Rustoleum for boat paint

[adam aunins]

I have read about using Rustoleum for boat paint and I have a few questions about it.

1. How did you apply it?

2. Did you use any of it on your deck surfaces and if so how has it held up to foot traffic?

3. If you had it to do over again would you still use it or go with dedicated boat paints?

4. I have not priced paints to see the defference yet so how much did you save on material cost?

5. We are talking non-aerosol right the kind that comes in a gallon can?

[algonquin]

I have used Rustoleum over fiberglass with great results. I normally only use Rustoleum on surfaces that I do not directly walk on. It is great for hull painting, seats, and interior.

It could also be used on deck but I feel you would be better off to use a marine grade paint that has the ability to harden quickly and resist abrasions from feet and deck gear such as blocks and other things that may rub against it. Also marine grade paint usually has extra UV ray blockers and the deck takes the brunt of the sun. But all areas other than the deck could be painted with Rustoleum.

The main draw back to using Rustoleum is that although it dries in day, it takes a few weeks to reach its max hardness so you need to plan ahead if you are going to use your boat. Rustoleum is sold by the quart for just under $10 where most marine paints are about $30 + per quart (some $ 60+).

Interior hull floor and interior hull sides, and cuddy ceiling can be painted with Rustoleum or a high grade exterior floor and deck enamel with super results. About $15-20 a gallon.

The quality of your paint job depends a lot on your prep work. I clean, degrease, and really scuff up the surfaces to be painted. I apply Rustoleum with a nice quality brush and some 4 inch rollers. My hull takes about 3 light coats. I say light because it reduces the possibility of runs in the paint. It is easier to add paint than to take it off. Don’t worry about coverage on the first two coats. Also do not paint in direct sun or at the end of the day when a dew is likely to form. It will degrade the luster of the finish. You may want to add a little thinner to the paint if the temp is above 80 degrees.

Rustoleum will give you a really nice finish and at a significant savings over marine paints. In 4-6 weeks put a nice coat of wax right over your Rusoleum finish.

Good Luck, Brad

[adam aunins]

I've been thinking of using Kiwigrip http://www.kiwigrip.com/index.html on the textured areas of my deck, so I wouldn't have much of an area to paint on the top side. That and the thought of touching up around the texture if I had to makes me think boat paint would be a good idea on top.

[algonquin]

Per my post above I do recommend that the deck be painted with a marine grade paint because it has the ability to harden quickly and resist abrasions from feet and deck gear such as blocks and other things that may rub against it. Also marine grade paint usually has extra UV ray blockers and the deck takes the brunt of the sun.

I looked at the Kiwigrip site and the product looks viable. Usually the area on a DS deck that would have the traction grip is only a few square feet unless you were intending to paint the whole deck. In either case it will be pricey when you add the shipping. The quality and appearance of the finished deck may be questionable. My experiences applying traction surfaces have only been bad. I really prefer a good quality boat shoe versus the rough surface. Seems that rough surface is hard to clean and maintain so it looks good as time takes over.

[adam aunins]

I got some samples from them for free to see there colors in the Kiwi grip and it looked to be a good thing. But I also thought that I could get the same result or close to it with a Elastomeric Roof Coating like koolseal and a textured roller. I might test it on a board or something and see how it holds up. That and how much of a chore it is to clean. I've used the roof coating on other things before and you can have it tinted in light colors if you want.

[algonquin]

I got some samples from them for free to see there colors in the Kiwi grip and it looked to be a good thing. But I also thought that I could get the same result or close to it with a Elastomeric Roof Coating like koolseal and a textured roller. I might test it on a board or something and see how it holds up. That and how much of a chore it is to clean. I've used the roof coating on other things before and you can have it tinted in light colors if you want.

Hmmmm. I would be interested in the test results. Try a little foot traffic on it and see if it tracks and cleans up easily.

[Davefromaine]

I used Rustoleum for my hull and let it cure for at least a month while I worked on the interior of the boat. The deck and interior I painted with a garage floor paint from Home Depot - a one-part epoxy paint that is tough as nails. It's semi-flat finish and wears amazingly well - two seasons on it and it still looks great. Some mars from when I rub the spars on it while getting ready to trailer, but that's it.
Pics at http://www.geocities.com/davefromainetoo/Sailstar.html
Dave in Maine

[adam aunins]

Hi Dave.

I first saw your boat when you replied to my post about boat covers. It's nice to see more pic of it. There is little I like more than to see a lost and unloved boat pulled from the weeds and brought back to life with some TLC.

I need to take the time to learn how to upload pic of my boat project's to the web for posting. It's true that a picture can be worth a thousand words......... sometimes.

Did you brush, roll, spray or tip and roll. Or is it roll and tip?

[Davefromaine]

Hi Adam - thanks for the compliments. This old boat is a labor of love - I only wish it were just a bit larger like a real Daysailer.

For the hull, I used a fine foam roller. I threw away the roller core after each coat. Two gray primer coats, and two color coats. In the spring, I use a brush on the red bottom color to cover the scratches from the trailer or rocky beach landings. Other than that, it's been very resilient, but does mar a bit if I let it rub on a dock fire-hose protector. I try to be diligent with my fenders. The rub marks do rub out with fine polishing compound made for cars. Not bad for a sub-$50 paint job. (3 quarts - one gray primer, one red, one blue).

On the interior I used a paintbrush. The epoxy paint smoothed itself out during cure-time without any brush marks left. This spring will be its third season - I plan on giving it a complete one-coat top coat with a brush using the same paint. I think the one-gallon can cost $25-$30 at Home Depot.

Please do send pictures of your boat - even if by email. I too enjoy watching restorations in progress.

Dave

[DS 129]

As I mentioned a couple years ago, Rustoleum is the way to go. I used an old spray gun / compressor unit for the hull sides, some brush work for the boot top and parts of deck and squirt cans for most of the deck to get color only available in the cans. The spray is best, but needs more masking. You can get small compressors @ about $50 to $60 at discount places or Pep Boys. Don't need much power for small jobs, cheap spray guns run on only about 15 to 20 psi. Need to thin out the paint a little for spraying.

In any case, for Rustoleum, plan on one coat only, no matter which method. That's all you will ever need, one coat, and will last for many years.

For non skid, what they did in the Navy for small boats, some 50 years ago, they put a coat of paint on the deck, and while it was still wet, they sprinkled some fine, uniform size sand all over. When it dried, dusted off the excess sand, and applied a final coat of paint on top to hold the sand in place, whalaa, non skid deck.

If you artistic you can apply the first coat as pretty little patches or areas, here and there, and only sand those where needed/ looks professional that way.

However, these areas can be tough on the knees, and may tend to wear out the bottoms of shorts prematurely if you sit thereon a lot.

[bkafer]

in the old days of wood boats. Everyone at the Club was using these high grade marine paints. I used Rustoleum paints and the boat looked great.
The club members made fun of me and thought I was crazy when I waxed the paint .but the following year when they were sanding and painting again my paint job still looked great.

I've never used it on glass, but this year I'm painting the waterline with rustoleum and I'll see how it looks before I decide to do the entire hull.

really old days. when I was 13 I had an 18 ft Raveau speedboat.
I could never afford boat paint so I painted the boat with Blue housepaint
that I found in the garage. That actually lasted 4 years.
It may have lasted longer except I was behind a tug boat jumping waves when one of the seams opened up. I did get the boat home, then fixed it up and sold it.

[MikeyC]

Rustoleum makes marine paints that are sold at Lowes.I have used them and they work pretty good.The trick is to thin the paint and apply up and down and then tip with a brush side to side.It can look as good as a spray job.I have also used Brightsides poly paint and that works really nice.


Mike

[bkafer]

I painted my waterline with rustoleum beginning of april.
The boat has been sitting at the dock since.
I pulled it this weekend to prepare for a trip.
The water line looks great and the dirt came right off with a sponge and some soap.
So far, so good

[Roger]

Rustoleum is less durable under the waterline.

[adam aunins]

I finally got my paint about two weeks ago, ordered the rust-o-leum marin grade through home depot and lowes (had gift cards that's why the 2 stores) I trailer-sail so I didn't get the anti-fowling/bottom coat. My plan is to do a test run on my sunfish before I paint the DS. I have the equipment to spray airless , HVLP, and HPLV, but I worry about paint waste with spraying. That and I plan on three to four colors so when you add in cleaning time it might be more of a headache to spray. I'll get before and after pic's and post them. Maybe post video on youtube (pipe-dream, I'll be lucky to find the time to paint, unless I work on it after family goes to bed. Wife will still be mad. Just not as much)