Boat interior - Can I paint over this wood?

[Erin42]

Hullo, I thought I'd put this in the 'new to boating' section as not only am I new to boating but I am also new to DIY. This can only go well!

 

 

The fit out on Holly is very good, very clean and well kept and was, generally, ready to move on board. There were a few unfinished bits, such as a half-constructed cabinet next to the bed, which I'm measuring up for shelving now, and the wall cladding in the engine room needs to be done as currently there is just exposed polystyrene insulation there at the moment.

 

One of the things I'm keen to do, before I start putting up some shelving and addressing the storage, is to remove the hessian wall covering throughout the boat.

 

"It'll be a hassle to get it all off and re-do the interior", I thought, a week ago. "Maybe I can grow to love it."

 

But after only a week of living afloat I have decided that unfortunately I cannot.

 

There was a section next to the engine room that hadn't been finished and was peeling away from the wall slightly, so I tackled this bit as a test. Cutting a square of the fabric away was easy, but it left a sticky foam residue on the wood paneling behind. (The circles are from where there was a clock and a barometer screwed to the wall.)

 

 

 

 

This is a pic taken from the side (the holes are for the screws)

 

 

 

And this is the wood after I had scraped away a patch of the adhesive. The quality of the wood underneath is good, no warping or rotting.

 

 

 

 

Ideally, what I would do is take off the hessian/burlap fabric, remove the sticky adhesive from the wood behind it, and then paint right on top of it.

 

I just wondered if anyone could foresee any problems with this? I've seen 'marine ply' mentioned on the forums, is this a necessity?

 

 

 

 

 

[Kae]

Personally I'd do the cleanup, then paint first with Zinnser BIN primer - this will seal the wood, overpaint any left over residue and provide a good key for the top coat.

I've painted the varnished walls in my boat using this as the primer, it's great stuff.

[John V]

Preparation is everything!!!!! The more care you take on preparing the surface the better the finished job will be ! Good luck with your DIY

[b0atman]

Did you paint zinnser straight onto varnish or sand varnish first ?

[Kae]

Did you paint zinnser straight onto varnish or sand varnish first ?

 

You can paint it direct to varnish.

I de-nibbed the varnish first with a very light sanding, then painted over with Zinnser BIN. It's the consistency of milk.

[Stilllearning]

Marine ply is just plywood that is made using waterproof glue to hold the sheets together, as far as I know. Most of the interior of your boat will be lined with it, hopefully. The only problem I can foresee is the sheer amount of time and energy it will take. Others here may well have experience of removing the glue residue, and have neat ways of making it easier. As John V has said, the better the preparation, the better the final coat of paint will look. Good luck with the work!

[Erin42]

Thanks for all of the advice!

 

It will indeed take a lot of time and energy, but I'm going to take a sample of the fabric and glue to my hardware shop and ask their advice. Hopefully there will be something that can help shift it.

 

And I assume then that what is behind the fabric is marine ply? And if so it would be fine to leave it exposed after painting it?

[John V]

Even if its not "marine ply" it will be probably "WBP" which is more than good enough....There is no need for true marine ply for the interior of a boat, you normally only need to specify it for the hull of a wooden boat. A lot of the standards for true marine ply are to do with gaps and voids inside the panels and are irrelevant for interior use. even real el-cheapo ply is fine for interior use providing you don't have galloping condensation problems (although you have to be a little more careful in the galley and bathroom areas).

Edited August 22, 2014 by John V

[Kae]

It will be easy to find something that will dissolve the glue, the problem will be it soaking into the wood - this will either cause paint problems or will dissolve the wood glue that holds the laminates together (although highly unlikely).

[John V]

Erin....If you find you are having real grief getting rid of the glue and bits of hessian, have you thought of glueing another sheet of very thin ply over the whole area and painting that ?

[twbm]

Erin....If you find you are having real grief getting rid of the glue and bits of hessian, have you thought of glueing another sheet of very thin ply over the whole area and painting that ?

 

Yup. That's what I'd do. If you're very new to DIY handling and cutting the boards might be a bit of a challenge but if you can get hold of someone to help it'll be a quicker and better job I think.

[Paul G2]

So, you have that nice Japanese wall fabric, Gu Ni Sak.

 

To answer one of your basic questions in a simple manner, the fabric that is on the plywood now is only there for decoration. It is not doing anything to protect the wood from the environment. Ergo, if the wood has held up well with just the burlap, it will do fine with paint.

 

As someone else mentioned, using a chemical to remove the glue could result in the chemical soaking through and affecting the glue that holds the plys together. Something you might want to try is to get the wood scraped as best you can and then put on a coat of shellac. This might make the glue hard enough that you can then sand the surface smooth. Shellac will harden some glues, some it won't, so it would be best to try it on a small area first to see if it works.

[David Mack]

I spent last night cleaning up a panelled door which a previous owner of the house had fixed a plywood sheet over. It had been glued on with something like evostick, and after I had ripped off the panel the wood looked very much like Erin's photos. I found that gently heating the glue residue with a hot air gun softened it so that quite a lot of it could just be peeled off, and the rest scraped off reasonably easily. It didn't need as much heat as when paint stripping, so a hair dryer might do the trick. You will probably need a shore hookup or a generator to do the same on a boat.

I also tried white spirit, which did dissolve the glue, but it was very slow to do a significant area, so probably better for a final wipeover to remove traces after the heat gun approach.

 

With both methods you are cleaning inch by inch - you think you've made some progress, and then you stand back and look at how much more there is to do!

 

Best of luck!

[Erin42]

The glue seems to rub off easier than I thought it would, and then the residue dries fairly hard and can be lightly sanded, which is good!

 

You're all very right about it taking a long time though.

 

I've encountered a wee problem - http://i.imgur.com/uckp575.jpg (I'm not sure how to post images from my phone, sorry!)

 

The plywood boards, as they were never meant to be seen, don't all line up neatly. Not a big gap at all, but certainly makes it unsuitable for painting straight onto for a nice finish.

 

So this brings me back to the earlier suggestion of cutting new plywood boards - but if I was going to do that, I really might as well go all out and get a panelled tongue & groove wood cladding, which I would prefer.

 

Does anyone have any experience doing this themselves? Or recommendations for carpenter/decorators who have boat experience?

[Ray T]

The glue seems to rub off easier than I thought it would, and then the residue dries fairly hard and can be lightly sanded, which is good!

 

You're all very right about it taking a long time though.

 

I've encountered a wee problem - http://i.imgur.com/uckp575.jpg (I'm not sure how to post images from my phone, sorry!)

 

The plywood boards, as they were never meant to be seen, don't all line up neatly. Not a big gap at all, but certainly makes it unsuitable for painting straight onto for a nice finish.

 

So this brings me back to the earlier suggestion of cutting new plywood boards - but if I was going to do that, I really might as well go all out and get a panelled tongue & groove wood cladding, which I would prefer.

 

Does anyone have any experience doing this themselves? Or recommendations for carpenter/decorators who have boat experience?

[John V]

Hi Erin

 

tongue and groove looks great and is not too difficult, the hardest thing in my opinion is finding a source of good pine tongue and groove

most of the stuff you come across in DIY places is quite frankly crap.

I have used 2 methods of fixing on my corridor to the engine room door I used conventional "hidden" fixings and that has been fine.

On the wheelhouse deckhead the tongue and groove is bonded to the ply with polyeurethene glue, wedged tightly in place about 3 strips at a time until set this has also been successful and has been up for about 6 years (although someone is bound to come along and say it wont work)

The tongue and groove I used I bought on a day trip to France with the car from M Bricolage (DIY chain) and is very nice Gascony pine costing very little more than the cheap crap in Wickes.SANY0011 by mudlarker2, on Flickr

 

SANY0007 by mudlarker2, on Flickr

[Erin42]

Thanks John, that's exactly what I'm going for

[DeanS]

4mm ply sheeting is cheap, and easy to cut. I had 2 walls where I had removed tiles from,and were very rough. Adding the 4mm ply has left great looking walls...and much simpler than all that faffing to remove glue.