Boat painting questions....

Alright guys, I will start out by saying that I know NOTHING about boats. I have been painting cars for a few years now and I have a boat that Im going to have to paint within the next few days so I have some questions. Its a 32 foot boat and its all white right now (thats all I know about it). he wants the top half painted blue and leave the bottom white. I know I am going to use Dupont imron paint. I assume that the boat is gelcoat now and not painted. What is the propper procedure for painting over gelcaot? Will I need to prime it? Does it need to be a specail primer made for gelcoat or just a regular automotive primer? Anything else I should know?

 

u will have to sand the gelcoat and wipe it down really good as there is years of wax probally has been put on it over the years and most of them have silacone so your going to have a problem with fish eyes if you dont.sand with 120 and shoot a high build priemer automotive is fine works for corrovettes it will work for boat just fine.then use a sealer primer the reason i said to use a high build is that when u sand the gelcoat u may and probally will open up a lot of pin holes so the trick is to try and bury them ,for the bottom thats below the water line imrons not the best as it is designed for transport use and not marine and is not suitable for the bottom on the top is ok. u should use a epoxy paint interlux make a 2 stage antifouling bottom paint that you can spray on it comes in white ,also interlux sells a wash i think its called 202 and works good to wash the wax off

 

I am only painting above the water line so I think I will be okay with the imron. Another thing I was wondering is weather imron is a base/clear are a base only system. Will I have to do a clear over it?

 

why not use automotive paint. painted my boat with PPG. cheaper than emron. but you will need a high build primer

 

Not my boat and im not paying for materials. I will use what ever he wants me to.

 

you should tell him to use allcraft also called arlgrip it is a single stage high glass and harder then imron much better for boats

 

OK so you want to use imron ,,,,,not your boat? ,,,,,,,,,,you may end up paying big time ,,,,,imron is a very dangerous paint to use , sure you know what your doing ,,,,,,,,just be carefull,,,,,longliner

 

Ive never used imron, but ive heard alot about it. I just graduated with a degree in collision repair, and I have been doing it for a number of years, so Im not stranger to automotive paints.

 

imron is highly toxic,,Ive know bodymen who atribute thier lung damage to imron paint ther is very many precautions that must be adheard to for imron paint,,,,,painting outside with a paper mask is not one of them ,,,very bad stuff,,,,,,,, there are better things on the market, go ask some of the local bodymen and listen to what they have to say,,,,,,,and look for the oxygen bottles,,,,,,,,,,longliner

 

forgot to say do you have a down draft that crap it nasty

 

I wasnt going to use a paper mask.... I have a respirator. I would be painting it out side since any downdraft I have access to isnt big enough. The guy wants a custom color, can any other boat paints be mixed a custom color? His family owned a boat yard before the storm (katrina) and he said imron is what they used there.

 

All 2 pack polyurethanes are bad. Awlgrip, Imron, PPG, Interspray.

Wear a respirator. Don't spray next to your neighbour's kids.

Imron is fine. For a while there were plenty yachts in it. The gloss retention is good but it is softer than a yacht topcoat.

Basecoat/clear is ok so long as you can repair it good. Solid colour maybe safer option for repairs but if you use a thick clear then you don't see scratches so bad. (the clear is also easier to polish).

Agree with comments on prep. You'll open up loads of pinholes when you sand gelcoat. You may even have star crazing to dig out. Bury them in primer then use fast 2pack polyester fine filler for the remaining.

Our standard spec would be p180(3M 255 gold paper) then 100microns Awlgrip545 then p360-400 before topcoat.

Good luck! I warn you now, painting a car is easy compared to a boat.

ps it seems obvious but keep an eye on weather if you are outside. Wait till it warms up midmorning but try not to spray in hot sun. Imron sets up quick. No probs on car. Different matter on 32foot hull. Ideal day is still, overcast, cool. Don't paint late in day. The night time may bring dew. Try to get it on before 1600hrs - but this depends on your local climate.

 

Thanks for the help so far, you have been a big help. Why do you say that painting a car is easy compared to a boat. I guess I should note that im not painting the whole thing. I am painting from the rubstrip at the top rail of the boat down to the first body line (kinda two tone I guess). with a car there is alot of stuff that has to be taped up and scuffed around, but a boat is just a flat surface with not much in the way, so what could be harder about it?

 

Also, you might want to look at Imron colors, you were talking about custom. Here in my country Dupont just have some card colors for Imron, they don't mix colors to make custom.
Check that, might be diferent there.

 

I've just found out they have a lot of color to chose from (Dupont Imron).
But still, they guys at Dupont he in D.R. dont have all of them, they don't sell Imron a lot so they dont bring a lot of the color they have.
Regarding safety, yes, you should have some goo breathing equipment for that.