How long should professional rust treatment and re-painting last?

[Lovemyboat]

A bad rust patch developed on the roof of my boat after having a couple of coal bags sitting on it all summer.

I had it professionally dealt with, sanded, treated and painted in a boatyard at the end of May '21. By December' 21 it was rusting again. It is rusting over the entire area they sanded back. They charged me £400.i hVe repeatedly tried to contact the owner of the boatyard to put this right, but he never a ssers phone calls, texts or emails.

How long can I reasonably expect a job like this to last? Please help me. Thank you.

PS. The area they treated is about

5 sq..m.

[Rob-M]

Did you put the coal bags back on the same spot or leave it clear?  If you didn't put anything on it and with no damage to the paint I would expect it to last for years.  We had our roof painted 6 years ago, never store anything on the roof and it is still fine.

[Lovemyboat]

No, I never put the coal back. I store it on top of a n upside-down wooden pallet now.

[Tracy D'arth]

Longer than it has is my answer. Complain, trading standards, as a last resort small claims court.

Stitch the cheats up, too many boaters get ripped off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[ditchcrawler]

A well known boat painter said what do you expect when you leave snow on the roof. I think the painter might claim that its not designed to have pvc bags of coal on it

[Slow and Steady]

24 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

A well known boat painter said what do you expect when you leave snow on the roof. I think the painter might claim that its not designed to have pvc bags of coal on it

That was the original cause. After is was treated and repainted they stopped doing that but the rust came through the new treated/painted area after 6-7 months. Pretty poor I'd say - I treated and repainted my rusty roof 3-4 years ago and it's still fine.

[MtB]

Had my boat roof scabbled and re-painted 14 years go. Just beginning to rust through gain now. Cost a TONNE more than £400 though! 

 

 

[Slow and Steady]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

Had my boat roof scabbled and re-painted 14 years go. Just beginning to rust through gain now. Cost a TONNE more than £400 though! 

 

 

Yeah, but this was a 5 sq m patch, not the whole roof, but... seems like it was a quick bodge job for a cheap price. I'm guessing you don't get rust treatment plus enough coats and drying times for £400.

[Chris Lowe]

Not a boat but I painted my old mobie/park home chassis and tow bar with Hammerite  to stop it rusting, 25 years later when I moved the paint had faded but no rust.

This boatyard owes you.

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Slow and Steady said:

Yeah, but this was a 5 sq m patch, not the whole roof, but... seems like it was a quick bodge job for a cheap price. I'm guessing you don't get rust treatment plus enough coats and drying times for £400.

 

That was rather my point. £400 less say £50 for paint is barely a day's work for a skilled tradesman. Job was too cheap to do proper.

 

 

[Slow and Steady]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

That was rather my point. £400 less say £50 for paint is barely a day's work for a skilled tradesman. Job was too cheap to do proper.

 

 

So easy to be disappointed even if you do cough up a proper price in my experience. if you want to know a job's been done properly DIY - at least you only have yourself to blame if it goes wrong.

[Barneyp]

3 hours ago, Carolyn Ross said:

 

I had it professionally dealt with, sanded, treated and painted in a boatyard at the end of May '21. 

Properly done it should have lasted much longer than this, but this obviously wasn't done properly and as others have said the price you paid doesn't reflect a proper job.

What did you ask them to do, did you specify a process, or just say fix it? Just because you went to a boatyard, doesn't mean they were professionals, or knowledgeable on how to do the job properly. - for a start you say they sanded it, they should have done much more than that.

 

[blackrose]

The steel obviously wasn't prepped properly if the rust has come back so quickly but 400 quid isn't that much in the grand scheme of things even for a 5m2 area. You'll probably waste more time and energy chasing the guy and still get no joy so I'd just use it as a learning experience. Perhaps post a negative review on trust pilot or elsewhere so that others know to avoid the place.

6 minutes ago, Slow and Steady said:

So easy to be disappointed even if you do cough up a proper price in my experience. if you want to know a job's been done properly DIY - at least you only have yourself to blame if it goes wrong.

 

Yes I agree, but some people just aren't that way inclined.

1 minute ago, Barneyp said:

 Just because you went to a boatyard, doesn't mean they were professionals, or knowledgeable on how to do the job properly. - for a start you say they sanded it, they should have done much more than that.

 

 

Yes, many are just a bunch of cowboys.

[Chris Lowe]

10 minutes ago, blackrose said:

The steel obviously wasn't prepped properly

Even with that it won't rust that quick with hammerite

[AndrewIC]

5 square metres is huge. A full sheet of ply is less than 3 square metres.

[ditchcrawler]

Probably 3 linier meters on a roof, say 10 feet

[Bee]

I have always painted my own stuff - and sometimes it shows, but as we al know good prep matters but the only time rust has started to come through for me is when the top coat is too thin or there is just one top coat. Its quite easy to get a good looking job with one coat of gloss but it just won't last. A coat of paint is awfully thin and weather is very unkind to paint and expecting it to do miracles is unrealistic, two or three coats is needed and this is probably what has happened here.

[LadyG]

11 hours ago, buccaneer66 said:

Even with that it won't rust that quick with hammerite

Before everyone goes out and buys Hammerite, it has a major problem, it's difficult to overcoat. Very shiny, slippery on a roof.

I use Rustoleum on my cabin sides, it s 'gloss' is actually semi gloss and does not need a primer, it will cope with rust, but any ful knows you need to prep rust properly. Rustoleum Combi Color rolls on well, no sag, no brush marks if you are reasonably proficient, it will sand off after a few weeks if you decide to change the colour, I used two coats, over two mild days, see data sheet. Main problem is getting 100% cover on second day, but as sun moves around I was able to touch up with roller again. It's not a pro job Craftmaster paint, but it is tough, and a good finish, it took ten days, paint and materials, poly tunnel, brushes, rollers,  tapes, about £500.

I think I paid £300 for a boy to sand off the roof last year, it was not a great job, not as discussed, and rust was lightly covered with a splish of paint, I redid that, and this year did it again, the upstand to the mushrooms are not good, they need to be sanded and etched before priming. This is not what I expected when I paid a yard to do the job, they knew how to do it, but did not do it, what can you do!

I used SML marine paint on gunwales semi gloss, and roof, SML marine undercoat/flat topcoat type. I used Sandtex gloss black for detail, it is high gloss, I  used Sandtex undercoat to get a good smooth base, sanding will improve surface. If it is not reasonably smooth use a filler type primer. The more time you spend on prep the better the result. Use a good rotary sander, and a detail sander, lots of sanding 80 down to 120 grit or more.

My knees hurt.

Edited April 24, 2022 by LadyG

[Murflynn]

10 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Probably 3 linier meters on a roof, say 10 feet

 

that's an awful lot of coal bags.  I'm surprised the boat didn't capsize !  

[Donkey]

..a few years ago we had our boat painted by a "professional" boat painter at significant cost and in some areas the paint started to lift within 3 months.....painter not interested...

Edited April 24, 2022 by Donkey

[Slow and Steady]

I thought brush painting would be difficult, but really it's not so hard if you take your time. I'd never done it before I did this under a bridge - rollered on and laid off with a brush. It's all in the prep as they say. Damned time consuming - I'd rather spray 2-pac but that's a non-starter on a boat. 3 years later it still looks the same. Top tip - use expensive paint, it'll last much longer.

 

[pete.i]

15 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Before everyone goes out and buys Hammerite, it has a major problem, it's difficult to overcoat. Very shiny, slippery on a roof.

I use Rustoleum on my cabin sides, it s 'gloss' is actually semi gloss and does not need a primer, it will cope with rust, but any ful knows you need to prep rust properly. Rustoleum Combi Color rolls on well, no sag, no brush marks if you are reasonably proficient, it will sand off after a few weeks if you decide to change the colour, I used two coats, over two mild days, see data sheet. Main problem is getting 100% cover on second day, but as sun moves around I was able to touch up with roller again. It's not a pro job Craftmaster paint, but it is tough, and a good finish, it took ten days, paint and materials, poly tunnel, brushes, rollers,  tapes, about £500.

I used SML marine paint on gunwales semi gloss, and roof, SML marine undercoat/flat topcoat type. I used Sandtex gloss black for detail, it is high gloss, I  used Sandtex undercoat to get a good smooth base, sanding will improve surface. The more time you spend on prep the better the result. Use a good rotary sander, and a detail sander, lots of sanding 80 down to 120 grit or more.

My knees hurt.

AND Hammerite is only ordinary paint these days after the EU got hold of it and made the manufacturers take out ingredient that made it good. Once you had to buy special thinners for hammerite but not any more. It thins down with ordinary turps now and is absolutely no better than any other oil based paint. It used to have to be thinned using trichloroethylene but the EU nannies got hold of it and that element has been taken out so now it's rubbish but still expensive. Okay I know trike is dangerous but so is crossing the road.

[Slow and Steady]

1 minute ago, pete.i said:

AND Hammerite is only ordinary paint these days after the EU got hold of it and made the manufacturers take out ingredient that made it good. Once you had to buy special thinners for hammerite but not any more. It thins down with ordinary turps now and is absolutely no better than any other oil based paint. It used to have to be thinned using trichloroethylene but the EU nannies got hold of it and that element has been taken out so now it's rubbish but still expensive. Okay I know trike is dangerous but so is crossing the road.

On the other hand, to paint over it with anything other than hammerite without pickling you had to remove it all! Horrible stuff. 

[Donkey]

On some of the areas of our newly painted boat that had started to lift I just sanded them back, primed and topcoated with a brush and those areas were still sound 3 years later...OK the finish was not as good, but perfectly acceptable.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Floor paint works for me.

Key the surface thoroughly with sandpaper and a wire brush, touch up places that need it with what ever primers I have on board.

A couple of coats of floor paint dries hard and tough.