Comments on painted boats? horrors?

[Scooter2368]

We just sold our Catalina 25 and we're looking at new boats 30-34. We see one we may go look at but we're trying to find out the gotcha's with painted boats.

Does the paint eventually chip?
They say on a scale of 1-10 it's about a 6-8 level job. (2/3 is what broker said).


It's painted from water line to cabin top. Looks good in pics but don't want to buy a boat that's going to start flaking off paint.

Any thoughts? Have no idea why it's painted. All the rest looks pretty good but listings can lie.

Any painted boat horrors?

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Our last three boats have been painted. Your house is probably painted. Your car too. It all depends on how well.
As to why, some people don't like vanilla.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Search this forum on Poly Glow.

Don's right.

 

[Jackdaw]

Many new boats offered with a non-white hull are painted. Both our Beneteaus are blue from the factory and it's paint on both. I know the 2006 is painted in DuPont Imron and it looks spectacular. Not sure the paint on the 1996 but it looks great as well.

Upside to paint is that it does not fade nearly as rapidly as gelcoat. Downside is that scratches are harder to deal with; you cannot just buff them out like you can with gelcoat.

 

[Jack - La Paz Mx]

Our 1982 Cat 30 was painted with Imron after being damaged by Hurricane Marty in 2004. Hull and deck, but not non-skid. After 10 years sitting in the hot tropical sun the deck shows some flaking or wear in spots. The hull is still perfect which makes me think it is the relentless sun on the deck. The boat is waxed each year. It is, as mentioned, much better looking than gelcoat after so many years.