I was wondering whether ABS plastic is affected by sunlight in anyway, i.e. discolouring or degrading. In other words, should I paint the hull of my Kyosho Sea Dolphin?

Cheers

Gaffspan,
Yes, ABS plastic is affected by sun light. But! It isn't a fast process and I'm not sure I'd worry about it too much. All Plastics have an ingedient that keeps it 'soft', pliable. It eventually evaporates leaving it brittle (degradable, right?). It depends on the particular type of plastic, but it doesn't happen 'over night'. If you leave your boat in ~direct~ sun light all the time it will 'degrade' faster than if you don't.
The draw back in painting your boat is that it adds weight and drag. If you're into 'fast' sailing, it might affect your speed somewhat.
- 'Doc

How would I go about painting ABS? I also have a Sea Dolphin but am a little nervous about painting it because I don't know how to do it so that I'll get a smooth, glossy, waxed car finish. Are there any good tutorials floating around? Thanks a lot!

Alex

ABS can be painted with a spraycan, from your local hobby store, make sure the paint is suitable for ABS (duh!)

Lightly sand the hull and clean it with a suitable cleaner, do not touch the part that's to be painted! Your fingerprints will show in the paint...

Follow the instructions on the can, or ask for them in the store, practice on anything but your boat.

It's not that difficult at all.

Greetings, Jan.

I painted my seawind with spray can paint from my LHS. Basically sand and prep the boat, spray with a plastic primer, then top coat and if you want a clear coat.
I'm no expert by any means but my boat turned out pretty good.

Sunlight will eventually discolor ABS, but it takes a long time.

I painted my ABS hull with Krylon, wet sanded it with the highest grade black paper I could find and then polished it with liquid auto polishing compound. As I recall, I found an article on the CR-914 site and followed it to the letter.

The finish is as good as my gel coat boats, and the Krylon has held up well to the inevitable dings and bumps that come with active and competitive racing.

Further to my last post. This is the address for the CR-914 painting article. I followed this to the letter and it worked great.

I was sceptical about the Krylon part and had trouble finding it until I stumbled on some dusty cans at Walmart and said "what the hell."

http://sailcr914.com/cr914_paint_your_wagon.html