Boat hull paint code
Discussion
Hi chaps,
I need to do a bit of touch-up on the blue bottom of my hull. It's factory painted.
Repairs are easy enough (I might mix in a bit of approximate blue colour with the filler, just to be friendly), it's just a couple of minor scrapes. But I also want to re-spray the localised areas with fresh colour.
Looking at using these guys for the paint - smlmarinepaints.co.uk as they seem to have everything.
I asked the dealer at the boat show if they could find out a colour code for me, but the guy had never even heard of the model (they were new to the brand, and only selling the racing range at the show, but still...). Blank drawn. I've emailed the manufacturer direct, hopefully they'll be able to tell me. If not, any ideas who might know?
The plan is to clean out, fill, sand, sand, sand. Local area with 800-1000 wet, surrounding area with flatting compound, mask, paint, polish.
Anything I need to know about painting a boat that's different to a car?
I need to do a bit of touch-up on the blue bottom of my hull. It's factory painted.
Repairs are easy enough (I might mix in a bit of approximate blue colour with the filler, just to be friendly), it's just a couple of minor scrapes. But I also want to re-spray the localised areas with fresh colour.
Looking at using these guys for the paint - smlmarinepaints.co.uk as they seem to have everything.
I asked the dealer at the boat show if they could find out a colour code for me, but the guy had never even heard of the model (they were new to the brand, and only selling the racing range at the show, but still...). Blank drawn. I've emailed the manufacturer direct, hopefully they'll be able to tell me. If not, any ideas who might know?
The plan is to clean out, fill, sand, sand, sand. Local area with 800-1000 wet, surrounding area with flatting compound, mask, paint, polish.
Anything I need to know about painting a boat that's different to a car?
Boatbuoy said:
I was just abot to ask if you were sure it was painted as opposed to gel coat. Why not do a proper gel repair?
It's an odd one. From looking at it last year, it definitely seemed to be painted. Up near the guardrails you can see a bit of feathering between the lower blue topsides and the upper section where it turns in to the deck. It's only coloured to just above the waterline, with a white stripe (actual hull colour) before the antifoul.Problem is, the boat's in France, and I've been in Britain, so it's been difficult to double check. I'm now only an hour away (hence the sudden activity) so I'll have to go down and double check.
I was almost certain it was painted and not gel coat, but the factory's reply has left me doubting myself.
In which case, assuming it's gel coat, should I just do the repair with RAL 5011 coloured filler and flat/polish as normal? Never had to do a gel coat repair before (only a bit of white filler on a white hull, that was pretty simple), and don't want to screw it up.
Ta!
If you're going to paint the best finish you'll get is by spraying.
I repainted the inside of mine using a roller followed by laying off strokes with a good quality fine bristle brush which gets rid of any bubbles. Followed the instructions in the 'how to' booklet.
I'd use more thinner next time as it didn't flow out quite as smooth as I'd have liked although I'm perhaps being a bit over fussy as everyone else thinks it's fine. It had been painted before I got it so finding the colour was fun. Turned out to be Hempel Ice blue.
I repainted the inside of mine using a roller followed by laying off strokes with a good quality fine bristle brush which gets rid of any bubbles. Followed the instructions in the 'how to' booklet.
I'd use more thinner next time as it didn't flow out quite as smooth as I'd have liked although I'm perhaps being a bit over fussy as everyone else thinks it's fine. It had been painted before I got it so finding the colour was fun. Turned out to be Hempel Ice blue.
paintman said:
If you're going to paint the best finish you'll get is by spraying.
I repainted the inside of mine using a roller followed by laying off strokes with a good quality fine bristle brush which gets rid of any bubbles. Followed the instructions in the 'how to' booklet.
I'd use more thinner next time as it didn't flow out quite as smooth as I'd have liked although I'm perhaps being a bit over fussy as everyone else thinks it's fine. It had been painted before I got it so finding the colour was fun. Turned out to be Hempel Ice blue.
Yup, I'd definitely spray (I've done a bit of car spraying and my old man was in the trade, so knows the secrets!).I repainted the inside of mine using a roller followed by laying off strokes with a good quality fine bristle brush which gets rid of any bubbles. Followed the instructions in the 'how to' booklet.
I'd use more thinner next time as it didn't flow out quite as smooth as I'd have liked although I'm perhaps being a bit over fussy as everyone else thinks it's fine. It had been painted before I got it so finding the colour was fun. Turned out to be Hempel Ice blue.
How on earth did you work out your colour?!
It's quite normal for coloured hulls to be gel on production boats, just imagine the production nightmare that spraying hulls would be (boats take up a lot of space!). From your feathering description I suspect that the blue was placed into the mould first with a masked edge, the white would have then been put ofer the top once the blue was dry and the masking removed (I know I'm probably teaching some egg sucking there). Once the boat was out of the mould it would have been polished to death and I suspect that it is this that has created the feathering as the polishing wheel has gone through the blue to the white beyond.
Gel repairs are relatively easy. Clean out the gouge/scratch and apply neat gel. It's quite viscous so wont run too much, allow to set and repeat until the repair is proud of the hull. Allow the repair to cure before flattening off and gently polishing, taking care not to bur through the neighboring original gel!
In my opinion this is the best way to go, you are repairing the colour with like for like rather than mixing 2 medias that might fade at different rates. Blue is a fairly stable gel colour, the likes of Princess and Sunseeker have been using various shades for a long time because of that. I know that in my time with Fairline it was only recently that the gel manufacturer had been able to engineer other stable colours.
HTH
Gel repairs are relatively easy. Clean out the gouge/scratch and apply neat gel. It's quite viscous so wont run too much, allow to set and repeat until the repair is proud of the hull. Allow the repair to cure before flattening off and gently polishing, taking care not to bur through the neighboring original gel!
In my opinion this is the best way to go, you are repairing the colour with like for like rather than mixing 2 medias that might fade at different rates. Blue is a fairly stable gel colour, the likes of Princess and Sunseeker have been using various shades for a long time because of that. I know that in my time with Fairline it was only recently that the gel manufacturer had been able to engineer other stable colours.
HTH
Went round all the chandlers/boaty stores in Leicestershire with a locker lid. Everyone does International & narrow boat paint (can't remember the make of that one) & after the first I knew it wasn't one of their colours. One in Nottinghamshire had a few Hempel colours left but as they were selling it off to clear it was a case of going for a look - they didn't have any colour chips for it either!
In the hope it might be a RAL or BS I went through the chips in local motor factor & nothing matched - I had looked at them online & a couple looked close but the actual chips were way off.
I was becoming resigned to picking an International light blue as near as possible but we then went to stay with friends near Dorchester. So the locker lid came as well! Trip round the chandlers in Weymouth found one with the full Hempel range in stock &
Used their one pack topcoat & using the same colour reduced the amount of work & paint required. Even though it's only a 17' Dory with a large centre console there's still a fair bit of work in removing all the metalwork, the prep & general repairs to bits & pieces.
ETA. Obvious question might be why I didn't just order chips from the main players, but chandleries just have so many nice shiny things which you never knew you needed.............
In the hope it might be a RAL or BS I went through the chips in local motor factor & nothing matched - I had looked at them online & a couple looked close but the actual chips were way off.
I was becoming resigned to picking an International light blue as near as possible but we then went to stay with friends near Dorchester. So the locker lid came as well! Trip round the chandlers in Weymouth found one with the full Hempel range in stock &
Used their one pack topcoat & using the same colour reduced the amount of work & paint required. Even though it's only a 17' Dory with a large centre console there's still a fair bit of work in removing all the metalwork, the prep & general repairs to bits & pieces.
ETA. Obvious question might be why I didn't just order chips from the main players, but chandleries just have so many nice shiny things which you never knew you needed.............
Edited by paintman on Friday 26th February 11:24
paintman said:
Went round all the chandlers/boaty stores in Leicestershire with a locker lid. Everyone does International & narrow boat paint (can't remember the make of that one) & after the first I knew it wasn't one of their colours. One in Nottinghamshire had a few Hempel colours left but as they were selling it off to clear it was a case of going for a look - they didn't have any colour chips for it either!
In the hope it might be a RAL or BS I went through the chips in local motor factor & nothing matched - I had looked at them online & a couple looked close but the actual chips were way off.
I was becoming resigned to picking an International light blue as near as possible but we then went to stay with friends near Dorchester. So the locker lid came as well! Trip round the chandlers in Weymouth found one with the full Hempel range in stock &
Used their one pack topcoat & using the same colour reduced the amount of work & paint required. Even though it's only a 17' Dory with a large centre console there's still a fair bit of work in removing all the metalwork, the prep & general repairs to bits & pieces.
ETA. Obvious question might be why I didn't just order chips from the main players, but chandleries just have so many nice shiny things which you never knew you needed.............
In the hope it might be a RAL or BS I went through the chips in local motor factor & nothing matched - I had looked at them online & a couple looked close but the actual chips were way off.
I was becoming resigned to picking an International light blue as near as possible but we then went to stay with friends near Dorchester. So the locker lid came as well! Trip round the chandlers in Weymouth found one with the full Hempel range in stock &
Used their one pack topcoat & using the same colour reduced the amount of work & paint required. Even though it's only a 17' Dory with a large centre console there's still a fair bit of work in removing all the metalwork, the prep & general repairs to bits & pieces.
ETA. Obvious question might be why I didn't just order chips from the main players, but chandleries just have so many nice shiny things which you never knew you needed.............
Edited by paintman on Friday 26th February 11:24
Excellent!Unfortunately my smallest blue bit is 40' long and I'm loathed to cut a bit out.
17' of paint is no mean feat though, sounds like a good effort!
Boatbuoy said:
It's quite normal for coloured hulls to be gel on production boats, just imagine the production nightmare that spraying hulls would be (boats take up a lot of space!). From your feathering description I suspect that the blue was placed into the mould first with a masked edge, the white would have then been put ofer the top once the blue was dry and the masking removed (I know I'm probably teaching some egg sucking there). Once the boat was out of the mould it would have been polished to death and I suspect that it is this that has created the feathering as the polishing wheel has gone through the blue to the white beyond.
Gel repairs are relatively easy. Clean out the gouge/scratch and apply neat gel. It's quite viscous so wont run too much, allow to set and repeat until the repair is proud of the hull. Allow the repair to cure before flattening off and gently polishing, taking care not to bur through the neighboring original gel!
In my opinion this is the best way to go, you are repairing the colour with like for like rather than mixing 2 medias that might fade at different rates. Blue is a fairly stable gel colour, the likes of Princess and Sunseeker have been using various shades for a long time because of that. I know that in my time with Fairline it was only recently that the gel manufacturer had been able to engineer other stable colours.
HTH
That's excellent, thanks. My head said it would be gel coat, but it was the white hull bottom and feathering at the top that made me suspect it might be paint. I thought about spraying the whole lot (it's badly faded at the moment), but that's such a huge task (plus tenting it to prevent overspray on the nearby boats too), I'd rather coarse polish it and live with it!Gel repairs are relatively easy. Clean out the gouge/scratch and apply neat gel. It's quite viscous so wont run too much, allow to set and repeat until the repair is proud of the hull. Allow the repair to cure before flattening off and gently polishing, taking care not to bur through the neighboring original gel!
In my opinion this is the best way to go, you are repairing the colour with like for like rather than mixing 2 medias that might fade at different rates. Blue is a fairly stable gel colour, the likes of Princess and Sunseeker have been using various shades for a long time because of that. I know that in my time with Fairline it was only recently that the gel manufacturer had been able to engineer other stable colours.
HTH
I've done a bit of white gelcoat repair before, the yard left stones on the slings when they lifted and it badly scratched the sides ('The little yard with the big reputation' were only vaguely interested, left me some filler FOC - thanks
), so it sounds much the same.Interesting to hear that blue is a more stable colour, I didn't know that. At the time, this particular model was available with white, blue or grey topsides, so I'm glad it ended up blue instead of grey (colour matching grey is a NIGHTMARE).
Just tried the local chandlers for coloured filler, was met with a blank look followed by a gallic shrug. Looks like another thing I'll need to order in the UK for my monthly aid package.
Gonna head down there now and take some pics so I know what I'm up against...
Thanks for the help, very much appreciated and has probably just saved me a lot of hassle!
I work in a boat dealer and it can be a pain trying to match gel. I think we get ours from Llewellyn Ryan, but you'll probably need to order much more than you need. For the brands we sell we try to keep a stock of gel from the factory, and my boss regularly comes into the workshop with small jam jars to get a spoon full to send to a customer. It might be worth asking the factory if they will send you some or if a dealer has got any. You've got the code tho so it should mean it's an off the shelf colour.
gazzarose said:
I work in a boat dealer and it can be a pain trying to match gel. I think we get ours from Llewellyn Ryan, but you'll probably need to order much more than you need. For the brands we sell we try to keep a stock of gel from the factory, and my boss regularly comes into the workshop with small jam jars to get a spoon full to send to a customer. It might be worth asking the factory if they will send you some or if a dealer has got any. You've got the code tho so it should mean it's an off the shelf colour.
A bit of google-ing, these guys supply pretty much every RAL colour, ready mixed.www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk
Ordered a 'repair kit' (has some bits that might come in useful one day) as well as a half-kilo, and a few other spares bits, about £30 delivered.
Factory said they don't have spares available any more so I got a bit lucky finding a supplier.
My next problem - went to buy some rubbing compound and polish (wanted to buy it locally, keep the yards/stores in business), they wanted 83 EUR for 1L of 3M polish. Price in the UK is about £12-£20 depending on spec. Anti-foul, 135 EUR for a 2.5L tin. UK price £50-£60. I'm all for supporting your local B&M store, but that's just stupid!
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