Does anyone have experience with painting the sides of their boat? I was wondering about the approximate costs of doing it yourself versus having the boatyard do it. Is it difficult to do yourself?
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I did it myself.
The yard wanted around $20,000 to paint the entire boat, Hunter 54. I then decided to do it myself. Tools needed: Compressor (non oil type) 200.00 Spray gun (Binks 95) for topcoat 350.00 Spray gun Gravity feed for primer 80.00 Larger spray cap and needle for shooting primer with the cheap gun 20.00 Sandpaper around 200-300 (I experimented a little) Tape $50 Plastic Sheeting $50 Paint I Used a two part Nason Auto Primer around $100/gal. Followed by Dupont Imron top coat $190/gal. I used about 3 gals of primer and 2 gals of top coat. Why Imron and not Awlgrip, on this I did a lot of research. While Awlgrip might last a year or two longer. Imron was designed by Dupont, they have been making some of the finest paint known to man, for decades. Imron is used on cars and trucks world wide. It is easy to work with, though VERY TOXIC. If you use Imron or Awlgrip you must either use Scuba air, or a powered respirator with about a 50-100 foot hose that gives you fresh air. Otherwise you will get crystals in your lungs due to the isocyanates in the hardeners. Back to why I choose Imron over Awlgrip. The main reason was that you can touch it up later. With Awlgrip you are not able to touch up an area. Sparying it yourself isn't easy, it takes some practice and it sucks having to breath scuba air on a hot day for hours, in a full bunny suit with gloves and footies. You don't want it on your skin either! When spraying if you can avoid runs you'll be set. As I subscribe to the Show car method of painting. You put on about 4-5 coats of topcoat and then you sand about 1-2 of them off using 3M 1500-2000 grit sandpaper either by wet sanding preferred or getting the 3M sandpaper designed for dry sanding. After you sanded the entire hull, now you use a fine cut rubbing compound to get the base shine and follow it up with a machine glaze to get the killer see your self shine. Why sand and buff. Simple the boat yards don't want to invest the time and labor into it. Go ask any custom paint shop, that is the method they use to get that show car quality finish, that is why it costs around 15,000 - 20,000 for a nice paint job on a car, its all HARD labor. I attached a photo of the finished product.
The yard wanted around $20,000 to paint the entire boat, Hunter 54. I then decided to do it myself. Tools needed: Compressor (non oil type) 200.00 Spray gun (Binks 95) for topcoat 350.00 Spray gun Gravity feed for primer 80.00 Larger spray cap and needle for shooting primer with the cheap gun 20.00 Sandpaper around 200-300 (I experimented a little) Tape $50 Plastic Sheeting $50 Paint I Used a two part Nason Auto Primer around $100/gal. Followed by Dupont Imron top coat $190/gal. I used about 3 gals of primer and 2 gals of top coat. Why Imron and not Awlgrip, on this I did a lot of research. While Awlgrip might last a year or two longer. Imron was designed by Dupont, they have been making some of the finest paint known to man, for decades. Imron is used on cars and trucks world wide. It is easy to work with, though VERY TOXIC. If you use Imron or Awlgrip you must either use Scuba air, or a powered respirator with about a 50-100 foot hose that gives you fresh air. Otherwise you will get crystals in your lungs due to the isocyanates in the hardeners. Back to why I choose Imron over Awlgrip. The main reason was that you can touch it up later. With Awlgrip you are not able to touch up an area. Sparying it yourself isn't easy, it takes some practice and it sucks having to breath scuba air on a hot day for hours, in a full bunny suit with gloves and footies. You don't want it on your skin either! When spraying if you can avoid runs you'll be set. As I subscribe to the Show car method of painting. You put on about 4-5 coats of topcoat and then you sand about 1-2 of them off using 3M 1500-2000 grit sandpaper either by wet sanding preferred or getting the 3M sandpaper designed for dry sanding. After you sanded the entire hull, now you use a fine cut rubbing compound to get the base shine and follow it up with a machine glaze to get the killer see your self shine. Why sand and buff. Simple the boat yards don't want to invest the time and labor into it. Go ask any custom paint shop, that is the method they use to get that show car quality finish, that is why it costs around 15,000 - 20,000 for a nice paint job on a car, its all HARD labor. I attached a photo of the finished product.
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Cheaper route.
Stirling is working with a classic and is obviously a perfectionist. For a much cheaper route and still with excellent results see Related Link.
Stirling is working with a classic and is obviously a perfectionist. For a much cheaper route and still with excellent results see Related Link.
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