Topside Boat Painting: Tips and Tricks

#boat #painting #sailboat #epoxyprimer
Here I am painting my boat's topside. After preparation of the surface, I used a grey epoxy primer, then a white primer, and finally a enamel gloss paint. I used the epoxy primer as a build coat. The color allowed me to see high and low spots and also if I was getting my coats too thin on the coverage. The gray color allowed good contrast. Following the epoxy primer, I used a standard single stage white primer. I was going to paint the boat topside white and didn't want tinting from the grey primer. Between coats I sanded, both wet and dry, with 120 and 220 grit paper to get a flat and smooth surface. I mostly brushed the paint but also rolled and tipped. The final paint was a single stage enamel paint. I ended up doing 3 thin coats. Overall, I used about 1gallon grey epoxy primer, 1/2 gallon white single stage primer, and 1gallon final enamel topside paint. Overall, the hardest part of the project was prepping of the surface for paint and tapping of the edges. I found that it was much easier washing the boat. I really like using the epoxy primer. As a note, I would have preferred gelcoating the topside but because it had been previously painted, I had to go with paint.
It's been 3 years since I painted the topside and it is still doing well ! The boat is a 1970 Pearson 39, Hull #1.

[@aes8723]

Thanks for sharing! I’m looking at doing a similar thing while in my slip at my marina and was looking for someone who had done something similar. I figured the only way I’d be able to get away with sanding while in the water was by hand, rather than with an orbital. Did you run into any issues with dust? And for the first sanding, pre-primer, how did you know you’d sanded it enough? I don’t want to overdo it. Thank you!