Painting Hulls

by **Frank Angel** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 11:11 am

A lot of captains are buying used hulls that require repainting. If you have any tips, I'm sure that they would be greatly appreciated. [:)]

by **Charles Aiken** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:43 pm

After priming and wet sanding I sprayed automotive lacquer with an air brush. I did this because I could not find the color in spray cans.I have also painted several hulls with Krylon Spray cans with good sucess. After the paint dries well I wet sand with wet or dry sand paper starting with 400 grit and working up to 1500 or 2,000 grit.Use plenty of dish soap in the sanding water to keep the suds up. after sanding I use auotmotive rubbing compound to bring the paint to a nice gloss. I hope this helps you. Full sails Chuck

by **John Hickman** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:56 pm

I have built several of the EC-12 meter R/C sailboats and have painted both new and used boats. On a new hull I sand with 100 grit Fre-cut paper wipe with acetone then resand with 180 grit Fre-cut. If you make a hard surface such as gel-coat too smooth then your paint will not stick. On used or previously painted boats first remove as much of the finish as possible with a solvent such as acetone or laquer thinner. Then sand with Fre-cut paper no finer than 180 for best paint bonding.

by **lee krusienski** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 7:45 am

My experience has been that if you paint using either lacquer or enamel you will have chipping problems due to other boats hitting yours and in a relatively short time your beautiful new paint job won't look so good. However if you can keep your boat from ever touching anyone else's you will be in good shape but as we all know, that is impossible.
I recommend repainting with a very hard paint such as imron. However, finding some to do the job might be tough and the expense will be greater but your effort and expense will be rewarded with a tough paint job that will resist the chips and scratches so common to lacquer and enamel.

by **Tim Brown** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 9:54 am

Wow, thanks for all of the responses. The boat I have is an old Dumas hull that I just bought from another local who doesn't have the time to get up to the club sailing site very often. He completely re-rigged the boat and repoured the keel along with adding some Windjammin sails. The problem came when he painted the hull. For some reason the krylon didn't set up or had a chemincal reaction with the carpet on the stand, so there are rough spots in those areas where the boat rests on the stand. Given what I have read here and the fact that the paint job is not that old, I may try to use some 800 wet to lightly sand the rough spots, then do the rubbing compound on the whole hull; then follow-up with polish and teflon wax from Greg's instructions.

Is this a decent plan short of painting the whole hull? Thanks for your help.

Tim Brown - Cary, NC
http://www.timbrown.net

by **Greg Vasileff** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 11:19 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by krusienski

....
I recommend repainting with a very hard paint such as imron. ...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Good if you are looking for a pretty boat, but not fast. I don't feel that a two-part epoxy paint is suitable for a competitive RC boat IMHO.
If you are competitive, your boat isn't going to look so great anyway by mid season. Most competitive skippers will have wet sanded their hulls dozens of times by then and the boat will certainly have some battle scars. A two-part epoxy will not wet sand well, will be heavy, and will be very difficult to repair. With good 'ol spray cans the hulls are very easy to wet sand and repair, AND repaint when you need or want to. I have found that these paints are very durable and if applied correctly will not be susceptible to chips and scratches.

greg V
http://ghmyc.org/

by **cgdm1168** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 11:53 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by cgdm1168

I have my boat currently going through a complete refit, and was checking the web for a fiberglass safe paint stripper. After some internet searching, I found one that was easy to use, inexpensive, and totally safe for the gel coat.

The stuff is "Bulldog Flexible Bumper Paint Stripper". It comes in an 18 oz aeresol can. It is carred by Auto Zone and Advance Auto and runs $6.00 a can. It took a can and a half to completely strip my boat. Just spray and wait about 5 or 10 minutes, then scrap off with a flexible plastic spreader (as if smoothing out bondo). (Use gloves, stuff is a bit caustic on the skin. That took 95% of the paint off. A little spot cleaning with a rag and some of the stuff applied and a little wiping produced fantastic results. Beat the hell out of sanding it off.

Chris
PMYC #100
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

by **Frank Angel** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 6:10 pm

This came as a reply to the Net Notice of 12-1803 from M. Nuerenberg.
Thanks Gus for the tip, Frank Angel [:)]
The best way to paint hulls is to take it to an auto paint shop. I had two coats of primer for $20.00 and filled between coats if you had two coats of emoron{question the spelling] its one of the best auto paints and it would cost about $75.00. look around for the best deal from various shops.

by **Skip Quinn** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 7:13 pm

Everybody has great ideas. I took my new boat to a place here in St. Pete, Fl called the Yacht Doctor and he sanded it the way he wanted it and put two coats of PPG. I guess it's a auto paint. He did the whole thing for $75.00. Came out really great. I don't if you live where there is a boatyard, but if you do you might want to check them out. Great sailing Skip[:)]

Skip

by **Rick West** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:07 pm

I like the "Auto Paint" thing. I don't want to paint nuttin. I took my J boat to a surfboard guy...yeah! I was smiling the whole time I wrote the check. [8D]

by **Pink66** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 2:29 pm

As you all know from my painting ability on my Deglo boat, Krylon is a sailor's best friend. Applies easily and sands great.

Mark

by **Tim Brown** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 11:27 am

Thanks to Frank again for posting this topic for me initially. Here is what I have run into with my new boat. Based on the sanding of the hull I have done so far, originally the hull was a white gel coat with two different colors of blue as the first couple of layers of paint. Then I see a coat of grey primer and then the yellow coat of krylon. The problem am running into with Greg Vasileff's instructions is as I try to sand off the yellow krylon it basically melts for lack of a better description. Then it becomes a real pain to get off. I have had some success with plastic scrapers chipping away 1/8" specs of paint at a time. It has taken six hours to get it the point I have now which is one side of the keel and little above that on the hull to go. Could this krylon problem be related to bad paint or the primer or what? Whatever the cause I want to avoid it again in the future.

Thanks for your help.

Tim Brown - Cary, NC
http://www.timbrown.net

Painting Hulls

Painting Hulls

Who is online