Painting a hull

[Gary Hill]

Classic Mako just had a paint from Supermarine that sounds great, I might try some on my old 17 MAKO (77 ANGLER 135 HP), e-mail me if you can't find it, they have a one stage paint that sounds good and the non-skid is worth lookig at, sent them a e-mail tonight for more info and a color chart.

[jorgeinmiami]

I'm kinda leaning toward Signature Paints
Has anyone use it or have any info on it?
Or suggestions??/

One things for sure I will not buy the paint till I'm done with the prep work.
If I had it in the shed I would rush the job wanting to see it painted.

But more fairing to be done

[makade]

I did the interior of my 18 with signature finish. I like the paint, if I was to do it over I would try to spray it. The hull might be easier to roll, not as many nooks, crannies, corners, etc. If your ever in Lauderdale/Davie you can check it out.

[jorgeinmiami]

Thanks when I get closer to deciding on paint I'll give you a call

[makade]

Another thing I'll mention, the down side to not priming with the signature finish was i think it took more coats because the repairs that I did were still barely visible while the rest could have been good. If I was to do it over I would prime first. Unless the surface was pretty uniform in color, not a lot of filled holes and repairs etc. I think Tom @ Signature Finish had mentioned touching up the spots first than topcoating everything but it didn't work for me because I wasn't able to blend the spots with out sanding nearly all the paint off.

[Bushwacker]

I ordered a quart of primer and white Revolution 1000 from Supermarine, painted some PVC board samples and put them in a canal off ICW for a month. Did same with a Signature sample, as I wanted to see if, unlike other urethanes (Awlgrip, Imron or Perfection, etc.), either of them were suitable for use as bottom paints on trailer boat. They both did fine with no blisters or peeling; although neither one is antifouling, for some reason the Signature accumulated less marine growth, and what was there easily scrubbed off while still wet.

Decided to go with the Signature. The Revolution is very slow to cure; I could still dent it with a fingernail after a week. It cures by oxygen, so if applied too thick, that aggravates the curing problem. I did 5 samples with 2 THIN coats of the Revolution, using wet roller, wet roller/dry roller, roll & tip with foam brush, foam brush, and bristle brush. All had been primed with their primer, and all failed the fingernail dent test after a week. I tried both the Supermarine thinner (xylene) and mineral spirits, and the paint didn't flow out nearly as well as advertized, and virtually none of the roller bubbles or brush strokes disappeared with 10-15% thinner. More thinner would probably have helped, but I didn't try that because with some paints, too much thinner screws up the chemistry. Since main purpose of the test was to see if it held up underwater, I didn't want to compromise the test results by screwing up the chemistry!

Bottom line is that both paints seem to work underwater, but the slow curing of the Revolution was a turn off for me. I want to start using the boat as soon as I finish painting and don't want to wait weeks for it to cure. I've used Signature for the bootstripe and it's tough as nails after about a week, plus it's easily repairable. I did not use the hardener that they offer as an option for the Revolution paint, as it's fairly expensive. However the Revolution is still considerably cheaper than Signature and may be a viable paint if used with the hardener.

[jorgeinmiami]

When I spoke to Tom he also mentined that you did not need to prime the hull first. But in reading your post I will more then likely prime 1st.
What primer would you think would work best with Signature?
And I forgot if he said you could spray it.
In reading the pior post he mentioned that it was a pian to do around the diferent edges inside.

Boy am I getting anxious to get the boat finished preped and ready to paint, but I don't want to make a mistake and have to do it 2x because of the wrong paint or that I can't apply it correctly

[makade]

I think any good 2-part primer would be fine. I'm sure you can spray it, they send all the directions with the paint, it's probably on the web site as well? I've used interlux's 2-part primer which was white, I remember seeing a lot of the awlgrip 545 primer as gray? Maybe something to consider depending on the colors your doing.
On another note I had a 10 X 20 shelter-logic enclosure thing, that I think was around 200 bucks with the sides that I bought at pep-boys which was a great shed for painting. my 18 fit perfectly-a 20 with no motor should as well.
That's good info on the water test, I always wondered if it really would hold up as claimed. I hope to paint my hull someday.