Paint

[Greybeard]

Hi

 

Going to be painting above the water line if we ever get any decent weather.

 

I've checked the previous threads and there seems to be quite a few different brands.

 

I'm looking for a black high gloss don't mind single or twin pack - brush on or roller.

 

Jotun is a name that appears occasionally but I'll take any recommendations as well as any tips (good or bad)

 

Just up to the gunnells.Won't be using it on the sides, roof or decks.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[Tony Brooks]

Hi

 

Going to be painting above the water line if we ever get any decent weather.

 

I've checked the previous threads and there seems to be quite a few different brands.

 

I'm looking for a black high gloss don't mind single or twin pack - brush on or roller.

 

Jotun is a name that appears occasionally but I'll take any recommendations as well as any tips (good or bad)

 

Just up to the gunnells.Won't be using it on the sides, roof or decks.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

 

 

Thats the area where I consider the paintwork as a service item because it always seems to collect scratches and knocks - even if its from some person charging into the lock after you saying "I like playing dodgems" as he bangs you against the wall - so I try to rub out the rust, patch prime and repaint every year. I refuse to pay premium prices (sorry Phil) for this particular area and after trying a load of paints ranging from Blakes gloss black through some so called anti-rust self priming paint I have finally settled for Dulux Trade Gloss. However if you never scratch your boat there then it would probably be worthwhile using a decent paint.

 

If its not black try to ensure you can get touch-up paint locally and not have to mail order it every time and remember chandlers do just stop selling particular brands at times.

 

I have used Phil's paint (Craftmaster), Narrowboat Colours, Blakes, Masons and brushing synthetic coach paint made up by my local vehicle paint supplier and to be honest I can find little difference.

[Greybeard]

Thats the area where I consider the paintwork as a service item because it always seems to collect scratches and knocks - even if its from some person charging into the lock after you saying "I like playing dodgems" as he bangs you against the wall - so I try to rub out the rust, patch prime and repaint every year. I refuse to pay premium prices (sorry Phil) for this particular area and after trying a load of paints ranging from Blakes gloss black through some so called anti-rust self priming paint I have finally settled for Dulux Trade Gloss. However if you never scratch your boat there then it would probably be worthwhile using a decent paint.

 

If its not black try to ensure you can get touch-up paint locally and not have to mail order it every time and remember chandlers do just stop selling particular brands at times.

 

I have used Phil's paint (Craftmaster), Narrowboat Colours, Blakes, Masons and brushing synthetic coach paint made up by my local vehicle paint supplier and to be honest I can find little difference.

Interesting about the painting being an ongoing saga.

 

Only had the boat for a year now and it's surprising, to me at least, how much paintwork needs repairing.

 

I know what you mean about dodgems.

 

That's why we need to paint the sides and replace the boat name on one side all mostly due to a particular hire boat company - only a few minor grazes caused by my steering of course!

[Tony Brooks]

Interesting about the painting being an ongoing saga.

 

Only had the boat for a year now and it's surprising, to me at least, how much paintwork needs repairing.

 

I know what you mean about dodgems.

 

That's why we need to paint the sides and replace the boat name on one side all mostly due to a particular hire boat company - only a few minor grazes caused by my steering of course!

 

 

I bet the hire boat did not actually say what I quoted as he hit you and then get all flustered when he realised the panel on the cabin side was not a hire fleet one. I also suspect they apologised.

 

I am fairly happy to be moderately bumped by sober hireboaters in that situation, after all we all started somewhere.

[colin loach]

I used dulux weather shield and it still looks good after 1 year

[Greybeard]

I bet the hire boat did not actually say what I quoted as he hit you and then get all flustered when he realised the panel on the cabin side was not a hire fleet one. I also suspect they apologised.

 

I am fairly happy to be moderately bumped by sober hireboaters in that situation, after all we all started somewhere.

 

To be honest they did apologise the 1st time they hit us......and the 2nd as well actually.

 

The next few times we were hit I can't remember as we were too busy laughing - seeing the look of utter bewilderment as their boat develops a mind of it's own is all part of the fun.

 

We hired for a few years AND we hit a few boats (amongst other things) and personally I have no problems with hirers. SWMBO actually helped rescue one who fell off their boat into a lock last year - but only to stop our prop being fouled!

 

In all honesty I probably took more paint off going into the narrow locks than all the bumps from other boaters put together hence the smiley on my post.

 

Paint.

 

I've decided on the Rhino range. Commercial vehicle quality. £37.80 for 5 litres. Applied by brush or roller. Hard wearing. And NO I don't work for them

 

Mike

[ditchcrawler]

To be honest they did apologise the 1st time they hit us......and the 2nd as well actually.

 

The next few times we were hit I can't remember as we were too busy laughing - seeing the look of utter bewilderment as their boat develops a mind of it's own is all part of the fun.

 

We hired for a few years AND we hit a few boats (amongst other things) and personally I have no problems with hirers. SWMBO actually helped rescue one who fell off their boat into a lock last year - but only to stop our prop being fouled!

 

In all honesty I probably took more paint off going into the narrow locks than all the bumps from other boaters put together hence the smiley on my post.

 

Paint.

 

I've decided on the Rhino range. Commercial vehicle quality. £37.80 for 5 litres. Applied by brush or roller. Hard wearing. And NO I don't work for them

 

Mike

Where is your name painted if you managed to take it off in a lock?

Brian

[Greybeard]

Where is your name painted if you managed to take it off in a lock?

Brian

 

No the hirer took it off while we were moored. (it's down the pointy end on the side - still learning what the different bits of boats are called)

 

Even I'm not bad enough at steering to take it off in a lock. (I always blamed it on the current when I hit something but as we were on the T&M no one believed me)

 

I did see someone who had taken the navigation light off of the side of their boat in a lock last year.

 

We went through the lock after them and I'm still puzzled how they managed it.

 

It was at the top of the side of the boat which was angled back from the edge of the gunnells.

 

Mike

[international_boatbuilder]

Thats the area where I consider the paintwork as a service item because it always seems to collect scratches and knocks - even if its from some person charging into the lock after you saying "I like playing dodgems" as he bangs you against the wall - so I try to rub out the rust, patch prime and repaint every year. I refuse to pay premium prices (sorry Phil) for this particular area and after trying a load of paints ranging from Blakes gloss black through some so called anti-rust self priming paint I have finally settled for Dulux Trade Gloss. However if you never scratch your boat there then it would probably be worthwhile using a decent paint.

 

If its not black try to ensure you can get touch-up paint locally and not have to mail order it every time and remember chandlers do just stop selling particular brands at times.

 

I have used Phil's paint (Craftmaster), Narrowboat Colours, Blakes, Masons and brushing synthetic coach paint made up by my local vehicle paint supplier and to be honest I can find little difference.

 

As a builder but very definately a boater I have isues with patch priming, undercoating, glossing etc in the main wear areas, get a life ( no offence intended) and just gloss over the imperfections, its almost garanteed if you try the former method that damage wil occur again before you get to top coat. Dry dock, blacking time is the opportunity to sort the job properly then just a quick flash over till next time.

[Tony Brooks]

As a builder but very definately a boater I have isues with patch priming, undercoating, glossing etc in the main wear areas, get a life ( no offence intended) and just gloss over the imperfections, its almost garanteed if you try the former method that damage wil occur again before you get to top coat. Dry dock, blacking time is the opportunity to sort the job properly then just a quick flash over till next time.

 

 

Who said anything about undercoating. As someone with a vehicle background I am less than happy with rusty steel under paint. Once or twice a year I am happy to devote a few hours a side to that hull area. It goes like this:

 

At about 15.00 rub back all the rust areas and any part when the paint has been "pulled" so it looks a bit flake and feather the edges. Patch prime with a fast, "antirust" primer, a couple of hours later over prime & leave overnight. Next morning wet flat to a fairly smooth surface and feather as best as I can. A quick wet flat of the whole area (about half an hour) and scrub all of it down with a course brush & sugar soap, rinse off and leather. When dry roller gloss on and lay off. By now my wife is back from the shops so we have coffee. By the time we are ready to move the paint has flashed off so it is less likely to be damaged. That evening inspect the job against low sun and overcoat any areas where primer shows through. A detail sander & random orbital sander help a lot.

 

Thats it for another year.

 

Now lets see what would happen if I waited the two to four years between blacking. The over painted rust would work deeper and creep further under the paint film. Having paid the yard to black They do it on the hard & I can not reach the above the top rubbing strake so that no time to do it. Back alongside the canal bank (no major painting in marina) facing a much tougher job with much more paint removal being required so I have gained absolutely nothing AND if any filler had been exposed the hull may well now be rusting beneath it being porous.

 

Its horses for courses and everyone does as they think best. I would never paint over rust because it looks bad and the paint falls off.

[alan_fincher]

I did see someone who had taken the navigation light off of the side of their boat in a lock last year.

 

We went through the lock after them and I'm still puzzled how they managed it.

 

It was at the top of the side of the boat which was angled back from the edge of the gunnells.

I've seen more than one navigation light ripped from the cabinside by people using ropes in locks, and getting them hooked under the light.

 

Without obstructions on the outside of the boat, ropes seldom have anything to catch on, but the more junk there is sticking out, the more likely you are to get in a muddle.

 

My feeling is that the majority of narrowboats with navigation lights fitted have little need of them. I would suggest only a small minority only venture anywhere where they are obligatory.

 

I'm astounded at the number of people who make like hard for themselves with a "flag pole" or other kind of mast in their working areas.

 

Alan

[starman]

I have used Phil's paint (Craftmaster), Narrowboat Colours, Blakes, Masons and brushing synthetic coach paint made up by my local vehicle paint supplier and to be honest I can find little difference.

 

I hate to disagree with the immensely knowledgeable Tony but when repainting the cabin sides of our boat last year we tried one panel in a 'regular' trade black and a similar panel in Craftmaster black - same prep on both. The Craftmaster had a very apparent fuller and richer depth of colour. So much so that even though it was just simple black rather than a more specialist narrowboat colour we damned the expense and used it.

 

But whether to use expensive gloss finishes on vulnerable hull sides is a whole other question. Blacking or a cheap gloss makes more sense there.

[Tony Brooks]

I hate to disagree with the immensely knowledgeable Tony but when repainting the cabin sides of our boat last year we tried one panel in a 'regular' trade black and a similar panel in Craftmaster black - same prep on both. The Craftmaster had a very apparent fuller and richer depth of colour. So much so that even though it was just simple black rather than a more specialist narrowboat colour we damned the expense and used it.

 

But whether to use expensive gloss finishes on vulnerable hull sides is a whole other question. Blacking or a cheap gloss makes more sense there.

 

 

Never said any different. I am talking about the area between the top rubbing strake and the gunnels. I would black it to a inch of the gunnels if we did not regularly cruise the Thames in the summer where I think it would be a bit unfair to all those nice fender socks on the cruisers.

[Neil TNC]

I hate to disagree with the immensely knowledgeable Tony but when repainting the cabin sides of our boat last year we tried one panel in a 'regular' trade black and a similar panel in Craftmaster black - same prep on both. The Craftmaster had a very apparent fuller and richer depth of colour. So much so that even though it was just simple black rather than a more specialist narrowboat colour we damned the expense and used it.

 

But whether to use expensive gloss finishes on vulnerable hull sides is a whole other question. Blacking or a cheap gloss makes more sense there.

 

 

With Earnest we opted for Hammerite silk black for the gunnel area, above the top rubbing strake up to the start of the cabin sides. It has been brillant. You can if you want a quick touch up, paint over cleaned up steel. Generally I have a quick whizz with a flexi disc small angle grinder, to get an edge. Rub down with 40, then 80 grit Production paper, a coat or two of Bondaprime red oxide, then a couple of coats of Hammerite. It is touch dry in a hour, so good for on the move fettling. (TNC crew will know that is sometimes what I do!) Another good thing about Hammerite is it is relativly cheap and you can buy it in B&Q or Homebase.

Between dockings, I re-do the whole gunnel area in Hammerite, with a mini roller. Earnest's gunnels do look a bit careworn, but never rusty and that is after rather a lot of salty splashing down the sides.

As for cabin side gloss we opted for Mason's again, which went down well with Earnest's painter, because he did all his training and early career as a Coach and commercial body painter and used Masons most of the time.

Earnest's 10th birthday is next April Fool's day and it still has the original side panel paintwork, which still looks OK, even thougn It has good few battle scars that have been touched up.

[starman]

Never said any different. I am talking about the area between the top rubbing strake and the gunnels. I would black it to a inch of the gunnels if we did not regularly cruise the Thames in the summer where I think it would be a bit unfair to all those nice fender socks on the cruisers.

 

My only point was that IMHO even in black it was possible to see the difference between Craftmaster and a cheaper trade paint - believe me we would have gone for the cheap stuff otherwise!

It has become a fashion to gloss-up the upper hull sides which is fine (it improves the visual lines of many boats) so long as you're prepared to accept the scrapes and maintain it. Trouble is that some of these fashionistas who've forked out for costly paint jobs don't accept the scrapes!

[ditchcrawler]

I've seen more than one navigation light ripped from the cabinside by people using ropes in locks, and getting them hooked under the light.

 

Without obstructions on the outside of the boat, ropes seldom have anything to catch on, but the more junk there is sticking out, the more likely you are to get in a muddle.

 

My feeling is that the majority of narrowboats with navigation lights fitted have little need of them. I would suggest only a small minority only venture anywhere where they are obligatory.

 

I'm astounded at the number of people who make like hard for themselves with a "flag pole" or other kind of mast in their working areas.

 

Alan

And how many of those boats with nav lights comply with the Col regs and hence the RCD that the builder said their boat is built to conform to.

[Phil Speight]

Never said any different. I am talking about the area between the top rubbing strake and the gunnels. I would black it to a inch of the gunnels if we did not regularly cruise the Thames in the summer where I think it would be a bit unfair to all those nice fender socks on the cruisers.

That`s exactly what we do all the time if we were given freedom of choice between ultimate practicality and aesthetics. Hull blacking is for hulls - there seems little point i using anything else.

Phil