Paint Jobs

[Fred427]

Hi Guys -

I have my 89 Sailfish being soda blasted Monday. It has so much bottom paint on it that the paint is shearing off in chunks.

They are also going to blast my 2 outboards, which are off the boat so I can do a complete PPG epoxy prime/basecoat/clearcoat paint job on them. That part I have under control.

The soda blaster is not supposed to harm the original hull gelcoat but Im being told that I should consider applying some kind of epoxy paint to the bottom. I am NOT going to leave the boat in a slip, but will either keep it on the trailer or in a rack storage. Any ideas as to what I should do to the hull after its blasted? And what products I should use?

Thanks in advance.

 

[seasick]

Interlux barrier coat. Go to yachtpaints.com for Micron info. Lots of good stuff there.

 

[gradyfish22]

Yeah Barrier coat is your best bet and will work the best, but a hard single season bottom paint will do the same thing for cheaper actually. Interlux actually mentions that as a form of barrier coat for use with their Micron series paints. I would recommend barrier coat over bottom paint, plus I believe the barrier coat is either light grey or white so it will be less noticable from a distance and would look nice and clean. As mentioned above, the Interlux website has the best information about what you will need.

 

[Fred427]

I checked out Interlux - they have a 2 part teflon epoxy that comes in white and goes on a freshly blasted surface. I can wet sand it and polish it if I like too.

I think thats what Im going to use. Thanks guys

 

[jehines3]

Barrier coat 2x's and then anything you want. You need to seal back up the rough surface which will be left after you blast is. I had mine blasted last season. It does remove some gel. This will also help seal up any fine lines air bubbles from layup etc. You will be surprised what you'll find after blast. Mine was very good, not a blister on it. Mine added about 10% fuel economy. jh

 

[Fred427]

The blasting is done and now Im sanding the hull. It had so much paint built up (previous owner was a painter) that soda wouldnt touch it and they had to use sand. Im amazed at how sound it looks after 20 years. I found one water blister in the transom glass that I ground completely out and filled with West System/404 filler. I have a couple of areas of small pock marks that Im filling with West System/406 filler. In a few days Ill have it perfect with a 180 grit finish ready for paint.

What about spraying new gel coat over the bottom? If I can match the original color wouldnt that be as good or better than epoxy paint if Im not leaving the boat in a slip? I will have to wet sand the Interlux VC epoxy paint any way. Any pros/cons?

 

[Fred427]

BTW - I prepped and painted the '89 Yamahas with the PPG Deltron system and they came out beautiful. I would highly recommend that stuff. You strip off the old paint, and wash the aluminum with a PPG phosphoric acid based cleaner. Then you wash with a special PPG etching acid, dry it off, and prime with a 2 part anti corrosion epoxy primer. Fiberglass cowls are done minus the cleaner and etching acid. After the primer cures the base color goes on followed by the urethane clear coat. It can even be sanded and polished if desired. Its kind of pricey and way more labor intensive compared to the usual spray bomb stuff but the finished job looks incredible (even with a couple snots in the clear) and if maintained will hold up for years. I have the color code if anybody needs it.