Painting gloss on yacht varnish?

[Tigerr]

Is it possible?

I have some yacht varnished heavy ply top boxes. I want to paint them up with harlequins to brighten the view from the stern.

sanded the varnish down to key it, marked it out and then when I applied my exterior gloss colour - the paint acted like it didn't really want to stick. 2 coats in and there are still pinholes to the varnish.

Can I carry on painting or must I strip back to the wood and apply primer etc?

Its a bit of a PIA as I have acrefully measured and masked it all out perfectly which took a solid 9 hrs and I have invested a further 6 hrs in painting so far!

[stuart23]

If you think the varnish is not going to delaminate(?) then I'd have thought you could sand it then add a decent primer before undercoat and topcoat...

[Tigerr]

Thanks for the reply.

I admit to having missed out the priming part - the varnish is very sound, so I just sanded back to roughen it. I am on 2nd coat of gloss now with another 3 in mind. The issue is the paints 'grip' on the varnish seems weak - almost like a rejection. If I carry on putting more layers on will it eventually take or is this a writeoff & start again?

I really don't want to start again if I can avoid it - I had hoped that successive layers of gloss would eventually win - but I wonder if it may all slide off anyway in a year or so.

[bizzard]

Thanks for the reply.

I admit to having missed out the priming part - the varnish is very sound, so I just sanded back to roughen it. I am on 2nd coat of gloss now with another 3 in mind. The issue is the paints 'grip' on the varnish seems weak - almost like a rejection. If I carry on putting more layers on will it eventually take or is this a writeoff & start again?

I really don't want to start again if I can avoid it - I had hoped that successive layers of gloss would eventually win - but I wonder if it may all slide off anyway in a year or so.

Oil based paint should be ok over anything and will not react,beware if using anything synthetic or chemical drying paint, if not sure of whats already there as it will probably react.

[smileypete]

Is it possible?

I have some yacht varnished heavy ply top boxes. I want to paint them up with harlequins to brighten the view from the stern.

sanded the varnish down to key it, marked it out and then when I applied my exterior gloss colour - the paint acted like it didn't really want to stick. 2 coats in and there are still pinholes to the varnish.

Can I carry on painting or must I strip back to the wood and apply primer etc?

Its a bit of a PIA as I have acrefully measured and masked it all out perfectly which took a solid 9 hrs and I have invested a further 6 hrs in painting so far!

Sounds like it could be 'fish eyes' due to silicone contamination, possibly from silicone polish. Maybe one of the boat painters on here or a local decorators merchant could recommend something.

 

A couple of thin coats of primer might be worth a try.

 

cheers,

Pete.

Edited January 31, 2012 by smileypete

[dave moore]

Hi

 

I'd certainly start with undercoats, not glosses.....as posted earlier, the fish eye spots could be caused by silicone residue. White spirit swabbing, or panel wipe, usually solves the problem or you could add a few drops of anti silicone additive to the paint. It's available from car refinishing paint suppliers. I haven't used mine for ages, but I keep it in my paint box just in case. Years ago I went to letter a boat and the owner proudly told me " I've given it a good clean and polish for you!"....not sure he understood why I got a rag and loads of white spirit out before I started !

 

Good luck

 

Dave