Photos of Brightwork Painted White ???

Hi All:

As I continue to migrate myself into Taiwan Trawler land - I wonder about all the exterior britework...

I might have read that one school of thought says paint it white with good house paint and forget about for 10-years...

Is that possible?

Can anybody post or refer me to pictures to what a previously brite section of the boat - like the caprail - looks like painted white?

Or for that matter - if the brown trim of brite teak is so compelling - how about a glossy tan/brown enamel instead of varnish?

(photo of bow area for lack of a better picture of caprail)

Carl

Follow-up post...

I am not foreign to painting caprail... did it 10-years ago on another boat...

I liked it...

Greetings,
Mr. C. I have seen numerous examples of bright work painted in different colors. Some are in contrast to adjoining elements and some are painted to meld with adjoining elements so your idea of a glossy tan/brown is quite doable. I've seen caprails painted to match boot stripes, for example. Your boat, your choice.

One thing I would strongly suggest is IF you opt to paint your bright work, apply several coats of varnish before hand to seal the grain. When you or a subsequent owner want to return to that "varnished look", paint stripper or a heat gun will easily remove the paint AND the varnish to produce a not paint stained teak substrate.

My NOVA has extensive brightwork, but I don't want it to look like a GE refrigerator, so I'll keep layin' on the varnish.

We haven't done the cap rail but we've painted the exterior pilot house doors, grab rails, name boards and eye brow. We use Interlux Brightside one-part polyurethane paint. Easy to apply, touch up and is pretty durable.

Interlux Brightside Polyurethane

I've seen painted bright work on numerous KKs. I think it looks just fine. However, I've never seen painted bright work on a GB. I've been mightily tempted but I'm afraid I will destroy the "look" and perhaps hurt the resale value.

CarlinLA,
House paint has limited value on a boat. I's problem is that dirt adhers to it and very soon it looks bad and is hard to clean. Painting brightwork in colors I'd be thinking of a high gloss paint basically like varnish but not clear. However I have several things on my boat painted w house paint.

I like your old boat .. especially the substitute for the typical hoop on the end of the bow roller. Thought of that just last week.
Nice lines on the old boat. How do/did you keep her water tight?

We painted the lower eyebrow (GBs have 2) on our 42 Grand Banks. Don't have a pic but can post one next week. Had a hard time keeping varnish on this eyebrow, paint no problem. The upper eyebrow holds varnish just fine. Will post pick when I have one.

Sadly she was not watertight. the fiberglass had yielded and the numerous leaks leaked significantly. bilge pump ran often. of course she was still floating when identified for derilict removal (after my ownership).

manyboats said:

CarlinLA,

Nice lines on the old boat. How do/did you keep her water tight?

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make sure the teak is well varnished before covering with paint. That way if you ever want to go back to varnish removal is easier.

bayview said:

make sure the teak is well varnished before covering with paint. That way if you ever want to go back to varnish removal is easier.

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We didn't worry about that, particularly on the eye brow (s). We've rebuilt 4 of 6 corners. Physically they are a match but the new teak would never match the old. We have acres of teak on our KK42 that has not been painted. The new owner can practice on that. I willing to bet they wouldn't want anymore bare teak to varnish.

Larry M said:

We didn't worry about that, particularly on the eye brow (s). We've rebuilt 4 of 6 corners. Physically they are a match but the new teak would never match the old.

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Same here, I've got so much teak already that any more outside is not an option. I suppose if you took the top eight inch off the cap rail, it may come closer to matching since I used vintage teak for patches, coming as close to the grain as I could. After the repair, I just gave up on it and painted it with two part. I thought I knew how much teak I had till I started tearing apart the interior. Even the out-of-sight sub-framing is made of better material than I can buy from the plantation stuff available, some of which you can see was trimmed by a machete.. It must have been something in those days..... to see with acres of boat construction and huge piles of teak everywhere.

The KK's seem to do OK with painted exterior teak, but I don't know about the GB's, Chubbys, MT's and so on. The style and richness of that exterior trim was such a part of the brand, so loved and hated for that gorgeous teak.

bnoft said:

We painted the lower eyebrow (GBs have 2) on our 42 Grand Banks. Don't have a pic but can post one next week. Had a hard time keeping varnish on this eyebrow, paint no problem. The upper eyebrow holds varnish just fine. Will post pick when I have one.

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"Ditto" on the lower eyebrow on our GB42.

OCDiver just had his rails painted....not sure if they were Awlgrip or not...but looked bulletproof the way the painter did it.


I was just thinking of painting mine....I might think a softer enamel paint. Even 5 years with easy touch up and repair would be a blessing. OCDiver did his in dark blue...I may go black like the rest of the accents to keep the fridge look down.

psneeld said:

OCDiver just had his rails painted....not sure if they were Awlgrip or not...but looked bulletproof the way the painter did it.
...

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I agree. It looks like it was done the right way.

A friend had his cap rail painted with a 2 -part professionally that was not done correctly. Three years later he had cracks at the corners and at a few joints on the cap rail. A year later the paint was lifting in several inch sections.

It looks like he had the same problems we have keeping moisture out of varnished joints. As the wood expands and contracts, the paint didn't and failed. No easy/cheap fix unfortunately.

That is why I am thinking a soft enamel...may not stay bright/shiny like the harder paints buy may last longer on the joints if not too large.

If you don't like teak or don't want you to maintain it, why don't you purchase a boat with out it?

Capecodder said:

If you don't like teak or don't want you to maintain it, why don't you purchase a boat with out it?

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Now don't get like our famous "buy another boat poster"....

The type boat I wanted in the price range I could afford had it and if I could have had the PO strip it all off before I bought it....I would have paid extra.

We owned a 36 GB that was loaded with teak. We swore we would never have exterior teak again. So we bought a 46 GB also loaded with teak. WTF!!

With a number of coats of varnish , so the finish can be restored, any brown patio deck stain would pass the 10 ft test .

Water condensing on it in the AM does not seem to cause the droplets to form a lens and burn the finish off like varnish.

Consumer reports could be a great product guide.

hmason said:

We owned a 36 GB that was loaded with teak. We swore we would never have exterior teak again. So we bought a 46 GB also loaded with teak. WTF!!

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I had a boat with "some" exterior teak. I said "never again" and then bought a plastic bottle sailboat. Never looked back. One of the criterion for a power boat was no exterior teak. I am busy, lazy, and have a bad back. I didn't want to spend my off days sanding, varnishing, or oiling.

Larry M said:

We haven't done the cap rail but we've painted the exterior pilot house doors, grab rails, name boards and eye brow. We use Interlux Brightside one-part polyurethane paint. Easy to apply, touch up and is pretty durable.

Interlux Brightside Polyurethane

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Larry, what were your steps in painting the teak? I'm redoing the fore-deck on our boat & am over the teak, though, there will still be lots. How did you prep the wood? Thanks Tonto

TONTOROSS said:

Larry, what were your steps in painting the teak? I'm redoing the fore-deck on our boat & am over the teak, though, there will still be lots. How did you prep the wood? Thanks Tonto

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Sanded to prep with the final sanding using 220 grit. Wiped down with acetone to remove any oils. Primed with Interlux Bitghtsides Pre-Kote primer and sanded again with 320 grit. Then 2-3 coats of Interlux Brightside 1-part. Sanding in between coats as needed. I thin the paint using Interlux 333. It helps the paint flow and to keep a wet edge when brushing.

I prefer the one part over a two part if for nothing else the ease of touch up and application. It's not as durable as the 2 part but it's pretty forgiving.

Interlux Pre-Kote Primer for One-Part Finishes

Interlux Brushing Liquid 333 Solvent

Thanks Larry - way to much wood. Re-caulking the raised fore-deck. Good grief - what a process. Going to buy a good paintbrush or 9

That, and so many have said do the varnish as an under-layer to facilitate return to wood grain... with that in mind I might just stop at the varnish layer...

BTW... here is my existing condition...

TONTOROSS said:

Thanks Larry - way to much wood. Re-caulking the raised fore-deck. Good grief - what a process. Going to buy a good paintbrush or 9

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An alternative to paint is FG itself.

This is a friend's boat in Alaska. He's a good layup man and after he removed his cap rails he overlayed the two hull pieces together. Then painted grey.
I also like his anchor mounting and the 65lb Forfjord fit perfectly. Last I heard he planed to replace it w a Claw.

Not painted caprail but it is painted window frames...

This of a neighbor on the dock...

If you are a forum member hope you don't mind the post...

Carl