Painting Boat

[hscott]

Hello

 

Wonder for any advice/pearls of wisdom/words of warning.

 

We own a 12 year old ex-hire cruiser stern nb, 56' long.

 

Bits of rust have recently started to become more visible than they were last year (to be expected!) and we're wanting to re-paint.

 

It looks as though this boat (as I imagine is the case with many hire boats) has been re=painted with coat on top of coat to keep it looking good, without getting stripped down.

 

We can't really afford the cost of professional preparation/painting, and being honest I love a challenge and would consider doing it myself (I am aware that TIME would be needed and that would be no problem as I have a long summer holiday this year) however I need advice/info before attempting to go down this route.

 

What would anyone suggest? Is it necessary to strip ALL the paint off (if so, HOW would be the best way to go about this...) or just sand down the rusty bits, deal with the rust, build up the gaps and paint over the top of everything. Help!

 

Many thanks,

 

Edited March 27, 2008 by hscott

[Liam]

Mine was the same, and I think it is fair to say that the older the boat is the more coats of paint it'll have. I just took a sander to mine to get rid of the rusty spots and then went over it all again for good measure to flatten it out. I see no reason why you need to strip it back to bare metal, there's no problems with it but it's just extra hard work. As long as the area you're wanting to paint isn't rusty and what's already there is solid and not flaking or dirty or whatever then it can be painted over.

[hscott]

Hi there - thank you for your quick response!!!

 

There are areas that are flaky - namely the roof and handrails (which are solid and attached to the roof...)

 

What would you reccommend with these bits?

[Liam]

A berluddy good sanding... and then some more sanding. To top it off, some more sanding. Preparation, preparation, preparation... is the key!

 

My gunnels were a bloody state, about 10 layers of different paint that was all flaking, that bad in fact that I used one of these... it drove the flaky stuff right off, only leaving me a small task of lightly sanding and then wiping the area clean from dust etc.

 

 

The roof was probably the worst, but the scraper wouldn't work on that. It wasn't flakey, it was just covered with rust spots, and there was that much paint that had chipped off it left mini recesses in the top. That took ages to sand, I just had to keep at it and although the roof isn't perfectly flat (which boat roof is?) there are no mini valleys which you will spot a mile off once you start painting.

[Malarky]

I would go with Liam on this, but whilst getting rid of loose paint with the scraper, arm yourself with some red oxide paint, sandpaper and wire brush to get any rust off, and "blob" on the red oxide as you go, as it is easy to forget where all the blemishes were. If you really can't remove some rust, first try knocking it out with a nail or something, and as a last resort apply "jelonite".

[hscott]

Thank you both so much for your advice so far - much appreciated!

 

I'd really love to do it - I estimate it would take 2-3 weeks to do it well, working every day - maybe this is an over-estimation, but I hope not an under-estimation!

 

For a 56' boat, does anyone have any idea how much paint would be required?

 

Sorry for the plethora of questions! As a weekend-only boater, am looking forward SO much to time in the summer to just be on the boat!!

[Liam]

My parents have a 50ft'er, and although I can't remember how much paint my Dad used, I remember that they were "under the arch" painting for around a good 4 or 5 weekends which is Saturday and Sunday only. That wasn't for the full job though, as it was rubbed down, prepared and primed before it went under cover for the top coats!

 

Aren't you glad you don't have a 70ft'er!

[hscott]

My parents have a 50ft'er, and although I can't remember how much paint my Dad used, I remember that they were "under the arch" painting for around a good 4 or 5 weekends which is Saturday and Sunday only. That wasn't for the full job though, as it was rubbed down, prepared and primed before it went under cover for the top coats!

 

Aren't you glad you don't have a 70ft'er!

 

I offer much thanks for that fact!!!!!!

[Phil Speight]

Thank you both so much for your advice so far - much appreciated!

I'd really love to do it - I estimate it would take 2-3 weeks to do it well, working every day - maybe this is an over-estimation, but I hope not an under-estimation!

For a 56' boat, does anyone have any idea how much paint would be required?

Sorry for the plethora of questions! As a weekend-only boater, am looking forward SO much to time in the summer to just be on the boat!!

If you use a synthetic enamel or a one pack polyurethane ( Craftmaster, International, Blakes , Rylards, "Masons" etc.) then you will cover about 12 sq.metres per litre. A rule of thumb would be one coat per litre per cabin-side. That would do the bulkheads , the gunwhales, hatches and both ends as well. The roof counts as two cabin sides. Please- no one challenge these figures - they are too soft a target , I did say it was a rule of thumb.

If you search this section of these pages you will find countless contributions covering most aspects of painting.

 

Phil

Edited March 31, 2008 by Dhutch

[pukkapainter]

Hello

 

Wonder for any advice/pearls of wisdom/words of warning.

 

We own a 12 year old ex-hire cruiser stern nb, 56' long.

 

Bits of rust have recently started to become more visible than they were last year (to be expected!) and we're wanting to re-paint.

 

It looks as though this boat (as I imagine is the case with many hire boats) has been re=painted with coat on top of coat to keep it looking good, without getting stripped down.

 

We can't really afford the cost of professional preparation/painting, and being honest I love a challenge and would consider doing it myself (I am aware that TIME would be needed and that would be no problem as I have a long summer holiday this year) however I need advice/info before attempting to go down this route.

 

What would anyone suggest? Is it necessary to strip ALL the paint off (if so, HOW would be the best way to go about this...) or just sand down the rusty bits, deal with the rust, build up the gaps and paint over the top of everything. Help!

 

Many thanks,

 

 

I would suggest you just sand down the worst bits as stripping the whole thing back is neccessary hard work.

as for the rust you can put some owatrol oil onto the rust spots 1 day before painting and this will prevent the rust re-appearing.

 

check out this page, found some good info here

 

http://www.owatrol.uk.com/docs/Owatrol%20Oil.pdf

[bag 'o' bones]

Warm the cleaned rust scab with a hot air gun (or even a gas blow lamp if your very carefull) to drive moisture out of the pitting and then coat with zince primer before repainting.

Rust won't return. I've used this technique loads of times from classic cars to steam engines.

Phosphoric acid is another good one (the active ingredient in Jenolite). You can buy it by the litre from a chemical supplies, or though to be fair probally not a good idea to use it on a boat in the water!