Painting the Hull(s)

Hey Everyone,

My neighbor is letting me have his Hobie 14 as it has been sitting for years in his yard.

The Hull(s) are physically good, but horrible in appearance. I would like to prep and paint them. Can anyone offer the best way to prep and the best paint to use?

This boat will only be used in a fresh water lake which I live on.

TIA for your advice.

Sand down with 80-100 grit sandpaper, fill any cracks or gouges in the gel coat with an epoxy filler. Once you have a smooth surface, you can paint with Interlux Brightsides. 2 quarts was more than enough for 3 coats on each of my hulls. Make sure you thin the paint as much as is allowed on the label. The thinner the coats, the better it looks. This allows the brush strokes to smooth out.

I just finished my 16, you can check it out here:

http://homepage.mac.com/marcusc130/Hobi ... bum10.html

Let me know if you have any other questions

_________________
Marcus
H16
Narragansett Bay, RI

I used the same paint (although I went with the buff color) but I didn't thin the paint. What I did was use a 6" sponge roller and rolled it on the hulls (after the beforementioned sanding and filling) about 18" until I had a good coverage, then got a really good 2" brush and smoothed out where I had rolled. The paint has a leveling effect that is incredible. It looks professionally done (like Marcus' boat-nice job BTW). I took the hulls off the frames and laid them as level as possible and painted them. In between coats, I wetsanded with 1000grit and warm water. There were a few runs I had to kill with some heavier sand paper. My old crappy 1973 hobie 14 that was outside behind a barn since 1984 looks pretty flippin' new now. I don't know how to put a picture on this posting, but I can certainly send a picture if you'd like.
cw

Hey, before you decide to paint, try this... Wash the entire hull with dish detergent and then toilet bowl cleaner that has hydrochloric or muriatic acid in it. You will already be amazed. Next, if there are gouges in the gelcoat, fill them with a gelcoat patch kit matching the color as necessary. Do not match the color to the chalky, nasty gelcoat that you are looking at, instead sand a small area (2 in. by 2 in.) with 400 grit sand paper until the color in the area is uniform, then with 600 grit sand paper until the area is very smooth and all the small scratches from the 400 grit are gone. While you are sanding this area, have the hose running so that water is flowing over the area you are sanding. What you are then looking at is the color the entire boat will be the next day. So match the gelcoat to that small area. After the gelcoat is applied to the gouges and cured, sand the entire hull using a piece of styrofoam as a sanding block with the 400 grit, then 600 grit, then 800 grit, and finally 1200 grit. Sand with each grit only until the scratches from the previous grit are gone... it won't take much. Keep the hose running, of course. After you finish with the 1200 grit, you will be astonished. But you still need to apply a high quality marine wax. Wax it every 6 months or so and the boat will always look brand new. It sounds like a lot of work, but the results will be awesome. I would never advise anyone to go out and paint a fiberglass boat before doing this simple sanding and waxing job. I am always sceptical when I am looking at a fiberglass boat that has the hull painted. Anyway, good luck and post some before and after pics. One more thing, don't worry about filling the small surface sctraches, they'll just sand right out. concentrate on the "gouges." Follow the directions on the gelcoat repair kit carefully, too.