Paint? The ultimate mystery!

T

Thudpucker

Active member
Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2002
RO Number
10503
Messages
3,677
I've painted wooden boats since the late 40's.
Never painted a house though.
In all that time I never really learned much about paint.
It's essentially tinted glue.

Wood is made up of some little parts n' pieces. If your paint dont sink far enough into the wood, the sun etc. causes the little pieces to seperate near the surface of the wood.
Soon the paint has nothing to hang onto and flake's off.
So many different kinds of paint too.
Oil, Latex, Epoxy etc. Porch n' deck, log oil...what a list.
All of it with no explanation of where and whatfor!

A very few products can sink very far into the wood. That is the bueaty of CPES. It's thinned to the point where it creeps into the wood. It makes a great base for any other kind of paint.

But without spending all that money, there must be some lasting way I can paint my Skiff Seat.

Who will take some time to explain what sealer? Do we need a sealer?
what paint over the sealer?
 
An important issue is that moisture in the wood is turned to vapor by the heat of the sun and causes high pressures that lift paint. These pressures can be surprisingly high. Thin stuff that soaks in does increase the structural adhesion but it also drives the water away from the surface. drying then sealing all surfaces will improve the chances for success.
 
Solid color oil base stain. Seeps in, preserves, no buildup, long lasting.
 
Thud,

I use Pettit Clear Sealer on the boat if I don't think the paint primer coat is going to be enough on bare wood. I like Interlux White Undercoater as a primer suitable for multi-coat feathering. If the wood is going below the waterline I'll use CPES as the primer.

Above the waterline, Pettit Clear Sealer will penetrate every bit as well as CPES unless you are feeding the epoxy into the end grain, then CPES has the big advantage. However, end grain is not what you work with for most boat coatings.

Slosh on a couple of coats of Pettit Clear Sealer and mix a little of your paint into the last coat to "hide." That will improve hiding with the first of at least two coats of marine enamel paint. I like both Pettit Easypoxy and Interlux Brightsides paints a lot.

I recoated all exterior paint and varnish above the rail earlier this summer. I put the first coats on 12 years ago and they are still there today, just sanded down and recoated.

DSC00679.jpg


DSC00680.jpg


Last winter. The eight year old paint and three year old varnish looks good but I could see dulling in the varnish and cracks in the paint and that means recoating time. When paint shows any cracking it means water can get in and that's bad news.

DSC00031.jpg
 
Beautiful boat Yzer... I KNOW you're proud of it! Kudos (many) for keeping an old classic in running order.
 
Thanks Willie. I honestly enjoy working on the boat (including the painting) so it's all good for me. A reefer on top of the dock box and a TV in the boat makes work weekends a lot more enjoyable.
 
Yeah! That boat sure looks good.

First time I built a wood cabin for a fishing boat I wanted something that would last...paint too. I used to live across the freeway from Smith's warehouse in Richmond and spent time reading all this brochures and asking him all the relevant questions. He said the eopxy inCPES is chemically similar to polyurethane and will make a chemical bond if applied within a specific time frame before the final cure. So I painted the whole cabin with a few coats of CPES and Smiths polyurethane paint(white was all they had). It's been about 14 years and it's in surprisingly good condition and I never took care of it and it's lived outside all this time. If I clean off the dust and dirt build-up, it still has a dazzling bright white shine over most of it. Other areas just had too rough a use.

Now, Are you talking about painting your house or your boat seat.[:P](CPES will bankrupt you if you use it on the house)[:P]
 
I have used penetrating epoxy on the boat and use Smiths (CPES). In fact, I buy it in Richmond. I also used it to pickle some dry rotted 2x4 studs under a shower in the house a few years ago becaue I was too lazy to pull the cast iron tub. I used the slow cure CPES in cold weather and kept feeding the wood for two hours. It did a great job.

I haven't used Smith's to cure damaged wood on the boat though. I replace the wood. CPES is a good sealer for philippine mahogany, fir and white oak and I've used it for that below the waterline, but for above waterline use it's overkill. The Pettit sealer is just as good and costs less. Smith's is a great sealer for small patches of deck canvas I've had to replace. I've never had compatabilty problems overcoating Pettit sealer with any oil based paint or any of a wide range of sealers, bedding compounds or adhesives.

There are removable marine plywood panels that fit under the transom seat cushions. I gave these a good soaking with Pettit Clear Sealer and several coats or marine enamel. I tend to remove the transom cushions instead of stepping on them getting off and on the boat at the slip, so I end up stepping on the panels a lot. The old plywood is still looking good and perfectly preserved after eleven years.

If you use penetrating epoxy as a sealer, be sure to coat it with something like paint or varnish to block the UV. Smith's doesn't have a UV filter unless you add it somehow.

Yes, paint or varnish Smith's before it reaches a full cure or you may have compatibility issues. I usually paint it a day or two after it goes on.

The polyurethane marine enamels are good for paint that gets a lot of traffic, but the downside is it tends to harden and crack a couple of years earlier than the conventional enamels. If the wood isn't subject to much flexing and you don't have to cover joins, cracking will be less of an issue.

There is a clear one-part penetrating polyurethane that I use a lot more than Smith's epoxy. It's called Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. Stupid name, but amazing stuff. Crack Cure is the same consistancy as water and penetrates just like penetrating epoxy. The big difference is the cured polyurethane is a lot more flexible and it builds about 100 times more the CPES. I use it to preserve fastener holes every time I remove deck hardware and have completely filled small cracks in wood with it. It can follow and fill a leak like crazy. Costs way too much to use on any large jobs, though.

I've spray painted our house for the last 30 years and roll or brush the trim. Fuller O'Brian latex Ful-Stain. It's pretty much a latex paint and works fine on wood siding.
 
I too have spray painted houses especially stucco but now I learn that makers seem to recommend rolling after spray for better adhesion. seems to defeat the purpose of spraying.
 
yzer,
In a word...nice looking boat! Very beautiful.
Perry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top