Laquering a boat

[baldlimey]

Hi,

We have a red ( SWMBO says crimson boat) on which it is impossible to keep any sort of gloss. Is it possible to apply a clear laquer to help this. I ask as someone recently mentioned they may need to get their boat re laquered.

 

If it is possible is ut just like adding a new top coat, v fine wet and dry to key then hand coat.

 

As always any advice gratefully received

 

Peter

[Grace and Favour]

Hi Peter,

 

As all professional painters (should) tell you, reds are all susceptible to 'bleaching', and developing a bloom on the surface, (although some of the more modern automotive paints are better at retaining a gloss finish, that's because, (I believe) they've very hard varnishes applied as a top finish.

 

I'm no painter, but I understand that in days or yore it was not unusual for working boatmen to lacquer (I think it was a varnish actually) as a final finish to their boat's paintwork. Some traditional (and - I guess, some non-traditional) boaters still do this. In fact, Phil Speight and Dave Moore (esteemed boat painters of the CWDF Parish) will be able to tell you every aspect of how best to do this.

 

However, as in everything, there are benefits and drawbacks. After prepping your paintwork, and carefully applying a couple of coats of the correct varnish - (Peeps will argue over their preferred brand, but mine is Craftmaster for this job) you must note that the boat will need re-varnishing every two years in order to keep up the finish.

 

The optimal solution to prevent one's red boat from losing colour/finish is, believe it or not, to arrange that when next in a dry dock for her painting - - choose a different colour!

[Burgiesburnin]

Doesn't a lacquered or varnish finish make the surface slippery when wet?

[ditchcrawler]

Doesn't a lacquered or varnish finish make the surface slippery when wet?

Then all the spiders would slip off the cabin sides.

[bag 'o' bones]

Red and yellow 'traditional' paints seem to be the most susceptible to bleaching over a period of time due to UV from sunlight which I doubt lacquering will prevent unless it contained some sort of UV filter (if such a thing exists).

 

Modern car paints - which are for intents of purposes 'liquid plastic'- still suffer from the bleaching effect it just they take longer to deteriorate.

 

Modern paints are far superior to the trad paints for the simple reason they are newer technology!

 

Most solid red cars are not lacquered. It seems to only metallic reds (and any other metallic colour for that matter) that use the 'clear over base' system.

 

On a slightly different subject, what I find interesting is that in relation to hull blacking, the general consensus is that 2 pack if far superior than the more usual 1 pack bitumen, yet when it comes to painting the superstructure, the reverse is true!

Edited March 13, 2014 by bag 'o' bones

[Grace and Favour]

Red and yellow 'traditional' paints seem to be the most susceptible to bleaching over a period of time due to UV from sunlight which I doubt lacquering will prevent unless it contained some sort of UV filter (if such a thing exists).

 

Modern car paints - which are for intents of purposes 'liquid plastic'- still suffer from the bleaching effect it just they take longer to deteriorate.

 

Modern paints are far superior to the trad paints for the simple reason they are newer technology!

 

Most solid red cars are not lacquered. It seems to only metallic reds (and any other metallic colour for that matter) that use the 'clear over base' system.

 

On a slightly different subject, what I find interesting is that in relation to hull blacking, the general consensus is that 2 pack if far superior than the more usual 1 pack bitumen, yet when it comes to painting the superstructure, the reverse is true!

Our bote is painted with two-pack - - - good hardwearing finish, I'll use two-pack again when it comes to repaint time

Edited March 13, 2014 by Grace & Favour

[Phil Ambrose]

Hi,

We have a red ( SWMBO says crimson boat) on which it is impossible to keep any sort of gloss. Is it possible to apply a clear laquer to help this. I ask as someone recently mentioned they may need to get their boat re laquered.

 

If it is possible is ut just like adding a new top coat, v fine wet and dry to key then hand coat.

 

As always any advice gratefully received

 

Peter

We had a new (DIY) paint job in a lovely Post Office red and 2 years later we had a pink boat and now Blue

Phil

Edited March 13, 2014 by Phil Ambrose

[system 4-50]

But modern paints are getting worse as the EU insists that everything that makes it work is taken out, no?

[bag 'o' bones]

But modern paints are getting worse as the EU insists that everything that makes it work is taken out, no?

Recalling a conversation with our local paint factor the new EU rules only affect commercial operations over a certain size who have been forced to convert to water based alternatives. The water based system requires expensive drying equipment to flash off in a reasonable amount of time which is difficult to replicate for the DIYer.

You can still obtain the solvent based stuff without any problem but I have no idea whether it has also been got at by the EU.

Still very tough stuff compared to traditional paints!

[David Schweizer]

To answer the OP, yes it is possible to varnish tired paintwork. I varnished the back panels on our boat after they had been painted for about ten years and it was a significant imnprovement, I used Craftmaster clear, which is more like a transparent paint rather than varnish and has a very high gloss.

 

To apply you need to clean the old painywork and remove any wax etc.Then key the surface with ultra fie Scotchbrite pads, wipe down with tack cloths and the surface is ready for painting. Paint in the conventional (union Jack) manner, up and down, side to side, diagonally (in both directions), up and down again, and lay off (Which involves puling the brush lightly in a vertical directiion. I lay off bottom to top, as demonstrated to me by a coach painter fifty years ago, but Phil Speight lays off top to bottom). Then leave it alone, do not go back and fifddle or to remove any flies that land on it,

 

Phil will probaby be on to correst me, but that is how i did it.