Well I got a schooling on spray painting today. Its the first time I’ve ever shot paint, and I shot black, the hardest of all colors to shoot and I can see why.
I put two coats of hi-build primer and fared Splendid’s ass till it was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. I was expecting the paint to look AWSOME as I thought I was doing a good job from my experience shooting the primer, boy was I wrong!
My neighbor told me of a guy in Cartagena who recently had his boat painted black 5 times at the yard because the painters couldn’t get it right, he ended up painting white.
I think the black is really sharp (sorry Gary) but it sure does show all the imperfections in the paint & faring job. The starboard side of the stern has orange peal, and the port sags from me putting on too much material. At one point I had the gun dialed in perfect and I have a mirror finish. If I had that the whole way around she would look like a million bucks!
I’m wondering what if I went with a matt finish? Anyway, I need to sand most of this off and go back to painting school :)
When you look at the stern picture a burgundy stripe at the top where I glassed over the toe rail, and the filigree on the hull (port & starboard) will be gold (maybe silver) as well as the name (Splendid) and hailing port, pretty damn sharp I think but I’m looking for input.
The paint skins over really fast so painting in between squalls is doable. It would be impossible to roll/tip with a slower drying paint.
The decks and topside color is very close to an Awlgrip oyster white.
Bring all input, positive or negative.
Cheers.
Sail far and paint well.
alex
Personally I love black, I think black looks awesome, especially when mixed with gold!
However, from my experience with my vehicles, black is a pain in the ass to keep clean! every splash on the hull that dries will show the left behind salt, any dust that settles and sticks stands out, I keep my car in a garage and even when I don’t drive it, it still needs a wash every week!
But dam, after that wash when the black and gold sparkle, nothing can compare!
I may paint white over it in the morning. The heat in the sun isint so bad but getting a decent finish will be hard :(
The black would be real nice, but I can see it would be problematic. Unless you have the crew buff and wax it everyday. Oh that’s right, you are the crew!
White seems so boring though. Something other than black or white perhaps.
Been raining heavy everyday in the afternoon in SW FL. Sunny otherwise. Hope you’re staying dry. Peace.
btw, Chris is the name!
Alex,
big black bootie with sags is not what I would call splendid.
The smoother the finish the less the paint will hold salt and stuff. If painting where easy every body would do it.
A matt finsih will hold all kinds of stuff not a good idea.
Just do the best you can do, if the boat looks good from say 15-20 feet maybe thats good. After some coats of paint get some 600, 1000 and 1200 wet sand paper and sand a good finish use lots of water, use a sanding block most of the finish will shine, wax and polish.
Black will look super great do it.
Hi Alex,
Primer is very easy to lay down due to its high pigmentation; its low gloss also hides any orange peel issues -you won’t see it until you cover it with a high gloss finish. Anything in that primer will highlight in the gloss finish – to the point where you don’t know if you messed up the topcoat —or if it was something in the primer. As a side note, the higher gloss the primer -the higher gloss your topcoat. It is why automotive primers prior just prior to the topcoat are 80+ DOI. Go with the color you want – any color is going to look great compared to what you have now -and the truth is –don’t look at quality from 1-3 ft -look at it from 10-20 ft -once you get everything else done -the paint turns out to be a small part of the overall picture. Try not to aim for a glass finish – aim for uniformity in quality -what stands out is when you have a section that looks like a mirror and then two ft away its like someone through sand at it. When you go for a mirror you will get sags. They can be repaired/buffed out after curing for awhile -but the best idea is uniformity. Also the smoother the finish –the more it will show every speck of dirt and salt –some orange peel will help hide those items and you’ll spend more time enjoying like rather than what the boat looks like! I’ve seen some nasty paint jobs fixed right up with some elbow grease (800 moving up to 1200+ grit wet paper -buff) so don’t despair)
When spraying remember the basics –aim for 50% overlap on each pass – keep the gun at a constant distance to the target, do not spray in a half circle, but a line using the wrist angle to keep the gun pointed right at target–use triggering at the end of each pass to stop vertical sags due to stops at the ends – blend into the corners -don’t try to lay it all on in one coat – two will give you a chance of minimize sagging – if your good you’ll end up using cross coats for each (first pass up and down, second right/left) to reduce horizontal sags –test your gun on a piece of cardboard before spraying to see if you have a the right setup -a single slow pass –do you see the paint spray pattern evenly distributed across the cardboard or is their more paint in the center (needing more air to force paint to outer area of pattern or less paint volume) or at the top or the bottom (spray tip issue). You should never start a topcoat job until you are sure the pattern and gun settings are what you can handle for the job. Primer you can get away with basically anything, especially if you plan on sanding.
Steve
You have mentioned several times that you like the “Shrimp Boat” style and it helps keep you from being a target a matt finish seem to fall into this catagory nicely. Truth be told I love matt finish on my toys “fan of flat powder coat too”. The matt finish hides imperfections and dirt, also if you ever have to repair for the mostpart it is easier to re spray just the area where it is/or the imperfections seem to fit better than they would with a gloss finish. That all said I am a fan of the matt black but I am still concerned about cabin temp but I assume cabin temp is also related to the mold issues. Its ashame there isnt a way to have a solar dehumitifer that colects the fresh water and dries your boat out.
Paint scheme, matt black with a matt burgandy stripe with functional awl grip style paint might look great and be easy to clean. then you could powerder coat anything metal that sparkles to add to the matt finished look.
just a thought in the end we all know that its the functionality that really matters most!
make the most of it man…the clock is ticking
..j
Haaa…I have had both. Love/hate relationship with black. Just one thought here. My experience was as the paint aged and weathered the topside will wash down and stain the black. At least this was my experience. Just saying…
I did black on my last boat – a steeie. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I wound up fairing the hell out of a wavy steel hull after putting Ameron on it – probably shouldnt have bothered as fairing on steel is a waste of time if you want the workboat thing. I faired all summer, and then put on Interthane plus black. It looked beautiful, but the result was a very pretty target boat – every scratch and nick became an issue, all that work I put in was in my mind. If I had to do it again, I would have put ameron , and then a 1 part urethane – wouldnt be as pretty, but a lot easier to patch up.
For an GRP boat, you probably have a much nicer surface to start with, but hows your insuation? Is is a cored hull?
Devon,
Not a cored hull I’d never own one :)
Guys, I really appreciate all the input, really!
Splendid is getting painted Gliddon’s MEGA (top/line automotive two part LP) and the color is “natural white”! I know Gary is smiling :)
I sanded down the black stern this morning and what a mess!. Everything, including myself was covered in black dust. I feel like I’ve been fighting the black since the beginning and even though I think black hulls are the “sexiest” of hull colors I’m making a corporate call and painting “Natural white”! I’ll post a picture in the next blog. I may consider a black sheer stripe?
The white went on a lot better. I thinned it to about the consistency of milk. I still got some sagging but I’m getting to where I can control it with the speed of which I lay down the material. Spraying is an art for sure!
I think I have enough cash to finish painting Splendid before I start to charter and that’s what I’m going for. I want my life clean and organized again. I have about a hundred-fifty pounds of paints, thinners, epoxies, fillers, rollers, sand papers, tapes, blah, blah, blah! I want to be done with this exterior fiberglass, faring, chipping, painting colossal job. I want to clean up my boat and go sailing !
I’ll have a black hull on my sailing pram/dinghy!
Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
Cheers.
guess who…….when i had plan b painted in cartagena by professionals (garcia bros.) they had to repaint and fair it 4 times, the last two times using the black polyurathane as primer to see all the imperfections. we used 2x the paint the said they would, and still had flat spots. it was beautiful until the firs kuna rammed me with a dugout. never could get repairs to match. black is gorgeous and works if you live in a slip……..G
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V = G
sorrry that was a smile till the page changed it
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V
Alex:
I’m still peekin’ in… Good call. Paint her white and be done with it. Roll the decks and go sailing. Good idea.
Chris is right, it’s been cloudy for weeks and rain, rain, rain in SW Florida. Good weather for chasing leaks. Found a few and fixed a few. Getting there.
Keep up the good work and stay in touch.
Later my friend.
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea