by seandwyer » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:27 pm
When I first bought my boat, it was pretty rough and in need of paint too. I wasn't sure of what to use so I looked through a lot of old posts on here and read about using regular latex paint - so I went out and bought the best quality exterior grade latex I could find. I meticulously scraped, cleaned and prepped the surfaces, then painted most interior surfaces other than the seats with a foam roller (as I believe KC mentioned). The results looked really good - clean and pretty seamless as if it were gel coat. Over the year and a half since then this is what I have found - The paint holds up well as long as it isn't under water - but anywhere that is under water for a period of time, the paint softens and came off in rubbery sheets. Also, the paint DOES NOT hold up to the abrasion experienced anywhere that floor boards come into contact. In my opinion, if I had to do it over, I would go with something more along the lines of what KC describes. Even though good latex paint is similar to something manufactured for cabin use, the problem a DS1 has is that the cabin is also the bilge. There is always water laying in the bottom - I either ship a little or it's from the rain or from washing (the drain plug is just not in the best place) and so, if you are like me, whatever you use, if you ever have water in the boat for even a day at a time, I'd get something more impervious. I have a lot of bare spots now where the paint has either come up from water immersion or from contact with the floor boards, so now the chore before me is: paint again or remove (somehow) all the old paint and then get something better. Either way, it's a bummer to be doing it again after only 18 months.
My 2 cents.
Sean
DS1 - 3203