Should you paint the bilge?

[GafferMate]

Just a thought....Recently we repainted the bilge in the head where the fiberglass had been bare for several years, bare due to being scraped by a plastic cup used to bail water out before dumped into toilet for pumping overboard. Mostly fresh water ,but salt water also when toilet gaskets needed replacing.



At the lowest point in the repainted sump, after water had stood for a day or so, the new epoxy paint lifted. The same thing had happened when the semi-new epoxy paint in the engine room sump had lifted, but we'd guessed the cause was a knocked-over can of urethane thinner, draining from cockpit lockers above, into the engine room below.



Since no thinner could be the cause, and water alone, salt or fresh, shouldn't have lifted the head sump paint, perhaps the cause was non-adherence to the polyester RESIN, not epoxy, that we'd used when impregnating the roving. It had also been coated with a primer of polyurethane for fiberglass, at the time, before whatever two-part paint was used, then.



There are few marine options for paints in the Philippines. Particularly, fiberglass primer, but a woman in the local hardware store had recommended using a two-part, clear urethane sealer and paint for the engine room sump. The re-application has worked fine--no lifting of paint due to water of any kind in the months since applying it. I assume the same will prove true of the head sump.



As to the rust around the keel boats...am I paranoid to wonder about corrosion of the bolts due to water-saturated fiberglass corroding the air-starved stainless bolts below?


Hopefully, that's an unfounded, off-the-wall question. (be kind, if so, please?)



d.

[exMaggieDrum]

One consideration: If you will be painting a part of the bilge that is sloped and you will need to stand on, or in some cases sit or knell on, I have found that a lot of bilge type paints are slicker than snot. I.e. almost impossible to stand on or even sit in one place on even with my legs and feet braced on something. For really small areas this is not a big deal. It can be downright dangerous for larger areas. You may want to put some kind of anti-slip on some patches. Antislip can be harder to clean and keep clean but it is worth it in some places.