Repainting decks and topsides:

[Donn]

Tried inserting this into another paint thread, but didn't get much in reply. I've read all the paint threads, but there is very little on repainting. 95% of the job will be applying paint over existing paint, and most of the threads in the forums deal with painting raw wood.

I'm starting to plan for a repaint of LOON, from the decks up, and the entire interior. I was just going to use Pettit Easypoxy, because that's been used before, but maybe there are better ways. Questions:

1. All the exterior decks are fiberglassed marine ply with non-skid. The color is very light gray, and as she is a fishing/potting boat, you can imagine how dirty the decks are...particularly the cockpit. The non-skid is in generally good shape. Scour it as clean as possible and just roll on the paint?

2. Most of the exterior and interior bulkheads are white easypoxy...is there a better way to go?

3. The aft bulkhead and doors are varnished mahogany. I'm seriously thinking about painting it white. Pros and cons? It's the only brightwork on the boat, and it would be considerably more work to restore the varnish job.

[Scott Rosen]

Hi Donn. If you can wait until spring, you can join me in Westbrook and see how I do my painting. I can even arrange to have some extra sandpaper and brushes.

There are lots of ways to paint just about anything. Which method you use will depend on lots of factors. Why don't you tell us how well the existing paint held up under use and what condition it's in now. If you have a system that works well, the easiest thing to do is to stick with it.

Bulkheads can suffer from peeling and cracking of the paint. If you've had that problem, then you want to strip to bare wood and start over with CPES, a durable undercoat and a flexible enamel. If you don't have peeling or cracking, then just give the existing paint a good sanding and apply the enamel of your choice on top.

For non-skid decks, the most durable paints are the 2 part LPUs. Rolling it on is fine. But you need to assess the condition of the existing paint first. The last time I painted my cabin tops, I ground the existing non-skid completely off, patched some areas with thickened epoxy and then rolled on the LPU without any non-skid added. Next I taped off the edges and then rolled on LPU with nonskid. Finally, I rolled on finish coat of LPU without nonskid added. That final coat took the "bite" out of the nonskid.

[ 09-21-2002, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: Scott Rosen ]

[On Vacation]

The thought on the doors being revarnished would be that if you have some water stains or some areas that have lifted, then you still have a lot of work to prepare it for paint. Try blending it first. If it is mahogany and you strip it, and sometimes we have used a teak filler stain on bare aged mahogany and it hides some inperfections and then revarnish it.

I assume you can remove the doors completely to do this work. If so the work is the same to get a nice job with paint. Old varnish can be painted over, but you never really know if the joints in the doors are leaking till it is too late to repair by stripping the coating. My take on this part of the job.

[ 09-21-2002, 09:20 AM: Message edited by: oyster ]

[Donn]

Scott..I'm just in the planning stages now. The new hatch has to be painted now, because the top of the lid is West saturated 15oz mat, and the Bonnaker said the West can't take the sun. The rest of the hatch is Western Red Cedar and kiln dried Oak. I figured CPES, primer, and Easypoxy.

The rest of the boat is all in Easypoxy. Condition of cabin bulkheads is excellent, pilothouse interior is fading, and a little small chipping. Exterior bulkheads are faded, and flaking, but no more than 5%. Where the flaking has happened, there is the last coating of easypoxy...very little exposed wood except on impact/wear areas like corners and edges.

Condition of non-skid is very good, tooth-wise, but very stained and discolored. The paint, which is also Easypoxy, is in better shape than the exterior bulkheads...no major wear.

All the paint is 5-7 years old, and was applied by light sanding of the old coat, followed by one coat of Easypoxy...or so sez the previous owner.

Again..this is the planning stage. The winter will be for other repairs and prepping for paint, then I'll paint it when the weather becomes suitable

[Chris Coose]

Donn,
Some time ago I switched from alkyd based marine enamels to the easypoxy types. I thought I was in heaven. I like the way the stuff works off the brush and flows to a fine cover that lasts well. I don't have lots of experience in other paints.

I'd treat my decks as you describe and I would paint them only as per needed rather than consider them as annual tasks.

I like to pick up a couple of colors and mix them to what I like. I'd make notes about the mix schedule but I don't do that anymore. I just repaint with a new color when I have to.

If you decide to paint the bright work. I would treat it as any paint base. Scrape, sand, prime bald spots and finish. If it gets lousy from underneath then you might have to wood it, but I doubt that will happen.

[Donn]

Oyster...the doors will be coming off. They need to have new hardware, and be trimmed to fit their sills. The boat was "winter built" and the wood swells so much in the hunid season, that they won't close. I'm also going to replace the fixed glass windows with screened vertical sliders...hopefully made of wood, but I haven't started that search yet.

The wood is all mahogany, and appears to be in good shape. No visible stains of any magnitude, but a thick dark and sloppy varnish job that looks nasty, and is so dark that it actually feels hot when the sun's on it, and heats up the pilothouse.

I'm leaning heavily toward wooding it and painting it. The fish won't mind.

[On Vacation]

A thought would be like the old boats used to do, paint the doors a Daddo Brown to contrast to the light bulkheads and cabin.

[Concordia..41]

You won't be surprised since sanding and varnishing is my life, but I say keep the bulkhead and doors bright.

If you decide to paint the bulkhead and doors, I'm going to disagree with Dave Fleming on stripping off the old varnish.

A. It would be a pain in the behind to scrape and/or sand down to bare wood just to paint and if you use a stripper you're introducing yet another chemical into the paint adhesion cocktail.

B. The truly correct way to "white out" is to apply a coat of varnish to the wood first. Doesn't have to be fancy because you're just going to be painting over it, just sand down the areas (if any) that are lifting and apply a good coat of varnish.

Now you can paint to your heart's delight and if you, your children, or your grandchildren ever want to go back to the bright look, you'll not be cursing yourself as you sand, scrape, and strip paint out of every crevice.

Dave's got a point about adhesion, and you probably would have problems if you just painted straight over old dead varnish, but after the 100's of hours I've spent taking paint off of wood so it can be refinished, I'll not put paint to any bare wood that stands a 1% chance of being finished bright someday.

Now, back to the other thread to re-read and learn a little more about what makes paint paint.

BTW Donn, even with the new identity, you've still had your one-per-lifetime Forum concensus on the bonding issue

Regards -

Margo