I just finished repairing my keels. I filled and built them up with long strand epoxy structural filler followed by two layers of 6oz glass tape with epoxy. I'm tempted to sand them down a bit and be done with it since my boat is old and stays on the beach. On the other hand, since I have gone to all the trouble of bringing the boat home and broken it down, then maybe I should go ahead and do a cosmetic refinish on them but I'm not sure what to use. I have no intention of doing a Captain Dave type total restoration. Just recoat and restripe the hulls. What is a quick and dirty cosmetic coating for this? I don't have a paint booth or any spraying equipment and I'm not even sure I can get a sixteen foot hull in my garage so I may have to continue the work outside. Has anyone brushed or rolled on any hull coatings with success?

Sunvista,

For cheap and easy, go with a premium quality alkyd enamel (spray, brush, or roll and tip... your choice). Any hardware store has these. I have used (and liked) the brand Armour Coat for quality and price. If you want to go a step up in price/durability, use a one-part polyurethane. Interlux and Petit make good choices in this regard (brush, spray, roll and tip...you choose). West Marine is a good location for these paints.

Just be sure to do a good scrubbing with warm water and soap (dish soap without any moisturizers will work) followed by a good rinse over your epoxy repair. Epoxies form an "amine blush" upon curing. These chemicals migrate to the surface as the epoxy sets and will hinder good surface bonding by the paint.

Hope this is what you`re looking for,

Dave

I was going to clean with trisodium phosphate and add some bleach to kill any mildew. Dish soap seems a little mild for a good surface prep. I guess I could sand but my hulls are really dull. I've never waxed them or anything (owned boat for five years). I'll probably go with the polyurethane then. Any guess as to how much paint I need to cover both hulls?

I always buy twice as much as I think I will need. THen I return the unused containers. The cans should tell you about how much area it can cover. Also, the Interlux website might be able to help you determine that.

Dish soap (soap in general) is pefectly adequate (in fact recommended) to remove amine blush from epoxy. I had the impression you are just painting over your repair area - not the whole hull. Sorry bout that - I should have read more carefully.

I do not know if TSP will be adequate for the amine blush. It is not good to not assume that the strength of comparative solvents is important (TSP vs soap). It is having the right solvent for the right job that counts... Does TSP react adversely with amines? I don`t know - I doubt it. What I do know is warm water and soap is what is used and recommended to wash off amines.

If you`re hoping to prep the whole hull for paint (not just the repair) I wouldn`t trust TSP for that. It will not remove waxes or silicons effectively enough. Even if you haven`t waxed your boat, it is possible some of these contaminants are present and will degrade the durability and longetivity of your paint job. In a worst case contamination, painting becomes literally impossible.

As for sanding, that will not remove most contaminants, but it gurantees you will drive them into the surface and probably never get them out. So, be sure to clean first, then sand.

The bleach is not necessary.

The volumes of paint you require are here (see step # 13). These volumes are for spraying, so I would add maybe %50 to them for brushing as it tends to add more paint to the surface.

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=2&vc=1



Dave

So if I add 50% to your totals for brushing then I would need around 30 ounces or roughly a quart?

TSP is a heavy duty detergent used by painters for stripping and surface prep. It cleans and degreases/dewaxes/deglazes a surface for best paint adherence. Spic'n Span used to be mostly TSP- not sure now. Up until it was outlawed in the '70s for environmental reasons, most laundry detergents had TSPs. I use it for just about everything I expect to paint. Buy it at any hardware or home store.

Sunvista,

I have never heard of a professional painter using TSP alone to dewax/degrease/de-silcone a boat (or a car) prior to refinishing. You do not have take my word for it either - call your local autobody shop and ask them what they recommend for these 3 contaminants. You might get away with TSP, or you might not - it depends on what contaminants are present on your particular surface. TSP will do a good job on the grease/oil, but I doubt it will dissolve/remove ENOUGH of the wax (detergents alone don`t generally remove wax very well at all), and I am almost certain it will do almost nothing to remove silicon. TSP will, however, do a fine job of cleaning your kitchen cupboards prior to painting.

Regarding the paints volumes, they are clearly written out (PER COAT) on the link I provided and I cannot recall the specific numbers off-hand. Keep in mind I was spraying and I have given you an estimate on brushing volumes which can vary depending on temperatures, thinning, brand of paint and technique.

Good Luck,

Dave

I just got my boat back from the shop. The gelcoat was all but gone from the bottom of the hulls, and there was a repair that one of the previous owners had poorly done. The guy fixed virtually all the gouges and scratches, re-did the repair, recoated the bottom of the hulls, and buffed out the whole boat. He charged me $500, and did a magnificent job. I flip flop on what I think if it was a good deal or not. Saved me the trouble of screwing it myself, and probably $150 in material.

Songcab: The repair was probably worth it. Hi-Tempo in White Bear wants $500 each for the used hulls sitting in their back lot, and they NEED work. White Bear Boatworks (formerly Johnson Boatworks)probably would charge $1000 for that work, even with their winter rates. Call them up and get a general guess-timate of the work you had done,-that may settle your wondering.

You may be able to find a pair of structurally good hulls for $500, but they won't be smooth and shiny.

Hey Sogncab,

If the guy did a good job matching your gelcoat colour, and he did the job properly (so that it holds up), I`d say you definitely got a good deal. I wouldn`t have done it for that - not even close.


Dave

Good to know. I'm a little more at peace with parting with my money. I can't afford a new boat, and to me it doesn't make sense to buy one that is just a few years old when you can buy one that is "virgin" for not that much more. You know when you buy a used car and everything is great for the first few weeks, then you go what the heck is this? when you notice some horrible you didn't see or hear before? Oh, and to the best of my knowledge Hi-Tempo is horrible on all counts. I get just about everything from Jim Sohn in Des Moines. Unless I really need some more mast bearing to loose.

...And, it depends on what characteristics you value in a boat. The spiff and shine will impress the ladies and your neighbors. But the macho competitors will disdainfully comment that you've added weight to your boat. But, they'll also complain about two year old sails being old and blown out. (I'm happy with any boat that let's you finish your beer, before it sinks ! )

Sogncab:

I went to White Bear Boatworks, today (12-22-05); And learned some interesting information for myself, and you also. I learned that you CAN paint gelcoat on a hull bottom. It won't be pretty, but functional. The secret is adding a wax called 'polycore' to the gelcote and using a foam roller. He quoted me $60/gallon for mixing it, and said he'd be willing to make a quart for me. I said I'd be back in Spring.

I also asked for a guess-timate prices on bottom jobs. I used your situation, since it doesn't vary too much from mine. He said he'd really need to look at the hulls, but thought from my description it would cost about $600 to $800; but the extreme range could be as low as $500 for a real easy job, to $1500 for problematic hulls. I described the previous repair as functional, but ugly.--There ya go!

I knew gelcoat could be sprayed on, but I assuming that you need to have something special with the gun, which would've assed even more cost. They sprayed it onto my hulls then sanded and buffed it out. As to impressing others, no. I do take pride in owning nice things, so the fixing the ugly repair in my one hull was more out of pride than anything.