Painting the Hull

I have just bought a mirror dating back to 1968 and for its age it would appear to be in good condition. There are however a few small areas where the paint has flaked.

Prior to taking her back on the water I would like to give the hull a fresh coat of paint and varnish the gunwales. Could anyone provide me with advice on the best products to use and how to achieve a good finish? Also what is the best way to treat the bare wood prior to painting?

Any painting tips greatly appreciated.

Matt



Edited by - M Roberts on 06 July 2004 14:10:44

Matt,

I'm in the same process on 11726 and have also taken the paint back to the ply. After re-taping the ply joins, I'll use 2 coats of west system epoxy before priming and painting.

I also intend to use two coats of epoxy on the gunwales and exposed surface, then follow that with a few coats of goldspar varnish.

I've been advised this is the best all round solution.

Pete.

I've painted mine with standard Dulux outdoor gloss
Seems to work fine and much cheaper than "marine" paints

Hi,
Last year i too had to do restoration work on my Mirror which came with a painted cockpit and needed a new deck panel. Advice i'd offer:

If a panel is badly cracked buy a new pre-cut one from Trident - don't try to cut your own. The mirror has quite a few subtle compound curves and you'll waste a few sheets of ply and a lot of time trying to get the curves right.

IF using a blowtorch or hot air gun to strip paint BEWARE! if the paint or varnish light in places both will scorch the wood without hesitation - sometimes making it impractical to sand out the scorch mark - yes 51695 (my mirror) and i have the tee shirt and had to abandon plans to convert a painted cockpit back to a varnished one. Don't forget heat will also loosen the fibreglass taping on the joints. But if you're doing restoration work then it's worth replacing it while you've got the deck & hull coatings off as it does'nt last forever.

IF sealing any bare wood with epoxy prior to painting choose your primer carefully - after leaving the epoxy coated new panel two whole days to cure then priming with International Paints pink metallic primer and then at two day intervals int'l paints undercoat and brightside gloss topcoat i found that two months later the epoxied and metallic primered panel began to blister back to the epoxy coat in the slightest bit of sunshine. The expensive fancy primer would'nt stick to the epoxy! I had to strip the whole panel right back to the wood and start again. Quality "domestic" wood primer and household undercoat with a Brightside gloss top coat has given a good durable finish at half the cost of the metallic pink primer and won't yellow like house hold gloss.

IF you are stuck with repainting the cockpit resist all temptation to paint it white - yes it looks great but on a sunny day you're dazzled and burnt by the glare.

Once painted or varnished the longer you leave it to dry the tougher the finish - try starting with a week if practical. Too short a curing time and the hull paint will eventually rub off where teh trolley touches if you transport your to and from your sailing places on a trailer.

One last piece of advice - if you boats sailable sail it!, enjoy the good weather while its here - if you've a garage you can do all this work over the winter at leisure and not miss a day - i did'nt and saw most of last summer from my garage while making these mistakes!

Hope this helps
Kevin

Beware of using the wrong paints on your hull. My mirror has obviously been painted with some kind of household gloss paint and eventually water gets underneath it and it bubbles.

I'm planning to take off all the old paint this winter and re-paint with proper yacht paint. It may be more expensive but using paint that's not designed for water will need fixing or re-painting many times more often and will probably work out more expensive in the long run!

Harmonise55

I've owned My mirror for about 20 years, for the first 10 I used "proper" yacht paint with good results, for the last 10 years I've used ordinary undercoat and exterior gloss paint with equally good results.
Due to the usual damage sustained during a summer of sailing the boat has to be painted every winter anyway so the paint only has last a few months.

Is it necessary to strip all the old paint off, or can you just scrape off obviously peeling paint, rub the rest down, and paint over the old paint (sorry - four 'paints' in one sentence!)?

Peter

Depends what you want the boat for. Racers might not want the extra weight of paint. If that's not a concern then just scrape / rub it back to sound paint then paint over the top. It's a good idea to flat off with wet and dry between coats as it will produce a better finish.

Bill