Toplac paints on wood??

[Guest]

Quick paint question.

 

Our boat has some spare paint that came with it (Though now must be 8 years old).

 

The colours are Toplac Bounty and Toplac Oxford blue.

 

The (wooden) cratch board needs an external re-paint so would these paints be up to painting wood (as in are they only suitable for metal?) - or is it pointless even trying due to their age.

 

Given the small amount I need I dont't want to pay over the odds if I need new so if these are not suitable would I be just better getting a colour match in B&Q and use an 'ordinary' gloss.

 

Thanks all.

[alan_fincher]

Toplac should be fine on wood with the right primers and (if you choose to) undercoat underneath, (International undercoats are called Pre-Kote).

 

Certainly it is not specifically for painting metal.

 

Whether it is fine at the age it is may well depend on if it is a full unopened can, or the remainder of one that has skinned over.

 

Even the latter may be fine, once you get any skin off, and at what lurks below.

 

I tend to find that the more air, and hence the less paint, present, the less the chance of re-use after a period.

 

Glosses usually seem to survive better than (say) primers in part used tins.

[Guest]

Should have said yes the tins are part used and are about 50% full.

 

Photos I have seen of our boat show the external cratch board as unpainted but varnished - what prompted me to ask is that the paint that has obviously subsequently been applied doesn't look as if it has taken that well and it is I suspect the Toplac paints that were left over or supplied by the builder/painter for touch up purposes.

 

I guess it wasn't prepped very well before they applied it.

[alan_fincher]

It is always, (in my experience) far, far harder to get paint to stay consistently on external wooden bits of a boat, than steel. I'm no expert, but suggest moisture and movement have most to do with that.

 

Even properly prepped hardwood, with a proper wood primer, and requisite number of undercoats and topcoats is unlikely to survive as well as steel, where correct procedures have been followed.

 

I remember publishing some pictures of the "restored" Dover a year or two back. Paint on the metal bits had largely survived, (albeit dulled, particularly on the red), but the hardwood rails and other attachments to the cabin were in complete disarray. Currently Sickle is doing the same - most paint still in good order, but wooden "slide" really suffering.

 

Painting on top of varnish I think is always likely to be problematic. In such cases you really do need to go right back to untainted wood, and start again.

 

For 50% full cans you need to make a judgement if it still looks like good paint once any skin is taken away. If it is thick, lumpy, or in any way out of the usual, I'd bin it and buy new - but if it looks like new paint, it will generally be fine in my experience.

[Guest]

Cheers Alan.

[lexicon]

Both will be fine on wood if the paint is ok. Used in the last month on a wooden top on my build.

Use good primer and remember to key each coat with wet and dry. Watch the hardening times as it needs a while to go hard ready to be sanded. Longer than normal in these low temperatures.

[GeoffS]

I have used black Toplac on both steel and wood. I have recently refurbished the cratch board and took parts of it back to bare wood, used 2 coats of Pre Kote and then 2 coats of Toplac as well as repainting all the sides and gunwhales. What was on the cratch before was Toplac and apart from the very weathered parts has lasted very well.

[Mike Tee]

Where has it been stored? If it has been exposed to heavy frost/freezing, it may not be too good, particularly as the cans are half empty (or half full, depending on your outlook!). And we have had a bit of snow and cold weather over the past eight years.

Probably down to the small print on lots of things 'Try it on a small area first'

[Ex- Member]

Many paints stink if hey go off and no longer any good or they turn to jelly. as long as the skin isn;t too thick and it all stirs up ok then it will be ok to use. Funnily enough I opened a half used tin on eggshell the other day, de skinned stirred and it's now adorning a table Lynn wanted to paint.

 

I've also been having a clear out and have several 5 litre tins of paint 6 years old some opened to check but unused and some still sealed unopened. It's what I originally bought for the boat but decided it wasn't he right stuff, It's a cellulose based paint ideal for spraying I have Red Green and Cream would be an ideal coating for protective purposes internally on a boat inner hull etc, I don't want money for it but it's a shame to sling it as I have no use for it. It's Stokes metal paint BTW

[frangar]

I would advise using a 2 pack epoxy then overcoating with paint...using a metal not wood primer cos the wood primer wont have anything to sink into if the epoxy has done its job correctly....Im sure others will have differing opinions but this method has worked well on all my exterior woodwork (Handrails, doors, hatches etc)

 

HTH

 

Gareth

[Higgs]

I usually thin the primer down, like varnish, for the first coat. 50%, 75%, last one at full coat. This to provide a good mechanical bond and the paint is not so much just laying on the surface.

[Hairy-Neil]

I medium/long term store part used tins upside down. The skin then never causes me any problems.

[Guest]

Thanks all for the further comments.

[Guest]

We have spent most of the last couple of days prepping and repainting the cratch board, new light and horn too.

 

The paint we found went on fine and looks really good.

 

Thanks for the advice and apols. for bumping a year old thread.

[Grace and Favour]

We have spent most of the last couple of days prepping and repainting the cratch board, new light and horn too.

 

The paint we found went on fine and looks really good.

 

Thanks for the advice and apols. for bumping a year old thread.

Just don't bump your cratch!

[David Schweizer]

I would advise using a 2 pack epoxy then overcoating with paint...using a metal not wood primer cos the wood primer wont have anything to sink into if the epoxy has done its job correctly....Im sure others will have differing opinions but this method has worked well on all my exterior woodwork (Handrails, doors, hatches etc)

 

HTH

 

Gareth

 

I did something similar on the recessed panels on our Deck Board, except that I used two pack fibreglass resin plus a sheet of fine glass matting. I did it beacause the previous paintwork which was embelished by Ron Hough's roses only lasted about four years before it started to peel off. The new "coated" surface (with more roses by Ron Hough) has been on for more than four years now and the paint is still pristine, unike the framing which is uncoated and was only re painted last year!!

[smileypete]

Paint sticks to metal better as metal doesn't absorb water and get damp, or move with the seasons, making paint or varnish more likely to let go. Best thing with wood is makes sure its well coated on *all* sides to minimise the chance of this happening.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~