Has anyone painted their deck or for that matter their hull?  Striping?   LL

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Originally posted by LLoweke

Has anyone painted their deck or for that matter their hull?  Striping?   LL

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Painted our boat using 2 part urethane.
It's expensive but is holding up VERY well.
We are on our 5th year now and still looks like
the day it came out of the shop!!

Steve Johnson

I just finished painting my deck with Efifanes 2 part polyurethane paint.  It doesn't match the color of the hull exactly but still looks good.  I plan to paint the hull over the winter.

A few things to say about the process.  It is a bitch of a job taking all the hardware off and putting it back on!  I used to be a painter and found the paint very hard to work with, lots of drips, toxic fumes etc.  I put one coat of primer on and one coat of paint and it still needs another coat of paint.  I decided to stop and just go sailing and put the second coat on the cabin over the winter as well.
I also recommend using the expensive rollers they sell for the paint, the cheap ones from WalMart fall apart in about 5 minutes.  I used the Epifanes one part non skid paint for the decks and used a very similar color (much easier to do since the contrast between the two is almost nil and you don't need to mask everywhere.  All that said the paint is incredibly hard and after all the deck hardware is back on it looks great even though there are a few drips that are killing me to look at.

The best part of the job is that I know how and where all of my deck hardware is mounted.  I found disturbing that some hardware was innadequately backed and was able to replace much of it with large fender washers.  I used the Interlux bedding compound and would not recomend it, it never seems to set.

I just put my boat in the water for the first time this past weekend and it sails fantastically.  Thanks for all the help I received here!

Bob Dubuque

Here in Iowa they sell a 2 part polyurethane paint for around $30 per gallon and the hardener for $10 per quart.  I may use it for the second coat on my deck and on the hull.  I have done some spraying but am leary of doing it myself.  I may sand and tape it up myself and have some auto body shop do it, my tip and roll job does not meet my standards.  How many spray coats did you put on it?

Bob

I've painted my cove and boot stipes becauase I changed the boat's colors. It had blue striping, but blue is bad luck at sea so I went with hunter green. (I had a new main sail cover made too.)

I used an enamel straight from the can; no mixing. It doesn't look factory perfect, but it doesn't exactly look homemade, either. In the water, and from 20 feet away it looks great.

I'm sure the mixed formulas look even better and are more durable. Use them if you feel you need to go the extra mile.

Also, on taping, use the blue painters tape, if not something better. Is there something better, anyone? I once used regular (tan) masking tape and couldn't get it off easily, which is how I learned about the blue tape (simultaneously with being enlightened that I am an idiot, is how I recall the education)

Another trick is you can roll the paint on, then "tip" it with the end of a good quality brush. I use a disposable foam brush, however, and seem to get worthy results. The key is, with the thicker paints they go on so thick that they need to be spread evenly. Spread paint, and give it 3 coats. You should be pretty happy.

- Peter

Peter de Puy
Portsmouth, NH

I painted my decks with 2 part paint a couple of years ago and my results while very durable look terrible.  Drips, etc.  It is very hard stuff to work with.

This past summer I was planning on painting the topsides and decided to try the Poli Glow product instead.  The topsides were very, very chalky with some poorly repaired dock rash thrown in as a bonus. I washed it down very well with Simple Green and followed the instructions applying 6 coats to the hull.  Well all I can say is that I wish I had never touched the deck and used Poli Glow on deck as well.  The finish is truly amazing.  It shines like a new boat.  Even where I sanded off the old paint that had been sprayed on over the poor dock rash repair looks good.  They say you have to re-apply a few more coats every season.  A job that will take less than an hour.  I cannot reccomend it enough.

http://www.poliglowproducts.com/

Bob