Best budget topside paint

The rustoleum marine primer is about twice as much as the topside paint. Not sure why. Most products are cheaper primer than paint. The paint is about the same price as you paid.

 

Many people swear by Kirby Paints, made in New Bedford.
But they are $75/gallon.

 

As you have said you are really trying to keep it a budget project id go with Brightside roll and tipped. On our own boats my son and I typically use Nason car paint which is an acrylic urethane 2 part but even the cheaper car paints are not cheap and any spray job uses much more paint as well as consumables like masking tape and plastic to cover everything. With one parts roll and tipped all the paint goes on the boat rather than in the air and masking is minimal. Ive painted boats up to 36ft with Brightside and it flows out very well and has great gloss. Not necesarily the cheapest of the one parts but it is very good value. Ive used cheaper alkyd enamels on smaller boats but the bightside is much nicer to use imho.

Steve.

 

Kirby's paints are straight, traditional alkyds, made the old fashioned way and have the performance of these styles of coatings (nothing special).

The modified alkyds and single part polyurethanes are the best bang for the buck, drying faster, harder, with better gloss retention, durability, etc. Brightsides has enough modifiers in it to make it flow out nice, but at $35 a quart (retail), it's as much as a gallon of house paint.

 

Cheap for me is using a gloss house acrylic latex paint.
Technique is to mix in some red RV antifreeze perhaps a cup per half gallon and use a quality Home Depot sponge brush.
I mixed in more and had no discernible ill effect on the paint.
The RV antifreeze polypropylene glycol allows the paint to settle smoothly on the surface.

First was coat was a zinser primer.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Zinsser-...ior-Exterior-Primer-and-Sealer-2001/100398391
Then couple coats of the gloss white exterior BEHR paint.
Between the planks, I used DAP Dynaflex 230.


I get many years life from this type paint. It will not have a super high gloss.
But it stays clean looking and still will have a shine for many years.

You can buy a high gloss acrylic paint. I dont know if it is worth the extra money.

 

I would always go for a 2k paint system.

The extra durability will redeem itself quickly.

A friend's parents own a large marina/boatyard here in Finland. He has been painting hulls for the larger part of his life, and subsequently handling the same hulls every spring and autumn (in and out). Advised me to always use 2k. He doesn't understand why Hempel and International even sell 1k paint for boats.

 

Another view, just gloss Acrylic water based BEHR paint from the Home Depot for topside and the waterline.
White paint mixed with red poly antifreeze and hand painted with 2 and 3 inch foam brushes. Likely about 4 coats of white on there.



It still looks like this from last summer 2014.

Here is a part way finished view, maybe 2 coat of white?
It took almost 3 gallons of white paint. I still have some left.

 

Is the antifreeze really necessary?

 

Yes, for me, it gets rid of brush marks.
It slows down the drying and thins the paint better than water.

The RV red antifreeze die does not interfere with white color, It mixes in and disappears.

When I was looking into creating a smooth finish, I found that a couple products that paint manufacturers use, and one is that propylene glycol, same as in red antifreeze. It is just a cheaper source of the same product.
Xim extender is one product
http://sevenspaint.com/docs/msds/XIM extender.pdf

The EPA has been forcing the removal of glycols from acrylic paints to lower their VOC content.
So I put back in what they take out to help maintain flowing wet edge.
http://www.eastman.com/Literature_Center/Misc/Paper_Low_VOC_Additives.pdf

Floetrol is also used but it goes stringy. Xim and Floetrol are just going to cost more money vs RV antifreeze..

But acrylic paints will not have as much gloss as a high gloss yacht paint, but see we are talking cheap as possible while still looking good.

 

I bought Hawthorne
seems very good for $35/gal
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Topside-Mar...ors-/141690381679?hash=item20fd67a56f&vxp=mtr

 

Two reasons, No 1, it is cheaper! so more people don't baulk at the price (too much) at least. No 2 is that it is very useful for coating things of indeterminate undercoating ie it will stick on older alkyds as well as 2k systems. If you are doing a repair and you do not know the substrate existing layer type, use a 1 pack poly and you can't go far wrong.

BTW I've found the 1k systems from the main Euro brands to be far superior to the older alkyd systems. Of course here in the UK so called 'Yacht' varnish in the large DIY stores is in fact composed mainly of older alkyd system varnish with some newer acrylics thrown in for good measure.....

 

I ended up just buying Imron and going with it. It sprays OK. My second coat I had some issues with orange peeling, but not too bad. I'm not going to sand it. I'll live with it. Now I've got to spray on some color and I'll be ready to flip her over and start on the top. If nothing else - it feels initially to be very durable.

 

Looking pretty good so far

 

All this talk and you went with Imron?

Well it's good paint so who can blame you.

 

It looks great so far!