Cost of repainting a narrowboat

[Neil2]

Cost me £60.

Boat looks decent enough.

Scraped it on the way back from the dry dock.

Out with the roller...quick touch up....perfect.

 

My boat doesn't look glassy smooth, but it's nice and bright, and always will be. Seen so many "sprayed" boats that are faded, or scratched, and the owners are powerless to repaint it themselves....

 

You can do a lot with £6000 - £10 000. But you see....it's that old adage...those who have lot's of "spare" cash, are happy to spend it.....like a handbag my wife saw in a shop...I thought it would be £50...it was £1500..

 

that's my 2 cents worth.

 

Here's the £60 paintjob.

 

I recall painting our garden shed when I was a kid - we had no money so just threw together all the dregs of any paint we had lying about. That's pretty much the colour we ended up with.

[boathunter]

Good move painting it purple if you're trying to lure the ladies on board. Purple = lady magnet.

I fix VW campers and if there's a purple one about, no matter what the condition the ladies all swoon over it while completely ignoring one that's 10x as good in every respect, but not purple. Even when it's pointed out thay they're admiring a minger in for complete restoration they will NOT be swayed.

[David Schweizer]

Cost me £60.

Boat looks decent enough.

Scraped it on the way back from the dry dock.

Out with the roller...quick touch up....perfect.

 

My boat doesn't look glassy smooth, but it's nice and bright, and always will be. Seen so many "sprayed" boats that are faded, or scratched, and the owners are powerless to repaint it themselves....

 

You can do a lot with £6000 - £10 000. But you see....it's that old adage...those who have lot's of "spare" cash, are happy to spend it.....like a handbag my wife saw in a shop...I thought it would be £50...it was £1500..

 

that's my 2 cents worth.

 

Here's the £60 paintjob.

 

 

Did Daniel see that colour before he appointed you as a Moderator, I thought Mods were supposed to have good judgement! Can we assume that it only cost £60 because the tins of paint were in B&Q's reduced sale?

Edited December 24, 2014 by David Schweizer

[plainsman]

Cost of a repaint is all part of boat ownership. There are many who can do a good DiY job but, in my experience, you can tell it is just that. Repaint may be seen as expensive but this is relative and should be seen in context of your overall investment. The bulk of the cost of a repaint is in the preparation (some considerable hours work) by someone who has the experience and knows what they are doing. Any skimping on this will bite you back and eventually cost you more.

 

If your prospective boat has been neglected then maybe a cut and polish will revive it to some extent and keep you going for a while, but a repaint will eventually be required. This is always a good negotiating point when buying a boat.

 

 

[Peter X]

I recall painting our garden shed when I was a kid - we had no money so just threw together all the dregs of any paint we had lying about. That's pretty much the colour we ended up with.

 

I'm currently building a second garden shed out of scrap wood, and while I have bought a tin of proper undercoat for it, my plan has always been to use your technique for the top coat, not just for free paint but because it gets various old paint tins used up and out of the way. The paint I have would probably produce a sort of pale sludge colour, so maybe as a single man I should be looking to add some purple to the mix.

 

Back in 1984 when I was engaged and house-hunting we viewed a house which was overwhelmingly painted lilac. Neither of us liked the colour scheme, so does lilac just not do it for the ladies like full-on purple?

[Slim]

I've had several quotes recently for a 'back to metal' repaint will ALL non welded fittings removed (18 year old 55' hull last painted about 7 years ago). These ranged from £6k to £8.5k. including fairly basic signwriting. I've decided to go with the one for around £7k as I felt most comfortable with the company, their attitude, approach and working conditions. One I rejected was just a little too clinical in it's costings for my likings. I viewed the work of the three I seriously considered. Now all I've got to do is wait for February 2016

 

This will be the first time I've ever paid anyone to do anything on the boat havingI fitted it out from a bare shell. The last repaint took me 29 full man days to do (in a poly tunnel). Common sense tells me the knees wouldn't stand it now.

[Neil2]

Good move painting it purple if you're trying to lure the ladies on board. Purple = lady magnet.

I fix VW campers and if there's a purple one about, no matter what the condition the ladies all swoon over it while completely ignoring one that's 10x as good in every respect, but not purple. Even when it's pointed out thay they're admiring a minger in for complete restoration they will NOT be swayed.

Oh come on, a woman being impressed by something big and purple surely not???

Edited December 24, 2014 by Neil2

[Neil2]

I disagree with the " can do it yourself" suggestion. Certainly it's not impossible, but as someone in the painting business and a long time boater (50+ years ), I've had plenty of experience with owner painted finishes and few have come close to the finish achieved by professionals. Those that do have taken a long time with much looking at appropriate conditions and a motorway bridge or similar is often a wind tunnel, an observation I make from first hand experience. It all depends on the finish you are looking for....long ago, one of my signwriting tutors told me

 

" Most people think..if you can piss, you can paint"...if only....

 

Dave

 

My former next door neighbour was a plumber but during the hard times he also went painting and decorating. A favourite saying of his was if you can piss straight you can paint. I used to tell him he would know all about piss, he'd been taking it long enough.

[Neil Coker]

It's all well and good saying paint it yourself but the reality is that many don't have the time to commit to do a good job and putting up with something that looks like it should in Steptoe's back yard isn't acceptable. So yes, some of us have to stick our hands in our pockets and pay for a professional (hopefully ) job.

[DHutch]

I must say, as a huge advocate of diy, I am not sure I would have the patience to achieve it.

 

We solve this by opting for a lower quality of finish, this may not be what the op is after but 2-3 days prep and 2days painting got our roof done, and bar the coachlines the same again will do the sides in spring.

 

The boat has been painted three times at 8 years apart, and this time (aged 23-4) is the first time we have needed to remove the fittings.

 

 

Daniel

[DeanS]

I don't at all mean that a cheap DIY job is in any way as good as a "proper" job.....what I mean is that....in my eyes, a big steel boat...painted by an amateur...is good enough:) shock horror....lol. Of course there is nothing wrong in paying good money and getting a pro job......but you don't need to spend a lot to make a boat look..relatively decent....

 

I do look at nice expensive paint jobs with much envy though....some boats look amazing.

[ditchcrawler]

I don't at all mean that a cheap DIY job is in any way as good as a "proper" job.....what I mean is that....in my eyes, a big steel boat...painted by an amateur...is good enough:) shock horror....lol. Of course there is nothing wrong in paying good money and getting a pro job......but you don't need to spend a lot to make a boat look..relatively decent....

 

I do look at nice expensive paint jobs with much envy though....some boats look amazing.

Dean, does your boat suffer from micro blisters?

[DHutch]

Ours doesn't....

[DeanS]

Dean, does your boat suffer from micro blisters?

 

I'm not sure what those are. The undercoat on my boat isn't glassy smooth...it came as a sailaway, with primer...which I gave a once over with a sander, and hand painted it . I'm happy with it....but I'm sure others would think it unacceptable, and go for the professional finish...

 

I haven't seen any boats with a pro paint job that still looks as good a few years down the line, whereas a DIY paint job, is easy to repaint as often as you like...and you can change the colour anytime too...;-)

[GoodGurl]

Not a professional finish by any mean's but we did this ourselves, hubby spent 4 week's on the prep work and i painted it for around £180, ex black prince.not quite finished in this pic.

.

[Groundhog]

Paint is there to stop the boat going rusty. If you can piss you can probably achieve that.

[Alexander1618]

We paint the hull/varnish every year, all you need is the paint, brushes/rollers and eventually a raft.

There's no point to pay someone to do something that is so easy.

[nebulae]

Our boat is old and was built before people worried about the welds showing.The boat does not justify a profesional paint job. We use agricultural machinery paint because it is very long lasting,cheap and we like the colours. We paint different parts at different times ie roof one year sides the next. We only remove windows as and when needed. We do the blacking ourselves,which saves £300 a time .If we were to upgrade the boat,I do not think a profesional paint job would increase the value of the boat by a proportional amount.The bottom line is,we are quite happy with our D.I.Y. job.If we had a top of the line newish boat,we would probably have the boat painted by experts.

[DeanS]

If I had £7000 I would buy another small boat...and then paint it for £60

 

;-)

[xadmx]

If I had £7000 I would buy another small boat...and then paint it for £60

 

;-)

[Pykebird]

I didnt have the money for a proffesional paint job, i would have liked but did spend ages preping it. I know both my and the boats limitaions.

She will always be an elderly ex hire boat with some rather dodgy welding. So i used a good quality paint and went for a non shiny finish to avoid highlighting the "bad" areas. Its not everyones cup of tea, but protects the metal and won't have cost more than a couple of undred pounds.

If you have the money to spend, it's up to you.

[Humblespud]

Our boat is old and was built before people worried about the welds showing.The boat does not justify a profesional paint job. We use agricultural machinery paint because it is very long lasting,cheap and we like the colours. We paint different parts at different times ie roof one year sides the next. We only remove windows as and when needed. We do the blacking ourselves,which saves £300 a time .If we were to upgrade the boat,I do not think a profesional paint job would increase the value of the boat by a proportional amount.The bottom line is,we are quite happy with our D.I.Y. job.If we had a top of the line newish boat,we would probably have the boat painted by experts.

We have a 12 year old boat that isn't going rusty yet but the original paintwork is getting very shabby and has been part brush painted in some areas and the roof has been roller painted a different colour. One minute I think I'll get it stripped and properly painted in a single light grey (it's not a pretty boat) that will be easy to touch in, next minute I think along yours lines - tractor paint! What make did you use and is it quick drying? I wonder if there are water based paints durable enough for a boat yet?

[nebulae]

We use Tractol machinery paint from our local ag. dealer. Very good quality and in 1litre tins.(and less than half the price of a certain well known marine paint). Obviously,the range of colours is not vast, but covers a lot of machines,not just tractors.

I should have said,machinery paint has some sort of dispensation,so it is still spirit based,.dries reasonably quickly and is very robust.It can be applied by brush,roller or spray. You do need special "Gun Cleaner" to clean brushes etc.

[ditchcrawler]

We have a 12 year old boat that isn't going rusty yet but the original paintwork is getting very shabby and has been part brush painted in some areas and the roof has been roller painted a different colour. One minute I think I'll get it stripped and properly painted in a single light grey (it's not a pretty boat) that will be easy to touch in, next minute I think along yours lines - tractor paint! What make did you use and is it quick drying? I wonder if there are water based paints durable enough for a boat yet?

When I first painted out bout about 14 years ago I used Woco paint from http://www.withamgroup.co.uk/ because they have an outlet near us at Lowestoft. The results apart from one very bendy coach line (that is a sad story) it looked quite good. I painted the boat on a piece of waste land where I fitted it out. The sun was a problem as I had to wait for the dew to clear and then do it before it got to hot. A few years back I fancied a proper paint job and went to someone whos work I had seen on boats several years old and still looked good and sound. It cost me £6K I wish I still had my original paint job.

[Humblespud]

Thanks, Witham Oils are at Soham too, very close by for us. I will check them out. I have also found a reference to water based paints being used on boats with success, in the US.