hull paint

Can anyone recommend a decent hull paint? Looking through the West Marine catalog I see many bottom paints for immersion with anti fouling agents etc. but I'm not sure I need to go to that extent. Besides...most of them are black or dark colors. I'm looking for something white and easy to roll on. Maybe some kind of acrylic enamel or polyurethane. A buddy of mine sprayed his boat with Krylon. Seems to have held up okay but looked a little splotchy. I was looking for something a little more durable and even coverage. I'm not looking to re gel coat either.

If you have a good auto paint store near by...talk with them. Think Corvette.. most stores that deal in paints for fiberglssed cars will have a good (set of) materials and many great colors too. remember, proper prep work makes for a nice finish. You may also wish to contact "Top Secret" paints in Wa. They really know marine finishes. I did a set of Pontoon boat hulls with "TS" using a rollor..near imposible to tell it wasn't spray.. hope this helps

Interlux Brightside is great stuff. I used the Blue-Glo White color on my faded H16 and it came out great. If you thin it just a bit with 333 Brushing Liquid it looks great with a simple roll and tip method...
Good Luck.
jrg

I painted my hulls last year with Petit Easy Poxy. One coat primer and two coats color. Apply with foam roller, maybe 2'x2' at a time, then and knock down the bubbles with a wetted brush. I was very happy with the results, and I am pretty fussy. By the way, those anti fouling paints are for boats that live on moorings, not dry sailed boats that live on trailers, like most Hobies.

I decided to go with a topside polyurethane. West Marine Sea Gloss to be exact.

From 2' she will look good, from 10' she will look great ! For me a big part of the sailing experience is working on the boats. Post a picture when your done..This a roll-on job I did a fews years back.

What am I looking at? Is that a moth boat?

No, its my first El Torro. Here is a pic of a Sea Spray 15 or a AMC Moth.

This is how my '76 turned-out. I used West Marine Seagloss Single-part Polyurethane Topside Paint. Here's the Hobie forum link for the whole article:
http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=5108&highlight=project



Show us a pic when you're done!

How much paint did you go through with three sprays. I'm going to roll it on with foam roller but wasn't sure how much paint to buy.

Follow up on my hull paint: I rolled two coats of West Marine Sea Gloss Pro (semi gloss white) polyurethane on my hulls. Polyurethane is pretty thin and tricky to work with. I developed a special procedure for this and, when I was done, three different people asked me what I used to spray my hulls (including two cat sailors!).

First of all one quart of paint covered both hulls with two coats. One coat on one hull takes about an hour. I put the boat in my garage upside down and propped the bows up on two resin lawn chairs and the rear beam up on two cinder blocks (make sure you don't smash the traveler). This gave me a good height to work with sitting down on a conductor's stool (a five gallon paint can makes a good stool too). I used a palm sander over the entire surface first with 80 grit and then with 120 grit. I didn't want it too smooth so the paint would stick. I painted small sections at a time , about 18 inches square. I used a 4 inch foam roller kit with tray. First, load the roller up with paint and, in a "W" pattern, work the paint into the hull surface going back and forth. With each "W" pattern lighten the pressure and slow down until the paint is distributed evenly. Remove the roller from the surface for about 20 seconds to let the paint rest or settle. At this point it will look like goose bumps. Then roll in one direction only (top to bottom or keel to deck since the boat is upside down) very, very slowly with no pressure at all. If the roller is making a squishy sound you are going too fast. Go even slower and lighter. "Squishy" is the sound of paint being pulled back off the boat and onto the roller. If you still have bumps or bubbles, do it again even slower. Be sure to have good lighting so you can see what you are doing. Besides the overhead lights I had a fluorescent drop light on the floor moving right along with me as I painted. I took a photo after the first coat but neglected to take one after the second. It still gives you a good idea of what it looks like though.

nice work.