I am restoring a 77' H16. Does anybody have any advice for a good quality, affordable (on a teacher's salary!) paint to refinish my hulls? I don't have the resources to re-gel coat. Thanks.
A good 2-part paint, epoxy or polyurethane.
Awlgrip (spensive) is what comes to mind but you can find other brands that aren't as costly
good luck
t.
I had the chance a few years back to get some surplus polyurethane paint the navy used on the
Blue Angel
jets. The trouble being it had to be bought in 50 gal lots.Each gallon of paint in a case came in quart containers of part A & B. The cost was only about $2.00 per gallon. There are a lot of cars in my area painted Blue Angel blue. My local paint expert told me that automotive polyurethane will soak thru with water if you leave it submerged. So if you use the automotive polyurethane make sure you don't leave your boat in the water for extended periods of time. Like Tami said Awlgrip is probably the best boat paint. Look at some auction houses that sell surplus stuff, that polyurethane paint I got saved me a bundle but I did have to buy a new spray mask because the fumes will KILL you.
Interlux or Awlgrip 2 part polyurethane paints work well. The Interlux can brushed on if you use the brushing solvent, thin it to the maximum and put on THIN coats. If you want it to look like gelcoat you will have to wet sand it smooth and buff it. The brushing technique also works with Interlux's VC Epoxy paints which are safer to use but must be covered because they will chaulk over time.
Everytime I spray something I remember that just spraying ends up being expensive. Does the school you teach at or the school system have a shop you can make a deal with. You might price preping the hulls and just having a professional paint them. I made a deal a few years ago on IMRON. I preped the parts and left them at the shop. When the painter had some left over paint, he shot them after hours for cash.
I repainted my old Tornado with Awl-grip. If your thinking about spraying this stuff, make sure you have an outside air respirator and a large area away from the neighbors. This stuff is liquid-death if inhaled. Breathes in wet and hardens in the lungs. I used a roller (really). Awl-grip has 2 converters(catalysts), a spray and a brush/roller converter. It actually can look good with a roller. I can give you some pointers if you actually go that route. You could probably, easily paint two coats on two hulls with a quart of paint and a pint of converter. ~50-60 dollars for both, depending on which color you choose. There is also a reducer you can add (up to about 20%) to thin it out a little.
Lee
tcat US429
Thanks to everyone who responded to my question! Gives me a lot to consider. Thanks again....
endura. endura. endura.
it is about half the cost of imron or awlgrip and not quite as toxic. still, use some kind of resperator. those other paints get their shine from iso-cyanides. bad bad stuff. best left to pros. the cost of an imeron or awlgrip job is not worth taking time off your life. let some other 'fool' do it.
These days I use industrial polyurethane as it is much cheaper than marine and I haven't seen a noticeable difference.
I spray with a very simple cheap setup that ensures I'm always breathing clean air.
Use a face mask. remove the filter canister and tape in a 1 inch plastic tube 30ft long and run it upwind. That way you are always breathing clean air. The air comes down the plastic tube and when you breath out it goes out the exhaust valves in the face mask. Simple and it works.
If this is too much trouble and you decide to brush the stuff on. Heat the paint and you'll get a briliant gloss. I have seen really top jobs done this way.
Hope this helps.
Phill
as soon as you add the word 'marine' to something, you add 30% to the cost.