Paint for wood boat

[Kent33]

Also check the current topside paint if possible

 

[Grand Illusion]

The previous owner of my 32 had the hull painted with Petit EZ Poxy in 2020 and it is still holding up very well. I'll be hauling this upcoming fall and will scuff and add another coat, but I've found that paint to be very durable, continues to hold its gloss, and relatively easy to touch up when needed. I think you'll be happy with it if it lasts as ours has.

 

[Keijo]

Been there and done that. You might find the attached an interesting read. Good luck!

 

[Xlantic]

In reference to Keijo's entertaining article, re-launching a wooden boat is often exciting.

I have tried different strategies. One time my boat spent the whole winter on the hard in Greece to do some work, including re-corking. The boat went to the water on a Saturday afternoon but stayed supported on the slings till Monday morning. At that point the bilge pumps were able to keep up.

Another time, just before launching, I applied Davis' Slick Seam, a waxy temporary seam compound. This worked great even though the boat had been out of the water for four months, launching in late May. The bilge pumps easily kept up.

Last time I hauled out, after less than two months on the hard, I did not use any of the mentioned techniques and needed a couple of 220V pumps running most of the night to keep up.

The boat is currently out again. I would have liked to use Davis' Slick Seam but, unfortunately, the product has been recently discontinued. As an alternative, I plan to use a ring of "toilet bowl wax" which has been mentioned in other forums. My idea is to melt it down, pour it in empty cartridges, and apply it to the underwater seams with an applicator gun followed by a pat down with a spatula.

We'll see how it goes this time.

 

[Kent33]

30 years ago in the UK I pioneered the use of construction grade polysulphide sealant in cartridges applied in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions warranted to last in fresh and saltwater for more than 20 years at a fraction of the cost of “special branded boat products”.

Had a bet with marina manager that there would be zero water ingress but he insisted she was held in the slings overnight - I won the bet!

 

[PNWPederson]

Today was the first day I was able to haul her out. I was suppose to haul out last Friday, but the winds were too high for the crane and it was called of until today. Sadly, I've lost two days of work.

Overall, she looks acceptable, but does need work and work I did.

I spent the few hours I had in the afternoon after she was hauled out, pressure washed, blocked and allowed to dry, chipping away paint flakes. After that, I got to sanding with 80 grit. I was able to get 90% of the starboard side before I had to leave. This is waterline and above. Below the waterline I'm only going to sand if absolutely necessary. I will get a full day tomorrow. Hope the rain starts away.

I've been getting over a bad cold and it has really sapped my energy. I'm getting better, but man, this sucks.

 

[Bob Cofer]

Hi Bruce,

She doesn't look that bad at all in these photos. I would suggest if there is caulking along the bottom of the lower rub rails that you dig it out and don't replace it. Fresh water always finds its way in from the top, sealing the bottom turns it into a festering rot pit. Looks like later this week the weather is going to cooperate!

Cheers,
Bob

 

[Grand Illusion]

Nothing like a couple weeks in the boatyard to make you question your life choices. You'll love the end result, it will be transformational and you can be proud of the improvement you've made to the boat. Agreed on weather, looks like by the time you're finished with prep it should be good conditions to paint.

 

[PNWPederson]

Hi Bruce,

She doesn't look that bad at all in these photos. I would suggest if there is caulking along the bottom of the lower rub rails that you dig it out and don't replace it. Fresh water always finds its way in from the top, sealing the bottom turns it into a festering rot pit. Looks like later this week the weather is going to cooperate!

Cheers,
Bob

The lower rub doesn't really look like it has caulking, but if there is, it's in good condition. The upper rub rail does have caulking and you can see the condition in these pictures. I was planning to caulk again. Your thoughts?

 

[Xlantic]

I would say that, as a minimum, you need to reef-out all that failed caulking, clean, sand, seal the seam with CPE or similar, prime and then paint.

You then need to decide if want to seal the seam with new caulking. I think Bob Cofer makes a valid point that it is better not to seal so fresh water doesn't get trapped behind the rub-rails and rots the planks. Not fun; ask me how I know.

And make sure the seams at the top of the rub-rail are in perfect condition. If in doubt, reef-out and replace using UV stable caulk and primer, if needed, for maximum protection. The one thing wooden boats hate is fresh water.

The only rotten planks I have had in my 50 year old wooden boat have been behind the upper rub-rail.

 

[PNWPederson]

Day two was another day of sanding. The port side hull was in much worse shape. Quite a bit more sanding involved. Pulled the bronze rope guides for ease of sanding and most of the bronze screws snapped. Going to have to do some digging and plugging to fix. Has anyone pulled the vent front the gunwale before? I'd like to pull those to remove the years of paint.

Had a wonderful visit from fellow TF member, @Bob Cofer and he was able to give me plenty of great advice. Thank you, Bob.

My with meeting for today was cancelled so I get to have the day at the boat. Hoping to finish sanding today. Lofty goal, but hey, shot for the moon!

 

[Xlantic]

Pulled the bronze rope guides for ease of sanding and most of the bronze screws snapped. Going to have to do some digging and plugging to fix.

I have my boat on the hard currently and pulled off the bronze half-rounds from the rub rails. Around half the fasteners broke off! But with a bit of practice, using these "elastic steel pins" I removed the remains of the screws with a bit of effort:

You need to use one with an interior diameter similar to the outside diameter of the screw. With the drill set "in reverse" you drill out around the thread of the broken screw. With a bit of luck the pin will grab the fasteners and screw it out. Otherwise you keep on drilling until the entire screw is inside the pin and you pull it out. It takes a bit of practice. I have done around a hundred this week ...

(Credit where credit is due: I saw this method used by Eric in an Off-Center Harbour video: Re-Sheathing the Deck of a Wooden Boat, Part 2 - Removing the Rails and Fasteners - OffCenterHarbor.com)

Has anyone pulled the vent front the gunwale before? I'd like to pull those to remove the years of paint.

Yes I did that in my previous haul-out. It is quite easy. The vents are fibreglass and a bit delicate. When reinstalling make sure you use some butyl to bed-down the fasteners.

 

[Xlantic]

I have my boat on the hard currently and pulled off the bronze half-rounds from the rub rails. Around half the fasteners broke off! But with a bit of practice, using these "elastic steel pins" I removed the remains of the screws with a bit of effort:
View attachment 163626
You need to use one with an interior diameter similar to the outside diameter of the screw. With the drill set "in reverse" you drill out around the thread of the broken screw. With a bit of luck the pin will grab the fasteners and screw it out. Otherwise you keep on drilling until the entire screw is inside the pin and you pull it out. It takes a bit of practice. I have done around a hundred this week ...

(Credit where credit is due: I saw this method used by Eric in an Off-Center Harbour video: Re-Sheathing the Deck of a Wooden Boat, Part 2 - Removing the Rails and Fasteners - OffCenterHarbor.com)



Yes I did that in my previous haul-out. It is quite easy. The vents are fibreglass and a bit delicate. When reinstalling make sure you use some butyl to bed-down the fasteners.

By the way, I would never sand the bronze hawse pipes. What are you trying to accomplish?

 

[PNWPederson]

@Xlantic

That's a great idea about pulling the screws. I'll give it a try.

As for the bronze hawse pipes, I'm pulling them to sand the area around them. There were cracks in the paint up to some of them and there's paint on the edges of them. Because I'm changing color from white to green in these areas, I wanted to get it just right.

The side vents, at least on this boat, look like they're bronze. I've loosened all the screws (I'm sure quite a few broke) but the vent isn't budging. Here's a picture of one of the two. Sadly, it's been painted over for awhile.

 

[PNWPederson]

@Xlantic

I just wanted to get on and say that the trick for pulling broken screws out of wood worked so well! It pulls the screw and makes a perfect hole for a plug. The only issue is that I thought I would be able to remove the screws from the steel pins and I couldn't. I only had a couple on me so I need to pick up some more tomorrow. Thank you for the tip!

 

[Xlantic]

Yes that happens. It's good to have many around of different sizes, but they are cheap. It is amazing how much abuse these pins can take.

Bronze fasteners are easier to remove from the pins than stainless steel ones. But it is actually easier to remove stainless ones from the wood as they are tougher and don't break up as much as bronze ones.

If some of the fastener sticks out from the end of the pin you can firmly grab it with a vise grip or regular pliers. Then by running the drill, once again in reverse, the fastener may unscrew itself from the pin.

 

[Xlantic]

The side vents, at least on this boat, look like they're bronze. I've loosened all the screws (I'm sure quite a few broke) but the vent isn't budging. Here's a picture of one of the two. Sadly, it's been painted over for awhile.

A PO probably bedded then with a sealant or worse, with an adhesive. Heat from a heat gun or gas torch is your friend here. Heat-up the vent and the goop holding it in place will likely soften and loose its grip.

As you gently pry them apart, you can also run a knife between the vents and the hull to cut the stuff.

When you remount the vents use butyl tape to prevent water intrusion and rot, particularly around each screw hole. Butyl tape will seal against water intrusion but remain soft for years and permit the vents to be easily removed in the future. Any excess butyl that squeezes out and sticks to the hull or vents can be easily cleaned with, of all things, WD-40

This the authority when it comes to bedding:

Bedding Deck Hardware With Bed-IT Tape - Marine How To

Originally published December 2003 *Moved & Edited September 2017 Bedding With Bed-It Tape 5/20/2022 IMPORTANT UPDATE BED-IT TAPE IS BACK PURCHASE BED-IT TAPE Countersunk/Beveled Hole Over the years,

marinehowto.com

To clean the old paint from the vents you can try a paint-stripper.

 

[PNWPederson]

Day three of getting ready to paint was spent mostly sanding. The good news is that I've mostly finished, just a few small spots to go. This allowed me to put wood sealer on the bare wood.

My transducer arrived yesterday, so today is when I'll install that and remove the old one. I'll also install new packing in the shaft seal and then I will paint primer on the bare spots below the waterline. I also need to run to the lumber store for a bit of mahogany to make plugs. If all goes well, painting will begin tomorrow.

I will say, having a wood boat in a boatyard gets you a lot of visitors. Tons of nice comments.

 

[Grand Illusion]

Looking really good! Are you planning to prime tomorrow and paint on Saturday? Looks like rain will be moving in at some point on Sunday for a day or two.

The Petit EZ Prime dries very quickly, but be sure to heed the warning on the EZ Poxy of no more than one thin coat per day.

I worked with a shipwright to do a bunch of above waterline recaulking up forward where the bow wave would push water through some open seams. I rushed the touch-up painting a bit afterward to make my launch date and got a bit of solvent entrapment that bubbled through the film. If you do what Petit says to do, that paint works very well and is very durable. I've had great luck with the dense foam rollers and foam brushes (the good ones from Jen Manufacturing). Soft tipping brushes also work well, but it's easy to put too much paint on if you're not careful. I've always had good results with the Wooster Silver Tip series of brushes.

I guess this is all to say that transducer installation and stuffing box repacking are great rainy day activities, priming and painting not so much.

 

[PNWPederson]

Looking really good! Are you planning to prime tomorrow and paint on Saturday? Looks like rain will be moving in at some point on Sunday for a day or two.

The Petit EZ Prime dries very quickly, but be sure to heed the warning on the EZ Poxy of no more than one thin coat per day.

I worked with a shipwright to do a bunch of above waterline recaulking up forward where the bow wave would push water through some open seams. I rushed the touch-up painting a bit afterward to make my launch date and got a bit of solvent entrapment that bubbled through the film. If you do what Petit says to do, that paint works very well and is very durable. I've had great luck with the dense foam rollers and foam brushes (the good ones from Jen Manufacturing). Soft tipping brushes also work well, but it's easy to put too much paint on if you're not careful. I've always had good results with the Wooster Silver Tip series of brushes.

I guess this is all to say that transducer installation and stuffing box repacking are great rainy day activities, priming and painting not so much.

I was under the impression I needed to get the antifouling paint on first, the main hull then the boot stripe. That is why I was planning to get there transducer in. But if I can do below the waterline last, I can focus on painted above.

 

[Grand Illusion]

I'm not sure it would matter which order. The hard one is the boot stripe since it needs to be taped off on both sides. It almost might make sense to do that first to give it the most dry time, then tape off the upper edge of it and knock out the hull paint, then tape bottom edge and paint antifouling? I think Petit recommends a minimum of 2 coats of EZ Poxy so you're into the hull painting at least 2 days and maybe more depending on how it's covering.

Could be that you can spot prime the entire hull wherever you got down to bare wood or added filler and paint the boot stripe on the same day. Then once that seems cured enough to hold some delicate surface tape, you can do either the hull paint or bottom paint depending on what kind of weather you have.

Bottom paint can be done in some light rain, hull paint no so that might steer you in a direction as well depending on how long you're planning to be on the hard.

None of that is a real strategy, more stream of consciousness thinking. I've been fighting the weather lately too working on paint and varnish in the slip and it's tough to figure out how to best maximize the too few nice days during PNW "spring."

 

[Frosty]

I was going to say that with some bottom paints X amount of drying time is required before launching. But I looked back in the thread and see you are using Trinidad Pro. Without downloading the TDS, I could see that even the web page said "quick drying - paint and launch the same day."

I imagine you already knew that, but in case anyone else was wondering.

 

[PNWPederson]

Well, it's been a hectic week of trying to get this completed. I was able to get two coats above and below the water line and got the first coat on the boot stripe a couple of hours before the rains came. Fingers are crossed that it's still there and not running down the hull. I haven't painted the gunwales either. I'll just wait until she is back in her slip to do that. I have an appointment to put the boat back in the water on Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to finish. I'm am sore and tired from all the work and battling a cold during the week. I enjoyed it though. Still frustrated I missed the first weekend because the boat couldn't be hauled out due to high winds. Oh well. Here are some photos of the progress. It's not a perfect finish, but it's not horrible either. She looks better than before and I did receive a lot of compliments on the progress.

 

[Mako]

Wow what a transformation. It literally goes from “scary” to “beautiful” in just a few photos.

Great job, especially with all the on-off rain we’ve had lately

 

[PNWPederson]

Wow what a transformation. It literally goes from “scary” to “beautiful” in just a few photos.

Great job, especially with all the on-off rain we’ve had lately

Thank you. She is looking much fresher than when I started. Once I get at least one more coat on the boot stripe and then paint the Kelly green on the gunwale, she will be sharp. I still need to install the new transducer and repack the shaft seal, both of which I can do after work this week.

 

[Grand Illusion]

Looking good! It's always amazing how transformational a fresh coat of paint can be.

 

[PNWPederson]

Thank you, all. It's been a journey. I was able to get a second coat on the boot stripe yesterday. Hopefully, if the rains hold off long enough, I will be able to get another coat on tonight after work.

I repacked the shaft seal yesterday and was also able to install the new transducer. She's ready to go back in the water. I will paint the gunwales while she's in her slip.

Tomorrow is launch day. I want to thank everyone for all the advice, tips and warnings. This is a great community of people and I really appreciate it. I'll post more pictures post launch and once I get the gunwales painted.