Conference unifix::sailing

    Joe,
    I've got a friend who painted the hull on his 24' sailboat
    with Black marine paint from Sears about 1.5 years ago. It still
    looks good, and didn't cost an arm and a leg, just LOTS of elbow
    grease :-)

    LAST NIGHT I SCANNED ABOUT SIX CURRENT ISSUES OF VARIOUS BOATING
    MAGAZINES.  ONE OF THEM HAD A FAIRLY DETAILED ARTICLE ON A DO-IT
    YOURSELF REFININSHING OF A SEACRAFT 26, POWERBOAT.  I'LL SEE IF
    I CAN REDISCOVER THE ARTICLE.  POSSIBILITIES ARE YACHTING, WOODENBOAT,
    SMALL BOAT JOURNAL, AND ???

    in Cruising World (2 years ago ?) there was an article about spraying
    your own boat.
    
    I have copied my dinghy in carbon and keflar this winter.Two weeks ago
    i painted the new dinghy with Interlux two parts polyurethan (sp ?).
    After this experiment,I would not try to paint my boat by myself.
    The preparation is 95% of the work and easy to do.But I would leave
    the actual spraying to a professional with professional gear.
    (oxigenmask,spraygun).The material is so expensiv (paint,filler,masking
    tape,primer and many many hours of washing,removing silicone etc)
    paying for two hours is just peanuts.
    Make shure you have the right masking tape and you can not use normal
    brushcleaner.
    
    Peter
    

    	For starters check note 1112.1 and .2 . I am painting my own
    boat and I do not see any difficulties. Preparation is 95% percent
    of the job, that what you pay when you ask professional to do it
    at 100-125$ per foot. You do not have to use Awlgrip or Imron. Any
    of the polyurathanes are very fine paints or even the one part
    polyurathens are very good and cost about half. The difference you
    get is in longevity ( Two part about 7 year to one part about 4-5
    years). One part are much easier to apply and have much better hiding
    properties.
    
    	From your description of the condition of your boat it appears
    that you will need to use undercoat paint and fairing compound for
    the crasing area. I have used Pettit All temperature Polypoxy and
    consider this a good undercoat paint.
    
    	Call each of paint manufactures hot line and get their information
    about their product.
    
    Good luck.
    
    Igor.

    The article I referred to in the second reply is in OFFSHORE magazine.
     If you send me a Vaxmail message I'll send you a xerox copy of
    the article.
    
    Rick

    
    
        I did a two part Interthane of on a Hobie 16 several years ago.
    I bought disposible sprayers, but got scared reading the instructions
    (sounded deadlier than the neutron bomb). I then bought the special
    rollers (the paint will eat normal foam rollers) and some brushes
    for the antiskid. I went on to use only the brushes and the finish
    came out super. When I traded the boat in, I got what I paid for
    it 2 years earlier.
    
        As pointed out above, preparation is the key, and it is not
    a lot of fun. when you are done sanding, do it again. then tack
    rag the boat at least twice before wiping very lightly with the
    thinner for the paint (somewhere between acitone and rocket fuel).
    And use the best china brush you can find. Nylon will melt from
    the paint, and a cheap brush will leave nasty brissles everywhere.
    
        The result is a super looking ship that does not fade (at least
    compared to gelcoat) and that will flex with the boat without coming
    off. 
     
    
    
        john
    

    rereading my entry (-3) I was not very clear.
    
    The problems I had: 
    
    Could not clean the brushes with standard stuff and had to use the
    thinner sold with the paint.It was more expensive to clean the brushes
    then buy new brushes.
    I used very good maskingtape.But the paint went under the tape on a few
    places.
    Ventilation was a problem.The fumes are very agressiv and I got
    headaches.  (I worked in the garage)
    
    The end result is a very shiny,very hard surface and I'm considering
    to paint my boat next year.But I would not risk to paint a 30-feet
    boat by brush.
    
    
    Peter
    
    
    Peter