Finally finished the repaint of my boat

[Doorman]

Well done.

 

Our original boat was a 40 footer and we had it painted by a professional painter, but to keep the cost down I agreed to prep the boat first. What a job! I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the week and didn't want to see another piece of abrasive paper again.

 

You should be very proud of the work you've done and no doubt you'll treasure the boat even more given that it was all of your own work. It would be interesting to know how much you paid for materials etc., and a comparison against what it would have cost to have the boat painted professionally. Apart from paying for the skill of the painter, I would imagine the bulk of expense goes on the labour intensive side of the task.

 

Definitely not a job for the faint hearted.

Edited May 16, 2013 by Doorman

[bizzard]

I like that idea! We just keep looking at the whole boat and thinking "oh crap". Every now and then I look at a section of the bow and think "hmm I could do that" but it's the vast expanses of the sides and roof that daunt me.

 

Must do it though - I'd love to see our boat shiny.

 

ETA most looking forward to getting rid of the Malcolm Bullock Johnsons Hillock bit - I've lost count of the number of people we've had to explain that we don't come from there and he was the original owner. Deffo time to get rid of that panel. Still not sure what, if anything, to put in it's place.

Its fatal to sand and prepare the whole boat or even one side all in one go on a large boat Ange especially outside because everyday you will need to sand it or flat it down again before priming or whatever coat you;ve got up to. The airs not clean and is contaminated with oily traffic and aircraft fumes. Yes concentrate on one manageable panel at a time aiming to prepare and prime it in a day then flat with say wet and dry or a Random orbital buzzer with fine paper on it the next day before undercoating, the same the next day and so on. If the weathers settled you can do two panels each day, way apart from each other though so preparation dust doesn't blow onto to the first panels wet paint ''study wind direction'' and work on the second panel alternately with the first panel until the first panels completely finished then start a third panel and so on and so on. You soon work work out the best order that suits you.

Edited May 16, 2013 by bizzard

[mrscloudinspector]

Well that's it finally finished the repaint of my boat.

 

I bought her last summer (July), the inside has been stripped out and refitted over the past 10 months.

 

I decided a few weeks ago it was t e to tackle the external paint work, after lots of research on the right pants to use and the correct method of applying them to get the best finish, I'm glad to report that it's finished

 

Some photos below show the start, process, and finished product

 

 

Before

 

 

During

 

 

 

Fine line tape

 

 

 

That's not me sat their, it's a friend lol, he doesn't always look like a hobo

 

 

Finished product.

 

In total it's taken around four weeks to complete the job, and if I was to boast I would say it looks fab.

 

Looks fab! you are quite right to boast

 

I would be interested to know what paint and techniques you used? (roller?)

 

Like the OH posted - we have been a bit disappointed with ours although I think weather/temperature conditions have been the main issue.

 

Thanks

 

Meg

 

Edited to add - what masking tape did you use? Ta

Edited May 16, 2013 by mrscloudinspector

[loubyscooby]

Thats a lovely job, especially like the rings around the mushrooms.

[Nightwatch]

I quite liked the coachlines masked up before painting.

 

Great job. Well done.

 

Hold left elbow in right hand, forcing your left hand over your right shoulder.

 

Now pat yourself on the back.

 

Martyn

[twinpot]

Superb.Well done.When you found the right pants to wear,did you wear them over or under your jeans.

[Dekazer]

Twinpot you beat me to it! I just read the whole thread trying to think of a suitable joke about pants

 

The paint job looks amazing! We're much like Ange - we've been meaning to paint ours for four years or so but always get daunted. I'd also be really interested to hear about the costs and techniques and pants paints Kienik

Edited May 16, 2013 by Dekazer

[canals are us?]

The paintwork looks fabulous, congratulations

 

I really like the two tone green and the cream coachlines. It looks really nice.

 

James

[kienik]

Wow well I didn't expect so many replies, I'm chuffed you all think she looks great, I am. Very proud of the finished product.

 

As some of you know me and the OH run a busy foodie pub in Chester and its my turn to be in the kitchen tonight, grill night tonight so it'll be a busy one!!

 

I finish tonight at 10pm, so ill come back on here and answer all the questions that have been asked and also note down the procedure I used when completing the job costs etc

 

Until later on...............

 

Nik

[Biggles]

Nice job. I think you will have people knocking on your services.

[Doorman]

As some of you know me and the OH run a busy foodie pub in Chester and its my turn to be in the kitchen tonight, grill night tonight so it'll be a busy one!!

I finish tonight at 10pm, so ill come back on here and answer all the questions that have been asked and also note down the procedure I used when completing the job costs etc

Until later on...............

Nik

Nik,

 

Give up that foolish pub in Chester and come down here to Audlem. There's a lovely canal side pub in need of someone who knows what they're doing. We promise that we'll polish your new paintwork till the cows come home if you come! :-)

[Pykebird]

Lovely Job!! Well done. I know how you feel star, same this end! It seems to be good weather all day while I am at work, and the moment I finish it pours!!!. Still I have picked up my paint so at least I am slightly further foward, just hate the way it looks worse before it looks better.

[bargemast]

Excellent job, a fresh coat of paint really does change a boats looks, this looks very professional, congratulations.

 

Peter.

[kienik]

Nik,Give up that foolish pub in Chester and come down here to Audlem. There's a lovely canal side pub in need of someone who knows what they're doing. We promise that we'll polish your new paintwork till the cows come home if you come! :-)

Haha thanks that's the next move for us, a pub next to the canal somewhere, quite fancy the Shady Oak or Dusty Miller or similar.

 

As for the offer to polish my boat that sounds brilliant haha

 

Nik

[kienik]

Right as promised here is the process I followed, be warned its pretty comprehensive, and I do tend to babble on a bit, I've put a running cost of the total job at the bottom. Hope this answers all your questions and helps if any of you dare to tackle the job yourselves.

 

The job started three to four weeks ago, i started by sanding off all the old top coat using a spinny orbital sander with 120 grip Velcro pads (not from DIY stores I bought them from a car body shop suppliers they were £25 for 150 pads).

 

Once I had got down to a smooth surface and to bare metal in places I washed the entire boat down with synthetic thinners (not turps).

 

Then I painted the whole boat in a primer bought from Johnstones paint shops, I only put one coat on as their was still plenty of good hard paint left on the boat.

 

I left this to fully dry for three days then sanded it back lightly using a 180 grip pad, bought from the same car body shop supplier.

 

Again wash down using synthetic thinners.

 

Time to start building the coats of paint on now, I went to a small independent paint mixing unit on an industrial estate in Saltney Chester, they. Are called M & P Enterpirses and they specialise in car, bus, and truck paint, they do a matching service so most of the major car manufacturers use their paint, I bought fully synthetic truck paint called RAL ....... The. The colour code, it cost £20 for two litres, which is a reasonable price to me.

 

In total I've bought and almost used four litres of the dark green (RAL 6005) and three litres of the lighter green (RAL 6001). And one litre of the cream for the coach lines (can't think of the co.our code).

 

Anyway back to the job.

 

The first coat of top was applied with a foam mini roller applied in sections of about half a metre at a time, to minimise the risk of lines from the handle side of the roller I always worked from left to right with the handle side of the roller working away from the freshly painted section, once each section was rolled on I used a long bristled good quality brush to lay off the paint (start from the bottom and lightly pull the brush up to the top of the boat, this is the process for the cabin sides, do it very lightly as a feathering process).

 

Once this had hardened over a couple of days I buzzed it back with a 180 grip pad very lightly and washed the whole thing down with synthetic thinners.

 

The second and third coats I didn't bother to flat off with the sander I just kept rolling thawing on and feathering it off with the brush.

 

Then for the lighter green panels, I used a steel rule and a pencil to mark and measure three inches from the top of the cabin all round the boat then applied fine line tape (the blue tape shown in the pictures), I followed the same process of rolling on the lighter green and feathering it off with a brush to get a lovely deep gloss shine).

 

Always ensure you take the tape off as soon as the final coat is on.

 

Next was the cream coachlines, plenty of measuring and re measuring here, I measured 2 1/2 inches from the cabin top and all round the boat and applied the blue fine line tape, then measured four inches from the cabin top and all round the boat and applied the same tape, this gave me a one and a half inch coachline,

 

The fine line tape is only about half an inch wide so I used low tack masking tape as a buffer zone to allow for and over brushing, the masking tape was lightly stuck to the edge of the blue fine line tape so it didn't touch the finished darker green sections, therefore when removing it i wouldn't have the worry of it pulling the paint off as masking tape seems to have the habit of doing.

 

Three coats of cream applied using a brush very quickly as the paint goes off very quickly.

 

As for the circles on the cabin roof it was the same process but using a washing up bowl for marking out then painting the different coloured circles on.

 

The windows were a bit more tricky, lost of masking up and a very sharp Stanley knife blade to trim the masking tape to ensure it was a neat and perfect as possible, I used the Andy Russell Gunwhale black paint applied with a mini foam roller cut down using a glad to about an inch or so wide, very easy to apply but extremely runny so always have the synthetic thinners to hand and a rag to wipe away any splashes.

 

That was basically it.

 

Now for the castings, this might be a bit scary for me as I haven't totalled it up myself yet so here goes

 

£90 approx in synthetic paint

£25 in undercoat

£50 for two one gallon drums of synthetic thinners

£20 for three rolls of fine line tape

£15 for fifteen rolls of masking tape £3.00 a roll in B&Q, £1 a roll in car body shop suppliers!!!!

£30 for three packs of mini foam rollers (I used thirty mini roller inserts, but that was being lazy and binning them each day)

£25 for the Andy Russell Gunwhale paint

£40 in brushes (don't use cheap brushes they really rent up to the job)

Rags cost nothing as I used old towels from the pub

£75 for three boxes of sanding Velcro pads, 150 in each box and each box was a different grade 120 150 and 180 grip

£10 in Stanley knife blades

£10 in dust masks

 

Total cost excluding my time is.................

 

£420.00

 

Although that might seem a lot, I still have loads of materials left, tons of paint, rollers, thinners etc etc.

 

The result is brilliant and I'm made up with the finish, it's not a spray job by any means but the shine is lovely and the quality of the paint is very very good. I could have paid upwards of three to four thousand for a professional job but then I wouldn't have had the satisfaction of doing it myself and the tricks and skills I've picked up will help me if I decide to do it again.

 

On that note if and when I do I will pay the extra cost of renting a poly tunnel as it would make the job so much easier due to the weather etc, I looked at Bunbury poly tunnel by the staircase locks and they were charging £150 for five days which is reasonable, it is heated and fully covered etc. I'd obviously not use it for the prep work just for the top coats and fine line work.

 

Hoping that I've not bored you all to sleep, that was basically the job in a nutshell

 

I hope it has been useful and I really appreciate all the comments on here on how she now looks, if anyone would like a hand or even some contact numbers for the suppliers I've used then feel free to drop me a line, also got tons of photos should anyone want them for reference purposes.

 

My email is NikLambert1980@hotmail.co.uk

 

Right time for a wine I think

 

Nik

[Leni]

Thank you, Nik. Brilliant! You deserve that wine! I'm certainly going to copy your 'instructions' out and give them to my son!

[mrscloudinspector]

Thank you - very comprehensive!!

[Doorman]

Haha thanks that's the next move for us, a pub next to the canal somewhere, quite fancy the Shady Oak or Dusty Miller or similar.

As for the offer to polish my boat that sounds brilliant haha

Nik

We may have to put our offer on hold Nik.

 

Mrs Doorman forced my hand to go into the pub yesterday with a bribe of Guinness, after I'd made a point of avoiding the place. The three women who are running the place are doing a sterling job and have made the pub quite welcoming. Our biggest temptation is that of a brand new pool table and Chrissie's lifetime ambition is to master the game. To my astonishment, and against all odds, I think she's slowly succeeding.

 

The Shady Oak would be nice and ideal to moor your masterpiece close by for all to see. Sadly though, this year is proving to be 'slow going' for many canal side ventures. The usual boat traffic along our way is well down on last year's figures and unless we see a prolonged upturn in the weather, I'm afraid there might be further canal side pubs struggling to make it pay.

[Ange]

Thank you Nik!

 

I may joke about our scruffy boat but I am embarressed by it. A lovely friend of ours did say she had a patina that we shouldn't lose (I had to google the word ) The worst moment for me was when a boater passed us with a super shiney Doug Moore boat and we popped our heads out and said hello and he said we should be ashamed of the state of our boat. Very unhappy face It's what we inherited.

 

This thread has made me determined to get the paint job sorted this year, and made me believe we can do it - thank you!

[kienik]

Ange,

 

That's terrible that anyone would say that to you. After all we are all on the water for the same reason, WE LOVE IT!!, i hate those bloody shiny brand new boaty brigade sometimes.

 

My boat was built in1985 and after my repaint I think she looks brand new (ish), I would like a new boat but can't justify the cost at present, but I will do it one day.

 

I put my two fingers up to those snobby boaters that look down on us boaters that don't have brand new boats, it's a bit like the hirers vs private owners again.

 

Regarding your paint job, just plan it out and make sure you have all of the items I've costed out to hand, it's a nightmare if you run out of rollers or thinners etc half way through the day

 

Forget the posh dudes on their Gin Palace NBs, I bet most of them are on finance arrangements that they can't afford and are just here to keep up with the neighbours or the jones etc etc

[Janet S]

If he said that to you, then he's simply a tosser...

 

I find it hard to believe that anyone could be quite so rude!

 

Janet

[Ange]

Ange,

 

That's terrible that anyone would say that to you. After all we are all on the water for the same reason, WE LOVE IT!!, i hate those bloody shiny brand new boaty brigade sometimes.

 

My boat was built in1985 and after my repaint I think she looks brand new (ish), I would like a new boat but can't justify the cost at present, but I will do it one day.

 

I put my two fingers up to those snobby boaters that look down on us boaters that don't have brand new boats, it's a bit like the hirers vs private owners again.

 

Regarding your paint job, just plan it out and make sure you have all of the items I've costed out to hand, it's a nightmare if you run out of rollers or thinners etc half way through the day

 

Forget the posh dudes on their Gin Palace NBs, I bet most of them are on finance arrangements that they can't afford and are just here to keep up with the neighbours or the jones etc etc

You're absolutely right of course Our boat is a 1990 build and our energies so far have been focussed on building interior storage space as it was designed as a holiday boat rather than a liveaboard. We're ready now to turn our attention to the exterior.

 

If he said that to you, then he's simply a tosser...

 

I find it hard to believe that anyone could be quite so rude!

 

Janet

We were gobsmacked and I was quite upset for a while.

[Doorman]

You're absolutely right of course Our boat is a 1990 build and our energies so far have been focussed on building interior storage space as it was designed as a holiday boat rather than a liveaboard. We're ready now to turn our attention to the exterior.

 

 

We were gobsmacked and I was quite upset for a while.

The thing is Ange,

 

Most of the shiny boat brigade won't realise that you and Dave have a classic in your Doug Moore boat. Many of the gleaming examples that pass our way are quite superficial and if ever you spot them out of the water their real credentials are on show. Scratch beneath the surface and you'll see a basic hull that's decorated to look like something else.

 

There's a boater not far from us with a 20 plus year old boat that's had a repaint. Underneath the new coating you can spot the workmanship that's gone into building his boat and it sticks out a mile. In buying Iona, you saw the potential to bring a good solid hull back to it's original condition.

 

If only you two could get out of the pub and get stuck in you'd soon see the difference! Lol. :-)

Edited May 20, 2013 by Doorman