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I'm painting my boat!


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When I was a student, 25 years ago, we had a landlord who lived on a boat in a very posh marina. Whenever we called him about an issue with our house share he would say "I can't come now, I'm painting my boat!". When he did turn up he would do drunken DIY in the girl's rooms and ignore the rest of us. One time I called him about a leak in the bathroom that was pouring water through a light fitting in the kitchen... leaving a puddle. He turned up, looked at it, muttered unintelligibly and left... I can only assume he was used to a certain amount of bilge water in the galley.

 

Anecdote aside... I'm painting my boat!

 

My second hand boat (2009, one previous owner) is thankfully mostly rust free. The engine bilge is in pretty good nick but there is some rust where the boat has had knocks in the usual places (I include a couple of pictures) and a bit on the stern deck. There is also some branding (family names, roses and castles etc.) of a fairly ammeterish nature. When I bought it the boat had not been blacked for a few years... the anodes had perished but the survey was good. I had it blacked and new anodes affixed.

 

I've painted any number of houses but I have zero experience of boat painting. My intention is to do some preventative anti-rust work and then - probably next year - rent a polytunnel and do a complete makeover.

 

I've been told to use emery paper to attack the rust, then a zinc based primer, then a top coat in the colour of my choosing. So, questions...

 

1) Does the rust look bad enough that I'll need to power tool it, if so, with what?
2) Are all primers / rust treatments created equally? Recommendations?
3) What's the easiest way to match colours and should I even bother given these are just preventative measures.
4) Where can I find a hobbit to paint my engine bay when it needs doing in a few years

rust 1.jpg

rust 2.jpg

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See the hints and tips page on the craftmaster website if you are considering the traditional coach painting route, a good summary of the various elements of the whole process. Others will advise various short cuts depending on the results you wish to achieve. On something the size of a narrowboat then get to know which power tools you will need to save time and elbow grease (eg angle grinder with clean and strip discs for rust, and RO sander for dealing with painting large panel areas, are typical minimum to save a lot of time)

Most paints are british standard colours, but they all fade. If your existing paint is more than a few years old it will be a different colour now from what came out of the tin originally, so colour matching is an interesting concept.

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That's collateral damage and inevitable if you go boating. You won't get an accurate match because the sun will have bleached the original. 

My gunnels are painted silk black so I can roller on a new coat whenever necessary. Dead easy.

 

You can use rust killer now or accept that it will spread a bit by the time you do the full job

 

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Hobbits for engine room painting appear to be in short supply. Cruising the Cut in one his vlogs dealt with this by having his engine lifted out by a boat yard. Superficially it seemed a bit extreme, but the more I think about it the more sensible it seems - a case of do it once and do it well.

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1 hour ago, Awayonmyboat said:

Hobbits for engine room painting appear to be in short supply. Cruising the Cut in one his vlogs dealt with this by having his engine lifted out by a boat yard. Superficially it seemed a bit extreme, but the more I think about it the more sensible it seems - a case of do it once and do it well.

is it so wrong i have dreams about a nicely painted engine bay?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 26/07/2020 at 19:35, IDS said:

See the hints and tips page on the craftmaster website if you are considering the traditional coach painting route, a good summary of the various elements of the whole process. Others will advise various short cuts depending on the results you wish to achieve. On something the size of a narrowboat then get to know which power tools you will need to save time and elbow grease (eg angle grinder with clean and strip discs for rust, and RO sander for dealing with painting large panel areas, are typical minimum to save a lot of time)

Most paints are british standard colours, but they all fade. If your existing paint is more than a few years old it will be a different colour now from what came out of the tin originally, so colour matching is an interesting concept.

Cheers I shall track all of that down!  I imagined it would be impossible to colour match or even identify what was originally used.  But I think I'll stick with one of the greens, mostly.  I don't really care what it looks like this year so long as I have tackled the rust, added some new layers where they are needed and got rid of the personal branding.

 

On 28/07/2020 at 21:28, Cheshire cat said:

That's collateral damage and inevitable if you go boating. You won't get an accurate match because the sun will have bleached the original. 

My gunnels are painted silk black so I can roller on a new coat whenever necessary. Dead easy.

 

You can use rust killer now or accept that it will spread a bit by the time you do the full job

 

I do think this is by far the best option.  Most scuffing obviously occurs at or below the gunnels so matching it with the hull is a no-brainer.  I'd like to think I haven't added much myself, but there was this lock on the Shroppy that did a number on me.

 

On 29/07/2020 at 06:04, Awayonmyboat said:

Hobbits for engine room painting appear to be in short supply. Cruising the Cut in one his vlogs dealt with this by having his engine lifted out by a boat yard. Superficially it seemed a bit extreme, but the more I think about it the more sensible it seems - a case of do it once and do it well.

Yes I saw that vid myself.  Unfortunately I have a semi trad with extraordinarily cramped engine access... and I'm not exactly from The Shire.  Between the survey and final purchase a load of work was done on the engine including new engine mounts, so it must have been removed completely... if I had trusted the final outcome at the time I definitely would have paid to have my bay repainted.  It's actually not bad at all yet but I knew it would be hell for me to get at it later on.

 

On 29/07/2020 at 07:18, robtheplod said:

is it so wrong i have dreams about a nicely painted engine bay?

We can but dream... or find a hobbit... or some sort of Mr Tickle character with extraordinarily long arms.

 

 

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I have limited time, so haven't read all replies or been to the various places recommended.

If it is of any help - we have had our narrowboat for 10 years and lack of time, confidence and knowledge resulted in our not looking after her as well as we should have.

The result is that we are now working very hard to bring her back to good condition.

We went to Caldwells - who made the windows - for window seals and advice -  a marvellous company and so helpful. All windows removed, cleaned and re-sealed. 

The metalwork around the windows is relevant to this post. There was significant rust around some of the windows so, before putting the newly sealed windows back in place, we had to deal with that.

I contacted a company called Boatpaint Ltd.  On a Saturday morning, they replied the same day giving me time, excellent advice and the confidence to tackle the task.

We ordered Holdtight Rust Inhibitor, Owatrol Corrosion Inhibitor and Epifanes Multi-primer, receiving not just the products, but also detailed printed notes on how to use them most effectively, to back up the verbal advice already given. We were also encouraged to contact them again if we needed further help.

The job takes time but, for someone who was originally quite scared of the task, it has proven to be straightforward, effective and extremely satisfying.  Still a long way to go, but the windows were very important because they were leaking and the water was badly affecting the wood inside the boat.

 

For the bottom, we had it done properly at Tarleton Boatyard - I cannot praise them highly enough. 

 

If any of this is of any help, good luck.

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6 hours ago, Dochasach said:

I have limited time, so haven't read all replies or been to the various places recommended.

If it is of any help - we have had our narrowboat for 10 years and lack of time, confidence and knowledge resulted in our not looking after her as well as we should have.

The result is that we are now working very hard to bring her back to good condition.

We went to Caldwells - who made the windows - for window seals and advice -  a marvellous company and so helpful. All windows removed, cleaned and re-sealed. 

The metalwork around the windows is relevant to this post. There was significant rust around some of the windows so, before putting the newly sealed windows back in place, we had to deal with that.

I contacted a company called Boatpaint Ltd.  On a Saturday morning, they replied the same day giving me time, excellent advice and the confidence to tackle the task.

We ordered Holdtight Rust Inhibitor, Owatrol Corrosion Inhibitor and Epifanes Multi-primer, receiving not just the products, but also detailed printed notes on how to use them most effectively, to back up the verbal advice already given. We were also encouraged to contact them again if we needed further help.

The job takes time but, for someone who was originally quite scared of the task, it has proven to be straightforward, effective and extremely satisfying.  Still a long way to go, but the windows were very important because they were leaking and the water was badly affecting the wood inside the boat.

 

For the bottom, we had it done properly at Tarleton Boatyard - I cannot praise them highly enough. 

 

If any of this is of any help, good luck.

That is indeed helpful. Aside from having to replace some mouldering draft excluder and tuck some porthole seals back in my windows thankfullly appear to be in good condition.  Not leaking at any rate and no signs of rust around them. The rust is confined to spots where the boat has been pranged over the years and some bits on the stern deck.  The roof has some slight rust discolouration in places. 

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I am glad your rust is not too bad.

We wanted to treat ours so that we would not have to worry. We have also treated several rust spots in the same way as our windows. 

ie

Sanded back to metal. 

Brushed on 'Hold Tight' which draws out any water.

After appropriate time, brushed on Owatrol - 2 coats needed.

Then 2 coats of Epifane Multi-primer and finally two coats of top paint.

 

The difference is amazing. My husband will use T-cut to blend in the spots just now, but eventually we will be doing the whole top of the boat in top coat.

 

I have done quicker repairs previously,, but they do not last.

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On 07/08/2020 at 10:36, Dochasach said:

I am glad your rust is not too bad.

We wanted to treat ours so that we would not have to worry. We have also treated several rust spots in the same way as our windows. 

ie

Sanded back to metal. 

Brushed on 'Hold Tight' which draws out any water.

After appropriate time, brushed on Owatrol - 2 coats needed.

Then 2 coats of Epifane Multi-primer and finally two coats of top paint.

 

The difference is amazing. My husband will use T-cut to blend in the spots just now, but eventually we will be doing the whole top of the boat in top coat.

 

I have done quicker repairs previously,, but they do not last.

The approach I'm interested in is to nuke the rust then make the exterior as hardy as possible.  Wellard.  This is my knockabout boat for the next year or two... maybe I'll want a shiny exterior on the next one, but I doubt it.  Shiny boats are for marina folk.

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Exactly!

Funnily enough I had just looked out of our window at a new broadbeam next to us and said to my husband that we would never match the glossy finish, but we would know we had no rust and were unlikely to have major rust in the future, because we have the knowledge and wherewithal to treat it.  It's a contact sport - we just need to know how to treat the injuries:)   I love seeing the rust spots nuked:)

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 09/08/2020 at 12:09, NewCanalBoy said:

Looks like a quick few swipes with a wire brush and most of that will disappear. Then rust converter on top.

Gets banged about on the canals so keep some spare paint to slap it back on every so often !

After I've dealt with the bits of rust I'm going to paint it black up to the gunwales, it's the simplest way to deal with any enemy contact.  I'm probably going to start with the roof however to get that done before my solar install... matt cream, so there is no glare, while reflecting as much heat as possible.  Early next year I'll get around to the rest of the bodywork, which will just be plain green... with go faster stripes, obviously.

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I could not agree more. Our hull is blacked from baseplate to top "plank", black up to the gunwales, black anti-slip on the gunwales, coach painted sides, back and front, and anti-slip the same colour on the roof. Same on the foredeck and rear deck, apart from the stylish black strip around the water tank hatch.  

 

The great advantage is that if you carry a tin of black gloss, you can touch- up scrapes before they go rusty. 

 

 

Edited by Machpoint005
for accuracy!
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4 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

I could not agree more. Our hull is blacked from baseplate to top "plank", black up to the gunwales, black anti-slip on the gunwales, coach painted sides, back and front, and anti-slip the same colour on the roof. Same on the foredeck and rear deck, apart from the stylish black strip around the water tank hatch.  

 

The great advantage is that if you carry a tin of black gloss, you can touch- up scrapes before they go rusty. 

 

 

Gloss ?

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15 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I once worked with a chap called Matt Black, I thought it was a wind up when I was told to go to an office and ask to speak to Matt Black.

Did he have the nickname ‘Chalky’?

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