Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

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amyb
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Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by amyb »

I've spent the last few days doing afew fibreglass repairs on the toy, some nice bigs cracks (and 1 that I dug out to become a hole!)
Been sanding down the rest of the decking, have lots of dings I need to fill, but I'm starting to think about paint.

web searches seem to just talk about proper 2 pack on your yacht. I hear talk of house or car paints.
She's old and not sitting in the water so the yacht paint seems a little OTT.

Would spray cans of car paint be a good idea? or house paint, preferably something I can find in a DIY store in town.
Painting on top of some sanded epoxy resin, and some well sanded previous paint.

Ideas appreciated
Amy
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by JimC »

The trouble with boats is that they lead a hard life. Car paint tends to be much more easily damaged, so it will look awful an awful lot sooner...
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jpa_wfsc
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by jpa_wfsc »

Its always best to avoid painting over glass fibre if you can, as you loose the translucent effect of the pigmented gell coat.. painted GRP always looks like painted GRP..

However, it is often necessary when there have been many dings. I have found that using the correct etching primer (after filling, sanding etc) is well worth the cost, as it 're-activates' the polymer gell so that a polymer paint will stick to it properly / chemically. And yes - use polymer paint not car paint as the latter is cellulose based and will only achieve a mechanical bond to the GRP.

'Yacht' paint is optimised for all day every day out in the environment - a good quality polyurethane paint will work OK. Standard household paint probably not - and of course much of it now is very different stuff, using water rather than spirits as the solvent due to recent law changes. Its just a guess, but I can see polyurethane paints becoming rarer and more expensive :-(
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Rupert
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by Rupert »

Far more about the key than the paint. As JPA says an etching primer is good, though if the gelcoat is completely sanded Matt, it can be avoided. I've used international front door paint on a GRP ToY, and that worked OK, but plenty of undercoat is needed as gloss tends to allow whatever patches there are under to shine through.
Standard house paint used to be better than it is now, I think. The amount of nasty stuff in it appears to have been reduced, making it a bit crap for boats, but the expensive stuff is very similar to boat paint. Mind, similar price, too, so the only reason for buying it would be ease of purchase.

Painting the hull usually looks OK. Painting the decks always looks terrible. Honest repairs look better.
Rupert
amyb
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by amyb »

Found a reasonable compromise I think.

1 part marine paint.
Just ordered some hempel undercoat and topcoat, 1 tin of each should just give enough for 2 coats of each.

Affordable, and reasonably durable, she doesn't really need the high class 2 part systems!
milesj
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by milesj »

Remember to roll and tip! Can get mirror finish, practice with the undercoat.
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by Rupert »

If rolling, a varnish mini roller leaves far fewer bubbles behind than a normal gloss roller.
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Ed
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by Ed »

You are right, painting GRP decks pretty much always looks crap.

Two ways that I have used which look better than simply painting are:

1) Use a two-pack epoxy primer. OK, you are limited to White, Grey or an oxide Red, which is pretty horrible. This sets hard.....really hard, in fact hard enough, that you can then buff it back and polish it. How glossy do you want/need it? Keep sanding back, and finishing up with 1000grit wet/dry, then rubbing compound, then polish. This gives a similiar kind of polished finish to GRP, that looks right and is similar with older, slightly tired GRP, in other words it looks right.

2) You can do the same, with car white primers, although they are not so strong, they are easier to apply, although it would get expensive if you did a whole boat, but fine with a foil. Best to use the acrylic paints if you can, although the cellulose does work, just not so strong.

Either way, I would certainly recommend sanding the surface pretty well before you tried to paint.

cheers

eib
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by Nigel »

I stumbled across the end of a car programme on TV last night. They were restoring a fibregass bodied Corvette and the gave it a very thin skim coat of carbon fibre body filler - apparently, it stops it crazing.

Anyone tried that on a boat?
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by JimC »

Nigel wrote: apparently, it stops it crazing.
Not really an issue in the same way it is on cars is it? Don't glass fibre car bodies tend to have cheap nasty and thing csm layups which really craze up easily? Well the old school stuff anyway, the modern high tech stuff would presumably be different.
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by davidh »

My next 'new' project (as in , after the 505 for the Five-O classic Worlds) will be an all grp boat. In the end, it will depend on what sort of finish you want. You can go functional or functional and pretty - I'll aim for the latter. Long board the hull, then roller on 'high Build' (from and good car body shop). 95% of this you'll sand off again - but at the end you should have a good base to take a 2 pot marine paint - and yes, it is worth paying the extra for it. Rollered on, laid off with a foam brush, you'll have a nice - and more importantly, a hard wearing finish.

D
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Ed
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by Ed »

If you really want it pretty, you will have to lay on a few coats of clear lacquer...

Personally, once you are in this territory, I would do the prep then tape it up and take it down to an auto-spray place who can use a really hard two-pack and get it nice and shinny.

eib
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alan williams
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by alan williams »

Hi
I've been thinking about a boat wrap but still have to investigate the cost.
Cheers Al
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by Max McCarthy »

alan williams wrote:Hi
I've been thinking about a boat wrap but still have to investigate the cost.
Cheers Al
As in a vinyl wrap type thing?

I think Trebor wrapped his aquabat with a vinyl thing a few years ago (2012 in fact) for the Whitefriars training weekend....

Cheers,

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trebor
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Re: Repainting Fibreglass? ToY 76

Post by trebor »

I have had a lot of success with wraps over the years, the wrap on Aquabat still looks good.
This is a far easier process than painting, it will follow all but the most exaggerated holes, you will need to do complex concave sections in seperate pieces, they look ok from, standing up looking down, but if you look closely you will see joins.
Complex convex sections are easier with 2 people, also a hairdryer or low powered hot air gun is essential.
The wrap is also "see through", if their are different finishes they possibly could show through.
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