Painting my boat - where to compare and buy topcoat paint

[anniewhere]

Hello boaters,

This spring / summer I want to finally paint my boat. I'm thinking about changing the colour, something less traditional like maybe teal or a warm yellow, and was wondering how to go about this.

Ideally I'd go to a shop (in London or the south), look at lots of different brands and pick a colour based on what I see. Looking at the colour ranges online doesn't give me enough confidence to go ahead and order, I'd like to see them in person.

 

Can anyone recommend a physical shop or chandlery who stocks lots of different brands and colours?

 

Plan B is to knock on people's boats as soon as I see a colour I like. But would be good to compare.

 

Thanks

[Tony Brooks]

I doubt any shop will show you actual paint so you would have to work from colour cards.

 

I would suggest that you buy or borrow a RAL and BS 6800 (not 100% sure of the 6800 number) colour fans that are larger than typical colour cards and work from them.

 

Once you have a BS or RAL paint number many outlets will mix it for you and it wills ave you being tied to what are known as House Colours (the colour names) supplied by just one company. All paint will fade to some degree once applied and there is likely to be slight differences colour between mixes and suppliers but that difference will be closer than trying to match many house colours to a BS or RAL number.

 

I bought a set of RAL and two BS colour fans from Epaint when they were on special offer. http://www.e-paint.co.uk/RAL_Colourchart.asp

Edited January 20, 2017 by Tony Brooks

[anniewhere]

Thanks, Tony!

Funny, I would've thought it's not that crazy an idea to offer a "colour chart" on steel, since obviously it's going to look quite different compared to paper. And looking on a screen varies a lot depending on your screen's calibration.

 

But getting larger colour cards seems like a good idea. And I might go with my plan B, too.

[Laurie Booth]

I use Dulux Weathershield.

[WotEver]

Paint charts shouldn't really look any different on paper or steel. The biggest problem with them is that of necessity due to the huge range of colours, the paint chips are pretty small. As Tony says, bear in mind that whatever colour you choose will fade over time, so err on the side of a richer tint of whatever colour you choose.

[anniewhere]

Thanks a lot guys!

[Tony Brooks]

But getting larger colour cards seems like a good idea. And I might go with my plan B, too.

 

If you go with plan B remember and allow for the fact that if the paint is more than a few months old it is likely to have faded. How much depends upon the paint formulation, pigments used and exposure to the sun. Reds are a beast for fading.

 

 

[anniewhere]

Yes, my boat is currently a dark red and apart from the fact that it was a bad paint job in the first place the colour is fading to a pink-ish tone.

[BWM]

The epiphanes range of paint have the paint colour on the lid, which gives a good impression of the contents. Denham yacht station in Uxbridge keep a reasonable range in stock.

[anniewhere]

The epiphanes range of paint have the paint colour on the lid, which gives a good impression of the contents. Denham yacht station in Uxbridge keep a reasonable range in stock.

That's good to know, thanks!

[Richard10002]

IMHO the quality of Craftmaster paint is amazing, so even if they dont have quite the colour you think you want, you will be pleased with the quality of the finish.

 

I would add that it needs prepping and putting on correctly, but I'm no painter, and it worked for me after watching a few of John Barnards videos.

[Chewbacka]

I use Dulux Weathershield.

So do I. Pleased with mine. Got it from B&Q last time they were doing a buy one get one free offer.

 

Assuming the op is going to paint it herself, then I would point out that it you are painting outdoors the paint will pick up a fair bit of dust and insects (depending upon wind and time of year) also the drying rate outdoors will vary from slow (so more time wet collecting dust) to very fast which tends to leave a few brush marks.

If you choose a good spot to paint in, then the boat will look fine when finished from a few feet away, but close up and you will see the defects.

 

So what I am saying is if you are planing to paint it yourself on the canal tow path then there is not much point buying expensive paint with a very high gloss.

 

I painted mine myself, and used Dulux weathershield and I am happy with it.

[anniewhere]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to semi DIY, ie I'll be working together with a boat painter who shows me how to do it, lends me all the tools and helps me.

But yeah,it'll be on the canal, possibly under a bridge, I'll see what he has in mind.

[Guest]

IMHO the quality of Craftmaster paint is amazing, so even if they dont have quite the colour you think you want, you will be pleased with the quality of the finish.

 

I would add that it needs prepping and putting on correctly, but I'm no painter, and it worked for me after watching a few of John Barnards videos.

May I ask where these are available? Cheers.

[WotEver]

May I ask where these are available? Cheers.

Yootoobe

[Guest]

Yootoobe

Thanks, will have a look

[Richard10002]

May I ask where these are available? Cheers.

 

http://www.johnbarnard.biz/tips-tricks-videos/

[WotEver]

Or YouTube

[dmr]

Colour charts are not much use for a complete boat paint. I suggest that you go and look at a lot of boats to get some ideas, and hopefully find one that you like the look of, this is especially important as you are thinking of doing something unusual. Yellow certainly stands out but does not always work. There was a very yellow boat on the K&A a couple of years back, not to my taste but must say it did look good. Think he's defected to the midlands now. I believe yellow is not the easiest paint to work with, but probably better than red.

 

..........Dave

[stegra]

The problem with colour charts is context. The brain has so much influence over colour perception that any colour viewed out of context cannot be trusted. Take this example. The centre squares on each side are the same colour. Even after messing around with strips of paper to prove that is the case, it's still unbelievable:

 

[Laurie Booth]

So do I. Pleased with mine. Got it from B&Q last time they were doing a buy one get one free offer.

 

Assuming the op is going to paint it herself, then I would point out that it you are painting outdoors the paint will pick up a fair bit of dust and insects (depending upon wind and time of year) also the drying rate outdoors will vary from slow (so more time wet collecting dust) to very fast which tends to leave a few brush marks.

If you choose a good spot to paint in, then the boat will look fine when finished from a few feet away, but close up and you will see the defects.

 

So what I am saying is if you are planing to paint it yourself on the canal tow path then there is not much point buying expensive paint with a very high gloss.

 

I painted mine myself, and used Dulux weathershield and I am happy with it.

I agree 100%

[David Mack]

So do I. Pleased with mine. Got it from B&Q last time they were doing a buy one get one free offer.

 

 

The DIY sheds only sell water based paint now, and its just not durable enough. Get some proper oil based paint from a trade paint supplier.

[bizzard]

A nice off yellow with a hint of orange is Chrome or Cadmium yellow. Rylard do a Golden yellow which is similar.

[Chewbacka]

The DIY sheds only sell water based paint now, and its just not durable enough. Get some proper oil based paint from a trade paint supplier.

I got my paint a couple of years ago and it was oil based. Didn't realise that they had all changed over to water based gloss.

Agree that oil based gloss is much better than water based.

[Laurie Booth]

The DIY sheds only sell water based paint now, and its just not durable enough. Get some proper oil based paint from a trade paint supplier.

I learn something every day.