Troyboy

Sad news indeed . Charlie fitted my narrowboat out 25 years ago and I still have the upturned wine bottle in the water system that he used in those days as a pressure regulator . Definitely one of lifes characters who really was a Do it yourself man who could turn his hand to anything .

Many thanks for the prompt replies and as the majority suggest it can be done particularly as I'll be using black I'll give it a go . Might wait until next Wednesday to buy the Dulux paint and get the 10% old codgers discount at B and Q .

Apologies if this has been covered before but I want to use gloss paint over some well weathered black bitumen . Is this possible ? I've owned my boat over 25 years and seem to remember many years ago doing this but the paint peeled off after a very short period of time . Knowing me I probably didn't use any primer and I might even have been painting over a coal tar based product as in those days I didn't realise there was a difference . Any advice would be most appreciated although I don't fancy taking 25 years of paint off to get back to bare metal if at all possible.

Congratulations . Now the fun starts . My boat is on the slip at the moment so shortly off to add a second coat of Sealex B130 bitumen to the hull and baseplate .

I buy and sell on ebay and find it brilliant way to get rid of items I no longer need and I've picked up the odd bargain . Most buyers and sellers are genuine and by using Paypal as a buyer you are well protected . Having said that I did purchase some counterfeit fuel filters from a Land Rover specialist but got my money back when I pointed it out to the seller . Made in DRC gave the game away somewhat although these days most things seem to be made in China .

I opened your link Alan for the original operators manual and read with interest under Fault Diagnosis - Loss of Power to check if brakes are binding . The joys of cut and paste . Reminded me of a story I heard many years ago regarding some hirers who on approaching a lock pulled the knob marked stop thinking it was the brakes .

I've been in touch with Spencer Coatings Ltd who manufacture if thats the right word Sealex B130 . Apparently it is OK to use Sealex B130 over coal tar products but not the other way round . Also temperature has to be above 5 degrees to apply it . Fingers crossed we don't get a cold spell at the end of February when my boat comes out

I'm wondering whether what I called red oxide is in fact red lead paint as being over 30 years old there was probably red lead paint being used in ' the good old days ' . Funny you should mention Comastic Tim as looking through my 'log' I have recorded that I used Comastic in 1999 with a product called Convertex or similar name on the rust . I suspect over the years I have used a combination of bitumen and coal tar I'll do as Pete suggested and contact the manufacturers of Sealex B130 . I've got a print out of the technical properties , surface preparation etc for Sealex B130 and I must say I'm bamboozled with all the figures Specific Gravity 1.06 typical , Volume Solids 44% typical , Recommended film thickness 200-300 microns wet , Theoretical spreading rate 3.3-5.0m/litres , flashpoint 33 degrees centigrade , VOC 448 g/l . Far too much information for me as all I want is some paint to stop my hull rusting . Thanks for your replies I must say this is a brilliant Forum I wish I'd found it earlier .

I have owned my steel narrowboat for over 25 years and every 3 or 4 years have been pressure washing , wire brushing , rust proofing where necessary then painting the hull with what I thought was black bitumen . Having read glowing reports about Sealex B130 I thought this year I would use that however on looking at the paint I used last time Rylard standard black I noticed it is coal tar varnish . Would I be best to use the Rylard coal tar again or can I use Sealex B130 ? Also which is the better product ? I try and keep my boating as economic as possible so please dont suggest sand blasting back to bare metal and starting from scratch with expensive etch primer etc as the original red oxide applied by Peter Nicholls 30 years ago is still adhered to the hull in many places except where normal boating has scraped it off . I have read that bitumen doesn't adhere well to red oxide which no doubt accounts for no bitumen / coal tar left on the waterline but plenty of red oxide paint showing which is obviously better than rust . Being new to the forum there are a number of other questions I have but I'll start with this one . I also paint the bottom plate and when surveyed 4 years ago for insurance purposes the surveyor commented that the hull was in better condition than some almost new boats he has surveyed . He actually recommended painting the bottom plate but no doubt that recommendation will be challenged by Forum members . I apologise for referring to both products as paint as I realise that the Sealex is a gelled thixotropic bitumen solution and the Rylard is a low viscosity coal tar varnish according to their manufacturers .