Painting and blacking a boat.

[pete.i]

Hi all.

Just a quick question. A couple at the boatyard where I moor are painting their wide beam and a very good job they are making of it too being that is the first time they have painted a boat. Anyway I was chatting to them today and noticed that the were painting the bottom of the hull, the bit where blacking would normally be, with shiny shiny top coat. So I asked them if they were going to black that part, as the boat is out of the water and they are not going back in the water for the forseeable future so they wouldn't have to black it, but she said they were going to black it over the top coat that she is applying now. They are using International Toplac at the moment and intends to put International bitumen blacking on top of that. Is that a wise thing to do? I do realise that it is an expensive way to do it but is the bitumen blacking going to be okay on the top of top coat?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[dmr]

Probably not the best idea.

Blacking is intended to stick to bare metal, and ideally bare metal with a rough surface.

It will not stick to gloss paint very well and will come off with all the small scrapes that a boat gets.

This will leave only the Toplac to protect the hull and this is not intended for under water use.

 

As the boat is out of the water for some time then it makes some sense, but the boat will ideally need shot blasting before it is eventually blacked.

Shot blasting is expensive so it would be logical to use an epoxy blacking afterwards...

 

...........Dave

[pete.i]

Thanks for that dmr I'll let them know. I didn't think it was a good idea that's why I asked the question.

 

Cheers

 

Pete