Boat Paint

How To Make Sure That Your Boat Paint Job Is As Successful As Possible

There are lots of reasons to consider a boat paint job, and most of them are fraught with some complications.

For those of you used to restoring boats will be aware that this is a big task to embark on. If however, you are restoring your first boat then you may not have realised quite what you have let yourself in for.

The actual task of applying the paint is best left to the professional, but here we hope to guide you through the maze of preparation required before you present your boat for painting.

Whatever you do, before applying any sort of boat paint you should allocate a substantial amount of time to preparation. However good a paint job you have, bad preparation will mean that it will not look as good as it could and it certainly will not last.

The most important thing to understand is the concept of a paint bridge. When you are two sections of the boat meeting there is a join. These joins are the most troubles spots you will have to deal with.

Where possible you should the parts due to be painted, and then reconstruct the item after the final coat. If you cannot do this then it is of the utmost importance that you remove and clean the area perfectly. The chances are then when the boat was built the parts were prepared separately. This means that the old paint will be inside the join. If you apply new paint onto this you risk the new paint bubbling where it doesn’t adhere properly to any old paint. So make sure that you get in there as well and you can and you will minimise the risks of imperfections.

The next thing to consider is screws. The problems here are similar to those of the join. However, here you should be able to remove the screws and make sure that you paint is applied underneath. Remember that the paint will not adhere to same to a screw as to a surrounding surface. There is the risk that your screws will not fit properly after your paint job. However, with care you will manage to put these back. Please do not try to do this when you are already frustrated or tired as the reinsertion of the screws can drive you slightly nuts and requires a huge amount of patience to ensure that you do not in any way damage or crack your new paint job.

Finally, hard to access places. Before you start preparing your boat have a look at it and imagine that you were going to do the paint job and it was for your best friend. Work out the bits which would worry you most and write them down. There are always some awkward areas which need special attention. The chances are that the majority of your paint job will be sprayed in a special paint container. Discuss with the painter how they intent to deal with these difficult places. It is sometimes best to brush paint these. Although brush painting does leave slight marks, it is often better to have some excellent brush painting than to have some bad spray painting.

You are now ready to start the process of dismantling (remembering of course to label and document all parts) before you send your boat for it’s boat paint job.