Interior painting

[gibbu]

Hi. We are carrying out a partial refit of our narrowboat. At present the shell is lined with varnished and veneered 3-ply and we intend to paint the interior an off-white so that it doesn't feel like the 1970's. We're pretty new to this, although not stupid! So far we have sanded and then wood-fillered any holes and rough parts, and then re-sanded. Any areas that are a little worse for wear around windows we have sanded a bit more aggressively, covered with a wood-rot treatment, wood fillered if necessary, and then finally roughened up a bit with sandpaper so that the undercoat/primer can take hold. We have used a damp proof white emulsion undercoat (Wickes own brand), and then plan to cover that with a silk or matte finish top coat. Does this sound like a decent course of action? I'm presuming the top coat should not be water-based? Can anyone suggest a good paint type to choose from that's available in somewhere like Wickes or B&Q? We have only completed one room so far, and then it occurred to me that maybe we could have gone with a one-coat (combined primer & topcoat) wood paint, thus saving time, and possibly money. The boat (65ft 1998 narrowboat) is not damp, but a damp-proof undercoat/primer seemed like a good idea to us at the time. Any thoughts would be much appreciated!!

[BlueStringPudding]

My brother painted his interior in bog standard emulsion and it's lasted fine, three years on. He was painting over top of old emulsion on the walls.

 

In my boat, I used in some rooms oil-based gloss and in some rooms eggshell - painting over some surfaces which were primed ply, and some which were vinyl wallpaper. And all those have been fine too and lasted 3-6 years so far with no cracking or peeling.

 

I think as long as you don't let your boat interior get any damper on the inside than you would do a house, you're unlikely to have trouble with any of those. Only thing you might get if you use matt emulsion, is handprints because being a boat that moves around, it's possible that you or others on the boat might put hands against surfaces more than you might in a house.

Edited June 23, 2013 by BlueStringPudding

[Sunsoup]

I maybe mistaken, but don't B&Q sell a type of paint that is designed to be used in bathrooms? Surely this type of paint would stand up to dampness.

[madcat]

I've been visiting on a boat with cream painted ply above gunnel height and very light and airy it is too. Washable emulsion copes very well,occasional wipe down keeps it clean . Easy to re coat , brushes wash in water and great choice of colours too.

[smileypete]

If you can 'back prime' the hidden side and edges of the panelling especially where windows are, with a primer or protective wood stain, it'll protect the wood from any condensation and could save a lot of future grief.

 

The acrylic based '10x tougher' scrubable kitchen bathroom paints are pretty hardy though a bit more tricky to apply, probably a washable matt would be enough.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~