payj

Hello,

I want to repaint my boat but have no idea really where to start. The boat came with the fiberglass yellow, the purple was painted over it. If anyone has some steps that would help that would be great. My concern is with the prep, propper sanding etc etc. Also what type of paint to use.

Thanks for the help,

Justin

dicko

Start by sanding back the area you want painted with a 240 grit paper working down to 400 grit, then buy a qood quality 2 pack paint & spray it on. A light primer coat (ie epoxy primer) may be required before the paint is applied to make sure the paint stick to the gelcoat. Only paint the deck, avoid painting the hull as it will only slow you down.

srw1960

I started a thread in airboats called ducted fan build..in it I give exact steps and directions on how to paint a boat also talk about materials...l
Go read it and look at the pics..then come back and ask any questions and Ill do my best to answer them for ya

jacob711

btw you don't need to use a 2 pack paint, acrylic lacquer is fine, can get it in cans too

Dreamin Hemi

Lacquer will be eaten alive by gas. Unless your paint is a 2 part (has a hardener you add) the paint will easily lift off when touched by gasoline.

jacob711

sorry to say but i believe you are wrong, i paint everything with single part lacquer paint, weather it be cans or proper gun stuff i have never had even one problem with gas

think about it the paint is designed for cars, cars run on gas, one time or another it will get gas on it so it has to cope with it

heck ive even painted fuel tanks, i always spill fuel on them and over 5 years later they are still in great condition

dicko

It depends on the type, some will tolerate some spillage, others won't. You can get paint designed to spray directly onto an engine that can tolerate heat & oil, but it costs you more & the finish is rubbish. I prefer to use a good 2 pack & not have to worry if it will or won't last.

jacob711

mmm...... interesting, i have tried quite a few different brands and they have all been good, i have looked into 2 pack paint but it costs about 3 times as much as lacquer and not to mention the health risk

misshydro

Lacquer is a big health risk too!!! Thats why you dont see autobody shops painting cars with that stuff anymore,plus there's too much upkeep in the finish,like buffing every month....in time the paint will crack like a gators back and it chips very easy!...Auto urethanes and epoxys paint are the way to go now..I use urethanes ...Not much up keep to them.. has excelant finishs!!! show room looks.....plus gas&nitro wont harm then in a hart beat like lacquers do....Now if you want to cheat and save money....Spray paint your boat with Dupi-colors and then spray urethane clear over that color finish.....I did that with both of my oberto's nitro's boats...Ask Ron Olson about the finishes on them......He saw them in the fortwayne R/C show..won first place with them....Now on the prepations on your boat......First if there any nicks or chips,you need to fill them in with spot puddy then prime them up..Then wet sand the boat with 320 or 400 grit sand paper and scuff over the hole boat with a red scotch bright pad.This will get/sand areas were you cant get into with sand paper.......them you use prep sol/aka tar and wax remover..then you can paint up your boat..Oh there alot of paint company has buget paint line that will save you alot in your walet too...Theres PPG that has Omini/paintshop...NAPA's Crossfire system...Dupont NASON system...also Valspar has a buget paint line too..Hopes this helps...

painman

Can you get the urethanes in the rattle can? And you can spray over the Dupli Color enamal. I made the mistake of using the clear Dupli color and gas has ruined the paint finish. Just didn't know at the time. I now have stress cracks that have came back through the clear, what do you sujest.
Do I need to sand back down through the gel coat and use Poly finishing to refinsh, or add another gel coat. I thought when I finished the boat the first time I had gone deep enough to get the stress cracks out, must not have or should have used Poly for a strong base to cover the stress cracks. Trying also to keep weight down.
Any help would be appreciated;

Thanks Randy

jacob711

nope urethane is only for spray guns, you can use lacquer spray cans but test first to see if it is fuel proof, im not sure how you'd be able to get the stress cracks out, sounds like lots of sanding

srw1960

ACRYLIC LACQUER IS NOT FUEL PROOF IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FASHION.. GAS isnt FUEL gas wont hurt lacquer but nitro fuel will eat right through it imediatly...Miss Hydro,Dreamin Hemi and Myself are all profesional painters and we know without a doubt what works and what doesnt..Jacob 711 is wrong period...he mimself states he has used lacquer with GAS not fuel and I feel he is working on the assumption that if gas doesnt hurt it nothing else will and thats just not true...

So lets make sure what were dealing withPayj is your boat nitro,gas or electric powered? if gas or electric than ANY type of paint will work for you..If its nitro powered. you can use rattle can paints for the main color but it WILL HAVE TO BE CLEARED WITH A 2 PART URETHANE TO BE FUEL PROOF..sorry for the caps but I want to be very clear here miss information can easily cost you lots of money and lots of hard work to get it right trying to take the cheap way out could cost you more than doing it in urethanes from the get go..

Now you mentioned cracks in the paint thats on it now??? the ONLY way to fix that is to sand the surface until all the cracks are gone..scuffing and trying to fill with resin or epoxy or glazing putty wont work the cracks will come back very quickly.( ask me how I know)..

Read my ducted fan thread as I sugested before itll tell you what to do to get a very nice finish there are pics as well to show you what the surface should look like at the differant stages...
Painting isnt hard but it does require a bit of elbow grease for the prep work and the more time spent on the prep will mean a much nicer job at the end something you can be proud of and want to show off...

Also there is another thread about painting in general boats as well with lots of good info..I promise Miss Hydro,Dreamin Hemi and myself will not lead ya down the wrong path.

I am posting a pic of one of my boats I finished painting last week so you can see what I am capable of doing..

painman

srw, That is one sweet looking paint job, and the art work is also some of the best I've seem. I can tell this was not your first time.

Randy

jacob711

does no one read properly, this is a gas boat forum, i was talking about gas not nitro, i have used many different acrylic lacquers over and over again with gas constantly coming in contact with it with absolutely no problems, im not sure what you mean by "fuel" but gas/petrol is a fuel, nitro is a fuel, kerosene is a fuel, diesel is a fuel, etc.

i have done quite a few "professional" paint jobs and a course about it, im not stupid

with that said nitro is a whole other story

misshydro

heres some of my boats that I'd paint too...Oh in time gas will eat lacquer finishes too ,more like stort time..I'd painted a mini bike in hightschool in my 9th grade year in my autobody class..I done it in candy apple red....shot that in acrylic lacquer love the color,but in a short time like a week or two it started lifting around the tank fuel cap area and got worse..I wasnt to happy about it..So I redone it in urethane paint..Never had a proublem since..Now the urethane nitro will lift it too,but not wright away like lacquer will do...Nitro will have to be on it in 45mins or longer..Joe took my oberto1 motor out and forgot to plug the fuel line...and I was giving a friend a ride home and she sat in the back seat were the oberto was at..She said I can smell fuel..So we pulled over and looked at my oberto and saw my hull deck on the left side paint was lifted..Boy I was very upset..It wasnt really bad But I had to repaint that area......you cant tell the differents...Ok heres a pic with three of my boats..The two Oberto's where painted with dupi-color rattle cans and toped of with crossfire clear=urethane..The vegas is all urethane painted...

gtopillado

I normally just read threads but I had to add my 2 cents because I'm a automotive paint representive/trainer and I've been doing it for 23 years, that said, you do not want to use Lacquer...period. All paints have some resistants to chemicles..gas, nitro, alcohol, etc..etc.. but they will eventually fail and urethanes are on the exceptional side of that spectrum. Top fuelers in the NHRA use a clear from PPG called DCU 2050 anti graffiti clear, just about the strongest and most chemicle resisant clear you can buy, but most 2 part urethanes will work for boating applications. I would at least have the clear sprayed with urethane, but you might have delamination down the road if you don't stick within the paint systems suggestions (PPG,DuPont etc..). Working on a boat at the moment but here's my car that I finished about 4 years ago.

bondobuster

I agree. As a autobody tech (28 + years)I have done numerous Harley gas tanks and vehicles and we always clear-coat ( hardened ) to insure fuel (gas)proofing! Sure , acrylic lacquer seems to be able to handle gas but in time it deteriates to the exposure. Also if you use non catalyzed primer (unless it is the new waterborne stuff) underneath your lacquer the fuel will eat that as well. Then you have a real mess to fix.Miss hydro is 100% correct. Too much upkeep! For the extra cost of clear-coat it will insure years of trouble free appearance. I wouldn't do my boat without it. Just my 2 cents.......Up here in Canada we will be required to start using waterborne base coats and no more lacquers (high VOC's) at all. This comes into effect January 2010......

srw1960

Thanks! That is a well used hull I bought from ebay it had its share of cracks and extra holes to be filled..shows what can be done with the right prep work..

Miss hydro sorry to hear about your mishap hate it when a good paint job gets messed up just shows the potency of the nitro fuels..

Now then Jacob..Lord knows no one EVER posts a question about a nitro boat in the gas forum! or an electric guy asking questions in fast nitro...just because they posted in the gas forum doesnt mean they indeed have a gas issue and I try very hard not to make assumptions. especially if im giving advice you have to look at all sides and look at the country the person asking the question is from...perhaps in the land down under lacquer is comonly available.here in the States lacquer was essentialy outlawed several years ago due to the fact that lacquer is a bad pollutant..allmost overnight it was removed from retailers shelves..and then to further restrict its use it was priced so high no one would want to pay for it especially when there were so much better products available...now the only lacquer I have seen available is the realy realy cheap stuff from dupli color available at the discount auto parts houses and some of the dupli color rattle cans are lacquer....and theres a reason why no car manufacturer has used lacquer paint since 1980....
I looked a bit more closely tonight at the pics Payj posted and indeed it is a gas boat..so yes he can use lacquer so long as he wants to repaint it next year from gas damage and another thing lacquer is very brittle when dry that makes it crack badly when exposed to vibration another reason not to use it on a boat...to many other products out there that are much more suited for the rc boats and its all available in rattle cans. you can even custom order a spray can of 2 part urethane clear from any manufacturer. when your ready to spray you depress a plunger that releases the catalyst shake the can and start spraying..

Thanks Gtopillado for the back up on the lacquer issue. and that is one VERY nice GTO you have there

jacob711

i give up, no one even cares what i write, i know you are wrong and i will continue to use lacquer, lacquer is available everywhere here, 2 part paints are only available at paint stores for ridiculous prices

Dreamin Hemi

Lacquer is very outdated and is very "old school". Inexpensive yes, however you DOget what you pay for! I'll take the mirror finish and no maintenance at a higher cost anyday.

jacob711

lacquer too has a mirror finish and no maintenance

gtopillado

Thank you srw1960, it was a 3 year restoration. Trained about 150 body shops on the water basecoat systems (live in SF bay area) and the laws are the same here as they are in L.A. in 2 months. H2O basecoat is the future of paint.....covers twice as fast as petrolium base, less VOC's (by half), just as durable and metallics sparkle like they are suppose to. All custom painters love the way it sprays through an air brush, much easier on coverage and easier to clean. No hard feelings on member who likes Lacquer, its just not a wise decision. If its all that you have available and can't afford urethanes, than it is what it is. Its good to have everyones opinion and past experiences on this subject, its informative and allows other readers to make their own decisions on which path to take.

Dreamin Hemi

??? Not compared to a clearcoat......even a cheap clearcoat without wetsanding and buffing. Been painting too long to know different. Trust me, once you use a 2 part system, you'll never to back. Used both systems for years and there are too many far superior products out there eliminates lacquer from any consideration. Of course in your area the rules may be different. Iknow in the UK you cannot get Urethane clearcoats...at least from what Mart tells me a few months ago. They only have a water based cellulose product due to the environmental green pushers out there I suppose.... Yes, I've used that also.

gtopillado

Curious Dreaming Hemi, which H2O basecoat system have you had a bad experience with??

gtopillado

My bad, didn't read that you were talking about Clearcoats....H20 is basecoat, all clearcoats (at least here in the states) are urethane base, and in strict areas the VOC's can't exceed a 2.1 rating. All manufactures have redeveloped their clearcoats and they are at par with what they were back in the 90's. Never sprayed a H20 clearcoat other than clear basecoat.