painting my O'DAY 20 hull without sanding

[Jim]

I'm interested in a paint that I can cover my existing hull paint to preserve my coat below the waterline. There are patches painted and other where I can see the exposed coat. I just want to cover it all. Can anyone refer a paint and provide directions?

 

[Mark Fabre]

Cover-up will lead to more problems

Especially if your current hull paint is one of the ablative (literally means separating) types. Fiberglass gelcoat is micro-porous and if not properly coated will blister (requiring grinding and filling and repainting) below the water-line if your boat sits in the water all season.There's a good article on prepping and painting in the April 2002 issue of SAIL magazine. Also, check the Interlux website. They have a lot of good tips.

 

[Bob]

Painting

First-even if you don't sand you may want to scrub it to make sure there is no oxidation or other things that would cause the paint to peel making a real bad & ugly mess.Any job worth doing is worth doing right. sorry, no quick solutions. I am a professional painter and have found that short cuts aren't really shortcuts and can make more work inthe long run.To remove any oxidation and grease etc. use some TSP mixed in abucket of water and scrub the hull like a car being washed. I use a car wash brush on a pole that you can actually hook a hose to the end. Very handy tool for cleaning big areas.Then use a marine recommended paint from your boat store. Some anti-fouling paints are very good but expensive and are hard to re-paint because of their properties that won't allow things to adhere to them.Sanding is not usually necessary unless the surface needs smoothing or is too slick.Good Luck!Bob