Painting Interior - What Kind Is Necessary ?

[clippermarine21]

I have recently bought a clipper marine 21' sailboat and am interested in doing comsmetic work on it. I am interested in starting on the interior with painting. Is there a specific type or brand that is necessary or recommended over others? Does latex outside house paint work? I may keep it at a marina, so I am wondering about the effect(s) of salt air on the interior paint.

Also, I am interested in replacing the wood work on the boat. My idea is to go to a local hardware store and get some wood. Cut the wood as necessary for replacement and then put several coats of varnish on it. Is this reasonable if the boat is in salt water/air for years to come?

While I am asking questions. I am very wet behind the ears about sailing and as such I would like to ask about small chips/scratches/dings in the gel coat on the topsides. What is to be done to repair them? How difficult is the work (I can do it myself?) How costly?

Thanks for whatever legitimate information anyone can enlighten me with!

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by clippermarine21

I am interested in replacing the wood work on the boat. My idea is to go to a local hardware store...

You’ll get as many opinions as folks responding I’ll bet; however, the answer really depends on what you want to achieve.

The local working watermen have been using good grades of oil-based exterior house paint for years, for anything above the waterline on wooden boats. Some admit to using exterior latex as well, and argue the results are better, but I’m not sure these work all that well over fiberglass… a previous owner of my B24 painted much of the interior with some sort of inferior paint (have no idea what it is, other than substandard…) which has flaked off miserably… On the other hand resourceful utilitarian designers such as George Buehler have long spoken in favor of supplies available from the local lumberyard for boat refurbishing and building…

I don’t see any reason not to habit the local lumberyard, but just make sure you know what you are buying… many woods that yachties eschew are entirely acceptable structurally and hold up well with modern coverings, but you’ll not fool anyone in thinking fir is teak, or red oak is white oak even if they work from a pure functional standpoint… On the other hand poorly selected/sawn woods can distort and disintegrate with alarming speed if not chosen and finished with care… Lower cost materials can work just fine I think, if correctly selected and finished with the same skill and perseverance one would use for higher-priced marine-store materials…

[hellosailor]

Unless you enjoy stripping paint and doing a job at least twice...Use a polyurethane or epoxy paint made and sold for marine use on boats. And do your prep work very carefully, leaving no residue.

The only "house" paints that come close in terms of binding and being durable and impermeable, would be epoxy basement/garage floor paints, and they'll wind up costing just as much.

[dcstrng]

See also: Latex Paint for Boats

[barnakiel]

I used a household Polyurethane made by Akzo Nobel. It is not marine, it sticks and it stays. Good stuff. b.

[MTrejchel]

Clipper,
I'd trust everyone else's opinions about the paint. As for doing the interior woodwork I'll throw in my two cents. I'm reaching the end of putting in a new interior on my boat and it was a real job. If you don't really enjoy doing that work don't start. I like woodwork and fiberglassing and it's still been a chore at times for me. Once you start you'll find yourself digging deeper and deeper. If you want to sail your boat this year don't even think about re-working the interior.
If you want to make it comfortable and you do enjoy spending you free evenings and weekends working on things like this go for it. For the most part I've had fun trying to get it together. If you're new to sailing like I am you'll learn a lot about what goes into a boat.

Mike

[David M]

I don't think its worth the risk buying the cheap stuff from Home Depot or other stores that sell "land paint" This is especially true after quite possibly spending hours sanding and scraping off paint that did not work out for you. Why take that chance to save a few bucks?

I would go with a quality oil based marine enamel intended specifically for boats....like Petit, Interlux or Z-Spar. Be sure to do all the proper prep work and use the manufacturer specified primer. As you know, the prep work is always more than half the job.

[Zednotzee]

There's no good reason you can't use house paint on the inside of your boat. My preference would be for exterior enamel rather than latex though. As with any paint job, preparation is going to be the most important part.

[David M]

Not to be argumentative here but a boat is a much different environment for paint than a house.

[hellosailor]

"There's no good reason you can't use house paint on the inside of your boat. "
Boat interiors tend to get scuffed, walked on, rubbed, more than household walls. House paint is made rather differently and typically won't hold up to the wear. That's also why household "ceiling paint" is cheaper than wall paint, ceiling paint has zero scuff resistance.
Then there are mildicides and fungicides, marine paints may be loaded with more of them ($$) because boats generally moister than houses.
It isn't that you can't use house paint on a boat, but sometimes "cheaper" has a reason and paint isn't all created equal. Personally, while I understand the logic of water-based paints, I've never seen them hold up as well as the toxic stuff. Urethanes and epoxies still seem to be the most durable "coatings". (The companies get all upset if you call it paint.)

[osirissail]

I use 2-part epoxy on the hull/FRG parts. You can get the stuff very reasonable (cheap compared to Marine Store paints) by buying the 2-part epoxy used to paint auto dealership service department bay floors. It sticks to anything and you is tough enough to withstand car/truck tires.
- - For interior wood/teak walls I use hardwood floor finish (poly-urethane). The stuff is designed to go on your house hardwood floor and be walked on. So using it on vertical bulkheads and other wood paneling means it will last a very long time since you rarely walk on your boat's walls (unless you are a mono-hull).

[BlackOak]

Ah hell...just carpet the interior with some of that gold/green shag carpet! d>)

[Camd]

Paints generally fall into two categories - Architectural and Industrial. Most marine paints are just industrial paints labelled "marine" ($$$). If you want to use a single part "marine" enamel just go to your local neighbourhood paint store and buy a semi or a gloss alkyd enamel or a urethane alkyd. If you want to go heavy duty then buy a two part aliphatic urethane. Barnakiel has the right idea - in fact he may have used a product that is exactly the same as a much more expensive marine paint as Akzo owns both Interlux and Awlgrip.

[Boracay]

I've finally sworn off "land paint".

It wasn't really the quality (though most marine paints are top quality) or the price (only a tiny amount cheaper) but that they kept on changing the product line. I think I must have tried twenty or thirty different paints on Boracay.

I'd just get used to a nice varnish or white polyurethane or whatever and I go to get some more and blank- not stocked any more and the alternatives are nothing like what I've been using.

So now I buy most of my paint from the chandler. Even when a major brand has a total melt down and changes everything they still offer an almost identical product. And if it's not in stock they'll cheerfully order it in.

So I don't buy paint from hardware stores anymore...

[hellosailor]

"not stocked any more "
Dunno how your rules are changing in Oz, but in the US over the last 20(?) years there have been a lot of changes phasing in "Zero Volatile..." (Zero-VOC) aka water-based products instead of the traditional ones, and the poor performance of the initial products probably is one reason why paint companies kept changing things.
When they talk about water-based epoxy and water-based polyurethane products now...my eyes go crossed, I can't quite conceive of the word "water" being used with those chemicals in any phrase but "water-resistant".
You kind of have to wonder, if turpentine (squeezed out of a pine tree and poured into a paint mix) is such a bad thing, shouldn't we be eradicating the pine trees before THEY emit they stuff? Hmmmm....