Non-Marine Alternatives For Bootstripe Paint?

Jun 21, 2007
2,117
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
The color I want to paint my boot strip this haul-out is only available in ~$50 a quart sizes for Interlux Brightside and Petit Easypoxy. Not sold small pint size cans. Does anybody know of a non-marine alternative enamel that has the proven staying power of the above mentioned marine paints? If not, I'll just pop the lid on the 80% still full pint size well sealed can of Black Brightside I have left over from my last haul-out. Shaking the can, it sounds still liquid inside so should be good.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,554
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Rustoleum-works for me.
Me too

I've painted three different boats with Rustoleum

But I'm a trailer sailor and don't leave my boats in the water for more than a few weeks at a time. But so far... the paint looks great.

Rustoleum does make a marine grade of paint. I've used it but I've also just used regular Rustoleum with good results.
 

zeehag

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Mar 26, 2009
3,198
1976 formosa 41 yankee clipper santa barbara. ca.(not there)
epoxy paints are made for more than just boats..look into imron and other epoxy paints in an auto body shop, even to the clear coat...
 
Jan 22, 2008
250
Cherubini 37c HULL#37 Alameda
I used $2 can of Krylon spray paint on a 3 foot section of the boot on my boat just because the color was a perfect match and the boat yard wanted $800 the repaint the whole thing. No touch ups. After 2 years it's still there and looking good although the original stripe is beginning to get a bit shabby. Making sure paint stays put is all in the prep work. For the record, my boot strip is not submerged when the boat is at rest.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,554
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I used $2 can of Krylon spray paint on a 3 foot section of the boot on my boat just because the color was a perfect match and the boat yard wanted $800 the repaint the whole thing. No touch ups. After 2 years it's still there and looking good although the original stripe is beginning to get a bit shabby. Making sure paint stays put is all in the prep work. For the record, my boot strip is not submerged when the boat is at rest.
You made two good points....

1) Preparation! A quick 30 min. of sanding is needed. BUT!!!Dewax before you sand. Wipe it down again after you sand.

2) Color Match for touch ups!!!! Another reason I love Rustoleum. Here are some pics of some boot straps I've painted with Rustoleum.

These are actually two different boats.... I just used the same color scheme on both because I had the paint already.

In the first one, I was still tapping in prep for a thin blue line between the bottom and the white boot stripe. The thin blue I did with Rustoleum Marine "top side" paint. It really came out well.

I've used Rustoleum spray for touch ups but I have always used the oil based (in a can) paint for the actual job. Roll and tip. On a few occasions I've had issues with spray paint "orange peeling" on me. My guess is that it was too cold but I've gotten a bit gun shy on the spray paint.
 

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Jun 21, 2007
2,117
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
Thanks all. I did buy a small can of rustoleum (paint not spray) in my color choice. At home, I painted one section of a previously oil based painted piece of metal with the rustoleum. The other part with some of my left-over black Brightside. After a couple of days, I felt the surface of each with my fingertips. The rustoleum had sense of "friction". The brightside felt more slippery in comparison. Considering that the black brightside still looked good on my bootstripe after four years in the water (granted just above the waterline), and noting the initial difference in the surface feel of the paint, I have decided to stick with the proven successful brightside. Granted I would prefer a green bootstripe, but black is still ok.
 
May 5, 2014
44
Oday Daysailer II Eugene, OR
Epiphanes sells its bootstripe paint in tiny containers. I ordered their Jade Green, but found it was too dark. I mixed in Rustoleum marine gloss topside enamel ("Oyster White") to get the shade I wanted. I had faster-than-expected wear on the side of the boat that faces the sun at dock; the shady side was fine. It could have been the paint. It could also be that the lower edge of the bootstripe overlaps the hard bottom paint (Interlux Underwater Epoxy), the main virtue of which is that it is impermeable.