painting a 16' fiberglass boat

[mike jupiter]

i recently inherited a 16' fiberglass boat. it's in decent shape, but could definitely use a new paint job on the exterior (top and bottom).

i'm looking at buying paint from iboats.com and applying it myself. however, any advice would be much appreciated. there is an old coat of paint on it right. by the looks of it the coat seems to be an epoxy of some sort.

anyways, any suggestions as far as what the best type of paint i should purhcase, brand name, amount, application method etc... would be great.

thanks.

 

[redfury]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

The Roll and Tip method of painting seems to be preferred from the literature that I've read. Essentially you'll roll the paint on and then smooth it with a brush to avoid a "stipple" in the paint.

2 part epoxy paint is the best you can get, but hard to get on top of it depending on the sources available to you. It's also hard to work with if you need to sand it out as is all epoxies.

 

[mike jupiter]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

thanks for the info... the application method, mentioned above, is what i had planned on doing.

any tips on paint, sold here on iboats.com, that anyone prefers?

 

[drewpster]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

Pettit's, Interlux and Awlgrip are all solid brand names in marine paint. The Interlux brand is the one I use. Below is a link to their Website. The application video on Interlux's Perfection paint is good to get a basic idea of the application method. Look for "Perfection Video" to the right of the page.

The roll/tip method mentioned above works very well but it takes a little practice. Also the weather conditions greatly effect the paint. Interlux Brightside hates too much wind for example. It is nothing like painting with house paint but it is definitely worth the extra effort. It leaves a smooth slick shiny surface when you get it right. There are several posters here that spray it on and have had good results as well.

Interlux's link:

http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

Bright sides is very easy to use
Perfection is quite hard to apply
perfection dry's like a iron coating if you really take your time and follow there step's you will not be dissapointed, i cannot believe how hard that paint is, actually its not a paint as i know it's more of a resin, and lay's out like one to.

If you spray use a very high quality spayer and i would not recommend HPLV with perfection

 

[drewpster]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

I was wondering how it all panned out TG, sounds like I need to get my roller frame back out for the hull huh?

 

[Alpinegold]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

I used a polyurthan paint with a air spray gun. You have to sand it and I would recommend 1200 grid wet sand for the final application. It only took 1/2 quart to paint it and I resprayed with 1/4 quart. Looks factory fresh 4 years later.

They key is a quality marine polyurthan paint.

 

[mike jupiter]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

i appreciate all the help so far... it's been insightful.

 

[JasonB]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

I just did my 16' boat. I used 2 part Interlux Perfection with the appropriate Interlux primer. The coments about this stuff being hard as iron when it dries are spot on. It's incredibly hard from what I see. My application was with roll/tip as this stuff is very hazardous if sprayed. I have a 5 foot finish. From 5 feet away, the poat looks near perfect. The issues with it were user induced by a) impatience and b) bad timing with humidity.

Since I couldn't find an Interlux color I liked for my accent color, I used.... don't laugh....Tractor and Implement paint from TSC. I added in some Valspar Enamel hardener. It took nearly a week to fully cure, but this stuff turned out great, but is more prone to having imperfections and doesn't lay down as smooth with roll/tip, but a bit of thinner would have likely cured much of this. I used the same interlux primer. It took about 2x the coats to get good results.

I'm happy with the way it came out. I put the motor and rubrail back on today.

 

[shipwreck]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

Rustoleum also sell marine grade paint quart size is 12.00 bucks
primer is about 20.00 bucks quart
thin 5% with mineral for brushing
http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=4 you can find more info

Rust-Oleum Marine Coatings Boat Bottom Antifouling ava black and blue 30.00 qt.

cheap!!....no inexpensive

tools for spraying Harbor freight tool company sell
Hvlp sell contained unit on sale for 50.00 bucks
they have website too http://www.harborfreight.com/

thin out and spray it away!! 91772-0VGA
Chicago Electric Power Tools ELECTRIC HVLP PAINT SPRAYER $49.99

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

Ace hardware sells a Valspar marine paint. Don't know how it compares to interlux or awlgrip, but it's pretty inexpensive (like $15 a quart)

 

[Scuda11]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

Mike, I am in the process of doing the same thing and am up to my second coat, you can follow the progress on the link in my signature. I used Brightsides and I like it, goes on well and looks fantastic.

Get a dense foam roller, I used a 3", but for my final coat I may go larger I think it gives better coverage of the paint before tipping.

Get a Black China Bristle brush or a Badger brush. These are not cheap (about 18$ each) but do not scrimp on this aspect of the project. Use a new one for every coat.

Depending on the temp when you do it, do not do too big of an area before you tip it, it begins to cure as soon as you apply it.

Sand, sand and more sand. My advice, if you have sanded for an hour and you think it is enough, go 30 more minutes.

Best of luck and post some pics up here for us all to see.

Scott
​

 

[drewpster]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

My advice, if you have sanded for an hour and you think it is enough, go 30 more minutes
​

I agree, This paint is very shiny and will highlight every defect you miss in the substrate. Prep, prep and more prep. when you have prepped enough, prep a little more.

 

[mike jupiter]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

... so pretty much before i get all excited about painting this boat, i need to make sure to sand it down to as close as perfection as possible???

my only worry is that i may leave sanding marks on the boat. the paint that is on it right now is a matte finish... some sort of epoxy paint i'm sure... i just can't see the benefits of sanding. i'm sure it would only scratch the boat.

 

[JasonB]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

Can't speak for any other paints, but the 2 part Interlux primer I used filled the 220 sanding marks no problem. It did well on 120's I left behind as well, but that was pushing it. I had a few 60 grit marks left from some paint removal that I was too lazy to smooth. After 2 coats of primer, they were pretty much ok.

 

[mike jupiter]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

anybody ever use the pettit shipendec product? i'm thinking of going with the dull dead grass color.

how many quarts should i plan on buying if i plan on covering a 16' boat? also, would topcoat paint suffice for the bottom of the boat as well??? or should i go with an anti-fouling bottom coat paint?

thanks!

 

[shipwreck]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

if you trailer & the boat (fresh water helps to) you could use topcoat on then below the waterline.
if it were me i would use anti-fouling on the bottom if your go to the trouble.

 

[JasonB]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

My 16' tri hull, inside, outside, and bottom took 2 quarts of primer and 2 quarts of color at 2 coats of each. This was with the Interlux Perfection system using roll/tip method.

 

[mike jupiter]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

seeing as i am dead broke, and have my first mortgage payment coming up, i'm trying to do this whole process in an inexpensive manner.

i plan on sanding down the boat a little bit, but have yet to consider whether or not i am going to prime the boat. my initial thought was to simply buy 2 quarts of the pettit shipendec and have at it.

anyways, i'm looking for advice as far as priming goes. anybody on this forum skip the priming process before? reactions?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: painting a 16' fiberglass boat

Most paints bond very well to a clean, well sanded gel coat surface, primer does help you get a better looking finish though, by fiiling small imperfections in the surface.