Painting (?) A New Floor...

l008com · Mar 5, 2012

I have a new fiberglass floor in my boat. Soon, I will have many more questions, but first I wanted to start at the very beginning. After sanding my fiberglass floor nice and smoother, what should I use to clean it?

When normally cleaning my floor, I use this stuff: http://ipsite.org/17pa
And it works amazingly well! But it says it leaves a "protective coating", which doesn't sound good if I'm cleaning before painting.
Should I be keeping it simple and just using dawn dish soap? Or something else all together? There will be lots of fiberglass dust, plus there's probably a normal amount of mildew growing in there right now.

Woodonglass · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

I'd use TSP(Tri Sodium Phosphate) Get it in powder form at Lowe's and mix with Hot Water. After washing down with TSP and just before painting, you should wipe it all down with Acetone!

l008com · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

What does the acetone do, if I've already cleaned it with TSP?

Woodonglass · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Acetone is a really good degreasing solvent and will also slightly soften the pre existing paint and allow the new paint to adhere much better.

l008com · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Oh I see.

l008com · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Ok so let me get this process down. I scrub with TSP, then rinse. Then do I do the same with the acetone, just splash it down and scrub with a brush? Should I rinse after that, or just let all the acetone evaporate, then start painting?

I've used acetone before but never in this manor.

chriscraft254 · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

will let the acetone disapate, then paint. What kind of paint are you using on the deck and why paint?

l008com · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

chriscraft254 said:
What kind of paint are you using on the deck and why paint?

Two questions I plan on asking this thread, but not yet. I've got all of the new information I can assimilate in one day

andgott · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

The best way to deal with Acetone is to wipe, in ONE direction, with a lint-free cloth.

Make SURE you are wearing protective clothing with acetone- Good chemical resistant gloves and a respirator, It's nasty stuff. And, For god sake- Don't smoke

-Andrew

l008com · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

So I can't find powder anywhere, but they do have liquid:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...-1&keyword=Tri+Sodium+Phosphate&storeId=10051

Do you mix that with water, or do you use it straight? If you use it straight, will one of those be enough to do a whole boat (small boat but still)?

l008com · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

ALSO
Is this TSP going to harm my driveway? (when I rinse it off)

Woodonglass · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Mixing instructions are on it. You dilute it in several gallons of water. It's biodegradable and will not harm the concrete but it will remove any grease residue on it!!!

l008com · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Cool.

Hey wait a minute . . .

"Tri-Sodium Phosphate Substitute"

Substitute?

Thoughts?

Woodonglass · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Yeah, I read that, but... I went on line and researched it. It's just Klean Strips version of TSP. Basically the same stuff and should work exactly the same. No Worries!!!!

l008com · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Awesome, thanks!

So moving on . . .

This is what I have for paint. But it's unopened, so I can easily return it and get something better, if you have any suggestions:

Woodonglass · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Not sure what you paid for it but... the last link in my signature talks about painting with Valspar Tractor Paint and their Hardener. It creates a very durable finish. Gallon of paint and hardener is under $50 bucks. That paint is poly and should be very durable too. Are you planning on putting any non skid down? Easy way is to poke some holes in a gallon can and fill with play ground sand. Lay down a coat of paint and then sprinkle some sand on the wet paint. After it dries, broom off any loose sand vacuum it up and then lay down another coat of paint. Makes a nice non-skid surface that'll last a good long time. If it starts to wear just paint sprinkle and paint to do a quick and easy repair.

l008com · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

I was going to do a non slip area. My tentative plan was to do 2 or 3 coats of regular paint, and then once that's fully dry and hardened, tape off just the areas where you'll walk, and do one extra coat of 'sandy' paint. I'll probably do pretty much the same thing, but I like your idea of paint-sand-paint-over better than mixing the sand in the paint. I used paint with sand in it before and I got very very uneven results. Plus it was a little too grippy on my bare feet.

l008com · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Woodonglass said:
Not sure what you paid for it but... the last link in my signature talks about painting with Valspar Tractor Paint and their Hardener. It creates a very durable finish. Gallon of paint and hardener is under $50 bucks. That paint is poly and should be very durable too. Are you planning on putting any non skid down? Easy way is to poke some holes in a gallon can and fill with play ground sand. Lay down a coat of paint and then sprinkle some sand on the wet paint. After it dries, broom off any loose sand vacuum it up and then lay down another coat of paint. Makes a nice non-skid surface that'll last a good long time. If it starts to wear just paint sprinkle and paint to do a quick and easy repair.

So I'm reading your post now, about the tractor paint, but I'm a little confused.
First, this applies to painting a floor, not just a hull, right?

So are you saying that for fiberglass boats, I should do a coat of Valspar Oil Base Metal Primer, (skipping the self-etching primer), and then paint it with the Valspar Tractor & Implement paint?

You have what looks like a gallon of paint but you say it's only good for one think coat on a ~15' hull. Does that mean inside and out? I suspect a gallon would give me 3 or 4 coats on just my floor and walls, especially if I do a coat of primer first.

I'm very confused about the enamel hardener too. Is this something I'm painting on the floor over my 3 or so coats of paint? I assume it makes the paint harder?

Also do you have any high quality photos of what a floor looks like after this treatment?

Woodonglass · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

Just wanted you to se the possibilities. For your purposes, you would prep as described in previous posts and then mix the Valspar Paint with the Hardener Per instruction on the can and then roll it on your existing deck. No Primer needed. The pictures are for reference only. The formula clearly gives the amounts per coat. When rolling it will take a bit more paint than spraying. A Gallon of paint should give you two full coats of paint on your deck.

l008com · Apr 21, 2012

Re: Painting (?) A New Floor...

What about brushing? My boat isn' very big, and the floor has more "nooks and crannies" than you would expect. I'll have to paint about half of it with a brush anyway so I figure I'll just get a 4" brush and do the whole thing with it. Aside from taking longer, would that be a problem?

Can you tell I don't paint much

Painting (?) A New Floor...

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