer scrapes and knocks so what are you going to touch these up with? If you use Epoxy black which is what you should do where and who is going to do it. (Most yards can't risk exposing the public to hazardous fumes.)

You need to carefully consider your initial choice because it will determine the complication and expense of future work.

A boat fitter (Part time full time Shop fitter) who we do work for swears by gloss wagon chassis black even over the anodes to protect them! It did give a very nice shiny finish!

[/quote

I agree completely with Gary . You must maintain your boat - so bite the bullet . I hate to say this given my involvement with Craftmaster Paints but we tend to use International Intertuf - or Rylards Premium Protection . We use Comastic if it`s there on the boat already and two pack epoxy pitch if we`re starting from scratch . However , like Gary , I must warn you off the latter . It`s very dangerous stuff - we`re not allowed to supply it for DIY use any anyway . Remember also that you can put bitumen on top of Comastic and similar materials but not the other way round . If we have any doubts we test a very small area for reaction before we proceed further .

Oh yes - send the kids to stay with your mum and buy the wife a pair of substantial work gloves and a suitable mask . Take the need for hull blacking as a chance to check the general condition of bits of boat you can`t usually get at .

Cheers

Phil