Painting a fiberglass floor

[1504 mustang]

I recently purchased a 1971 Sea Star 14' runabout style boat, it had the typical outdoor carpet glued to the floor. Well it is peeling up, and smells like gas really bad so I pulled it out. I was looking at re-carpeting and did not really like any fo the outdor carpet I saw. Can the fiberglass floor be painted with some type of textured paint? I am sure someone has done this before any adivce would be great.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Here is what I'll be using on mine once I finish the fiberglass:
http://www.iboats.com/Skid-No-More/dm/*******.506284658--**********.718967341--view_id.38024

 

[redfury]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Sure, there has been truck bed liner used, Gel coat, and various other types of monolithic substrates applied to the floors of many boats here. Right now, I'm pondering what to do with my bare glass floor.

 

[eavega]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

I went with the Glidden Porch and patio polyurethane oil gloss paint, with the Behr traction additive. Both are available at Home Depot. The results were really quite good. Definitely a no-slip surface, and it looks really good. Time will tell if it is durable but at $22 a gallon (my 15' bowrider took less than the one gallon to do two coats up to the gunwales, with a bit left for touch ups) its definitely an affordable alternative.

-E

 

[1504 mustang]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Eric, did you sue a primer first or just roll on the porch paint?

NYBo, do you nee d to use a primer with the Skid-No-More product?

I would like to save money if I can but really dont want to have to do the project twice.

 

[eavega]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Eric, did you sue a primer first or just roll on the porch paint?

Instructions from Glidden customer support was IF you were going over bare fiberglass (that was my case), clean surface thoroughly, rough up with 80-grit sandpaper and use the product itself as the primer, second coat after 24 hrs. The first coat would be WITHOUT the traction additive. The traction additive goes on the final coat.

-E

 

[1504 mustang]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Thanks Eric, sounds simple enough, and $22 bucks fits the budget! This is a bare fiberglass floor, no paint on it, I will have to spend some quality time in there getting the adhesive off and degreasing. Previous owner had a leaky gas can. Glad you mentioned not adding the additive till the second coat, I would have thought it should be mixed in for both.

 

[tboltmike]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

After I repaired and re-fiberglass (vinyl ester resin) my deck, I sanded and used the stuff Cabela's sell with the rubber bits pre-mixed in. I bought the small qt size first and painted a few non-boat surfaces to check it out and was please by the way the bit evenly distributed and the ease of brushing.

So I buy the gallon size and it was a nightmare to evenly spread, brush and roller. The bits settled out too fast. Even tried to use smaller cans, but was not pleased with the evenness and consistance of the bits.

For the second coat, I really didn't need more bits, but they don't offer a bitless version. Filtering thru cheese cloth and allowing to settle didn't work.

May have been a lot of my fault, as I didn't use the recommended roller.

Ended up carpeting over it.

 

[tboltmike]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Eric,

How did to apply the additive, mix in the paint or broadcast in the wet paint?

 

[eavega]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Eric,

How did to apply the additive, mix in the paint or broadcast in the wet paint?

The additive gets mixed into the paint. It almost seemed to either partially dissolve, or absorb some component of the paint. Its not like broadcasting sand into the paint, it actually seems to turn the paint rubbery.

Note that the pouch of the Behr additive is for mixing into one gallon. Since I used half the gallon for priming, I only mixed half the pouch into the remaining paint.

-E

 

[kemo111]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

I decided i would use a product called Sani-Tred because it stays flexible and is supposed to be very durable. I plan to and non skid texture graduals to the floor only in a diamond pattern. The stuff is expensive and i can not comment on how it wears because I am still sanding and have not applied yet maybe next week it will be finished.


http://www.sanitred.com/

 

[NYBo]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

NYBo, do you nee d to use a primer with the Skid-No-More product?

No primer needed for fiberglass or aluminum. Surface needs to be roughed up.

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

After I fiberglassed my deck.

I bought standard rustomlium. Mixed a little bit of thinner in it.
2 Coats. Going strong so far.

 

[Enf30]

Re: Painting a fiberglass floor

Eric- Can you tell me how the Glidden paint is holding up and do you use the boat in a salt or fresh water environment?

I went with the Glidden Porch and patio polyurethane oil gloss paint, with the Behr traction additive. Both are available at Home Depot. The results were really quite good. Definitely a no-slip surface, and it looks really good. Time will tell if it is durable but at $22 a gallon (my 15' bowrider took less than the one gallon to do two coats up to the gunwales, with a bit left for touch ups) its definitely an affordable alternative.

-E