Narrowboat Hull Painting

[Fozzi in Lancashire]

Hi Everyone, hope all is well and everyone has survived the strong winds & rain! Hopefully Spring is not to far off and we can start thinking of 

maintenance again! Just trying to get some info about hull blacking on my 23' Springer. Had GRP boats previously so this will be the first blacking

I've done for a while. She was over-plated with 5mm steel back in 2012 and at Jul 17 when purchasing, the hull survey reading there was hardly any 

change - 4.5mm in a few places but mostly 5mm. The boat when out will be jet washed and a few people have said use two coats of black bitumen

paint? This was used back in July 17 but I was just wondering which is the best one, quality & value for money etc? Any ideas/info would be a great

help. Thanks. Fozzi

[BilgePump]

A Springer is a bit more exepnsivre to drydock in most place because it needs blocking/chocking with its shallow V hull. Put two three coats open while it's in there

[pete.i]

3 coats minimum and an extra coat along the water line. Bottom line is that it's bitumin paint and bitumin is bitumin. We used Comastic.

[Traveller]

Out of interest, can you use Comastic over bitumen?

[David Mack]

Comastic is no longer available. I used Ballistic Black.

https://www.smlmarinepaints.co.uk/topcoats/single_pack/Boat-Blacking

[matty40s]

1 hour ago, Traveller said:

Out of interest, can you use Comastic over bitumen?

You couldnt, it used to craze after a while.....but you could bitumen over comastic.

 

Now, you just cant.

[Traveller]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

Comastic is no longer available. I used Ballistic Black.

https://www.smlmarinepaints.co.uk/topcoats/single_pack/Boat-Blacking

How did that go, Dave? Was that the paint that had some controversy around it (on here) at one point?

[David Mack]

6 minutes ago, Traveller said:

How did that go, Dave? Was that the paint that had some controversy around it (on here) at one point?

It went on fine and still looks good a couple of years down the line, although I haven't had the boat out of water since to see what it looks like below the water line.  A small area was painted over some gloss paint and that hasn't adhered so well. Guess I need to take that back to bare metal, or at least abrade it well before repainting.

The controversial stuff is Keelblack. The need to apply Fertan to all bare steel or rusty areas put me off that.

[haza]

a more expensive but a lot better ,,but it would mean shot blasting and 2 pac lasts a lot longer .again only a thought 

[Traveller]

Ah yes, thanks, it was Keelblack.

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, Traveller said:

Ah yes, thanks, it was Keelblack.

Funnily enough, I'm afloat opposite a boat on blocks that used that last spring. He came out of the water in the autumn just 7 months later because he was worried about its longevity, only to find that what hadn't already fallen of came off with a jet washer. 

[Traveller]

15 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Funnily enough, I'm afloat opposite a boat on blocks that used that last spring. He came out of the water in the autumn just 7 months later because he was worried about its longevity, only to find that what hadn't already fallen of came off with a jet washer. 

Does not bode well for Keelblack then.

[Slim]

4 hours ago, David Mack said:

Comastic is no longer available. I used Ballistic Black.

https://www.smlmarinepaints.co.uk/topcoats/single_pack/Boat-Blacking

Quote

I've used it 3 times so far. Last out last September after about 18 months. Not very long I know but the blacking was still perfectly sound.

 

[Troyboy]

On 04/03/2020 at 17:30, Fozzi in Lancashire said:

Hi Everyone, hope all is well and everyone has survived the strong winds & rain! Hopefully Spring is not to far off and we can start thinking of 

maintenance again! Just trying to get some info about hull blacking on my 23' Springer. Had GRP boats previously so this will be the first blacking

I've done for a while. She was over-plated with 5mm steel back in 2012 and at Jul 17 when purchasing, the hull survey reading there was hardly any 

change - 4.5mm in a few places but mostly 5mm. The boat when out will be jet washed and a few people have said use two coats of black bitumen

paint? This was used back in July 17 but I was just wondering which is the best one, quality & value for money etc? Any ideas/info would be a great

help. Thanks. Fozzi

I always use Sealex B130 Bitumen which is a gelled thixotropic bituminous coating for steel. It is really thick to apply not like the cheap watery stuff . I'm not sure where the cheapest place to purchase it is but in the past I bought some from Marine Megastore Ltd , Morpeth  and also from Paco Systems who are in Devon . Also bought some Vactan at the same time as any rust spots I wire brush and then apply Vactan before the Sealex B130. 

[Fozzi in Lancashire]

Hi Everyone, thanks for all the helpful comments, Dave M that Ballistic Black sounds good from SML.  Did you use brush or roller?

A lot in the Marina here seem to use a 7" microfibre roller, not sure how tough they are? Thanks again, Fozzi.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Fozzi in Lancashire said:

Hi Everyone, thanks for all the helpful comments, Dave M that Ballistic Black sounds good from SML.  Did you use brush or roller?

Both. A small (approx 4 inch long x 1.5 inch diameter) fleecy roller for the flat areas and brush to get the paint in and around rubbing bands, rivets, plate joints etc. (bearing in mind this was a 1936 hull).

The rollers came in a cheap set with a tray and a spare sleeve or two, the brushes were cheap brushes sold for treating fences. Just dunked them in water at the end of the day's work, shook them out next morning and carried on painting, then threw them away at the end of the week. No messy cleaning involved ( apart from the messy cleaning of some of my body parts).

Edited March 13, 2020 by David Mack

[Fozzi in Lancashire]

Thanks for that Dave, reckon a trip to Homebase may be on the cards for brushes & rollers then. Good about dunking them in water

at the end of each day. I'll try and keep most of the body parts covered!! Cheers.