Primer and Paint?

[etott]

I have a question about primers and paints... I am redoing a 1968 Nautaline Houseboat and would like to repaint the whole thing. I plan on using a roll on marine paint for the hull. I'm not sure whats good for the fiberglass exterior walls of the cabin. I need to patch some seams and screw holes. So I was hoping to primer and repaint the whole thing to a semi gloss finish. I have an HVLP spray gun I was hoping to use for both the primer and paint... Any advise on this process would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Eric

[PAR]

Well, if you have a HVLP spray setup, then you should know the basics with paint, which is it's all about prep. 90% prep, 10% actual brush, roller or sprayer in hand time.

Under the LWL you have two choices; anti-fouling or not. If the boat is moored or spends more then just a day or two at a time in the water, you need anti-fouling paint. Assuming your hull is 'glass and painted before, all you most likely need to do is scuff up the previous paint and apply more. If not, then you need to scratch the hull pretty good with 120 grit, then prime, then paint with an anti-fouling paint. Anti-fouling paint comes in a variety of "flavors" and you'd be best advised to use what everyone in your area recommends, as they do seem to have formulations that work better in some places then others.

If your boat will be kept on a trailer, then you can use a single or two part paint under the LWL, knowing that it's not designed to remain immersed for very long.

Topside paint can run the gauntlet from $30 a gallon acrylic house paint, to $300 a gallon LPU's. You generally get what you pay for with topside paints. If you want high gloss retention, high durability, hardness and scratch resistance, then the solvent based LPU's will fill the bill, though they can be difficult for the novice to paint and will be completely unforgiving if the surfaces aren't smooth, fair and the painting conditions reasonably controlled.

This brings back the prep issue again. There's absolutely no sense in spraying a fine quality paint, over a surface that looks like it was faired by a punk rock band with a wire brush. These high quality spray jobs are best left to those that have the ability to truly smooth and fair a hull, plus apply the paint in such conditions that fish eyes, bugs and dust aren't more numerous then the metal flakes in the paint itself.

My point being, a good quality paint will look great on a well prepared surface (only), if applied correctly. On the other hand, if you want ugly, then apply a high end paint finish over a poorly prepared surface and you'll quickly wish suicide wasn't so hard to pull off. By ugly I mean shinny and you wish you didn't have to look at it; like having your kind souled, slightly Alzheimer's laden, 89 year old, formerly well endowed, aunt Mable, accidentally dropping a boob on the diner table next to her Thanksgiving Day plate of turkey, kind of ugly . . .

[etott]

awesome, actually i have never used my HVLP gun, but i am talented and artistic so i assumed it would be no problem as long as i get the right paint for the job that will work in that gun. Ill probably just scuff the bottom paint and roll on a new coat. The exterior walls of the cabin however I want to look like a new RV does. I want to make the boat look new again. Any idea on the sq ft coverage of a gallon of paint being sprayed on?
Thanks

[PAR]

Do you have paint or gel coat on the bottom of your boat now? Will it (again) be on the trailer or berthed? If the bottom is painted, is the paint an anti-foul? What type of anti-foul? If you want a mirror paint job on the outside of the cabin, then you'll need $300 a gallon paint, but more importantly you'll need flawless surface prep, which for the novice is nearly imposable right out of the box. Making a 43 year old boat look new again is difficult, though making it look freshened up is fairly easy. Paint coverage is subject to the type paint and application style employed, so it can range considerably.

How much painting have you preformed? How much surface smoothing and fairing have you done in the past. Working with a spray setup is all about the mistakes you made in the past, which have taught you how to handle the future. Without previous experience, I wouldn't put high end LPU's into your gun without a lot of expensive practice on something you don't mind screwing up.

[etott]

there is paint on the bottom now, in good condition, just needs touched up here and there, so I figured I would just put on a new coat with a roller.. I am looking for a nice finish on the exterior walls, I guess just one that is sprayed because if you use a roller or brush you can always see streaks of some sort. I thought if I sprayed it, it would look nice. Ive used electric paint sprayers before for latex paints and such. but I have never used a HVLP gun. I assume its about the same.. keep the coats light so the paint doesnt start to run?? Can I just use the same paint in the HVLP gun that I use on the bottom?

[Lister]

Is this your type of boat?
I find this picture of the Nautaline.

Lister

[PAR]

What kind of paint is on the bottom of the boat? Will it be berthed or trailer borne (again) most of the time?

There is a huge difference between a good spray job and one produced by those hand shakers, sold by Wagner and others.

Lastly you can use roll and tip methods to produce results that will rival a sprayed job.

[etott]

im not sure whats on the bottom for paint. looks like 5-10 coats over the years. real thick, hard to sand. I plan on keeping it at the harbor (no trailer). whats roll and tip? i'll try and post a picture later.
thanks

[etott]

here is my boat
thanks

[etott]

heres what it will look like

[etott]

see the exterior walls where the striping is, is where I want to look really nice, the bottom and walkways I think I can use regular bottom paint???

[PAR]

You have a whole lot of fairing to do my friend, judging by those images. If it was me, I'd have a sign shop cut up some vinyl graphics and be done with it the easy way, rather then masking, taping and driving yourself nuts about things you don't yet understand. It also looks like the boat needs a lot more then just paint. Again if it was me, I'd focus on getting her solid and well equipped first, then toss some vinyl on her flanks for looks.

[etott]

thats not a bad idea, I wonder how much vinyl graphics cost.. I'll have to stop at the locat shop and check. I still however would like to paint it white first... Im stilll about a month away from painting, just trying to get all my ducks in a row so Im ready. Thanks

[michael pierzga]

You might consider using the new waterbased marine polyurethane paints by System Three. It produces a natural semigloss exterior finish and is much cheaper to use because its water cleanup.

http://www.systemthree.com/reslibrar...Literature.pdf

[Lister]

I like the Aircraft Carrier type of fore deck.
Lister