Painting

[Fishjack]

Hermit –
Sig. Finish to my knowledge does not have a “paint chart” you can either send them a sample to match or give them a paint code (or color name) from any marine paint manufacture and they will match it. In my case I believe I picked the Interlux “Fire Red”. It was a close match so I went with that. Granted if you are re-painting the entire boat the color match would not matter.

Tug -
The black bottom unfortunately is Micron CSC bottom paint. When I bought the boat in 1994 it was bottom painted and at the time I had the bottom blasted and re-coated with CSC. I think the black looks good with the red but I know the CSC is slowing me down and is hard to keep looking good. Future projects include stripping the bottom paint off and painting the bottom with Sig. Finish.

I ended up applying (with the (2) roller method) 4 coats on the sides and 5 coats on the new transom.

As far as “between coats” -
With the Sig. finish paint you simply scuff previous coats with a red (maroon) scotch pad wipe with a tack cloth then apply the next coat. This was done in 2005 and it still looks as good as the pics now.

I am not in any way a paint expert and from my research the Sig. finish was made for the DIY.. Tom Fabula (Owner of Sig. Finish) is really nice to deal with and sent me everything I needed to do the project. I’m sure I could have either sprayed the boat and got better results but the roller method was easy and I did it outdoors in front of my house.

FWIW – This paint is really durable more than once friends have banged the anchor against the side of the boat in rough water and to my surprise the paint was not damaged.

[martin]

Thanks for all the advice, Nice Boat FishJack

[65Bowrider]

I guess "next" time I should use the Signature Paint....
Nice Job FishJack!

[kerneltugboat]

Thanks Fishjack,

I spoke with Tom last year and he was very helpful, I was toying with the idea of doing the bottom with 2-part pool paint, (National HB, etc) We put some on the bottom of my dads 23 about 7 years ago, and it still looks great A little faded, but the stuff is tuff as nails. He fishes commercial and had a roller trailer most of that time. The newer paints have more UV inhibitors. I could have covered 500-600 sguare feet for about 125.00 bucks. another paint that looked interesting (for the bottom) is Tapp Plastics Coat-it (Two part Epoxy mixed with kevlar, only comes in black) That looked interesting because one coat is about 10 mils thick, and you can paint over it. I think I will spend a little more and get the Sig finish for the bottom, I know that will work fine.

[1bayouboy]

I do like the idea of putting red paint right over the red gelcoat. That way a scratch wouldn show hardly at all....and fixing them looks to be easy with that paint.

[Fishjack]

That is exactly why I stayed with red... could you imagine painting white over the red then having a deep scratch.. It would look like the boat was bleeding..

[1bayouboy]

Ditto if you use a paint with primer.....the sig finish was no primer....?? So red paint over reg gel wouldn't show a scratch much I would think. I'm torn between that approach and the full up awlgrip. The gelcoat is not too bad...it has some pinholes. I might even try to re gelcoat it....I got some air dry red to experiment with.

[peterb]

Jack (or anyone else that may know), a couple of quick questions.

1. What kind of paint was on the boat before you used the signature paint? What kind of prep work did you do?

2. How many coats did you end up putting on?

3. How long did the job take (both elasped time and total manpower time)?

4. How much paint did you go through?

5. How much does this paint run per gallon?

6. Have you ever used this paint to do some touch up work?


My current boat was last painted with imron, I believe. It will definately need a paint job at some point down the road. Am thinking of making it a winter project, but who knows.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter