Trojan Boat Forum

Aloha All,
And so the sanding begins.... What type/brand top paint would you use that could take the beating of the sun & weather fairly well? Is a primer or topcoat sealer recommended? Again, first boat, first restoration, thanks for all the advice!!!

Thanks all

How much work do you want to put into it?!!

This is what I do; strip to bare wood. refasten all the joints and open them up. Wet them out with epoxy and fill with thickened epoxy. If you don't do this, the paint will simply crack at the joints very quickly. If you really want to ensure no cracks at joints, sand out a four inch section of the joint (2" both sides) deep enough to epoxy in a strip of glass over the joint. Coat all surfaces with epoxy (West), sand, fair, sand, fair, sand,fair.....paint with Interlux Perfection two part polyurethane paint. Not the easiest paint to work with but beautiful results, and you won't be painting again for a long time.

Or simply sand off loose paint and recoat with a good quality one part paint.

You are likely to get several methods and opinions on this. I agree with Big D that you must first strip down to bare wood and address any rot or seam issues. You may be into some wood replacement, Dutchman, etc, and refastening. I never use west epoxy on wood as it will hold moisture in and rot. My choice is CPES (clear penetrating epoxy sealer) Epoxy is in the name as it is a 2 part product however, it is formulated with wood resins that will allow the wood to breath following application. I would fill and fair with Smith's "fill-it" also 2 part. I noticed there is plywood involved here. the cpes will penetrate into the wood and serve well in avoiding the checking that appears on plywood when painted. I would paint with 2 coats of Brightside (one part polyurethane) which can be applied by the roll and tip method, but only after a good 2 coat primer base. Painting is easy, it is your prep work that will determine the longevity and look of your job.

And I will throw my 2 cents in . . . the bulk of the work is in the prep - cause if you do not do that properly, you will be wasting paint!

All good advice I too like west system . If you don't want to us a 2 part paint interlux brite sides is a good choice also

I agree there are varying opinions on the use of epoxy on wood. IMO, when done and used properly, epoxy is a wooden boat's best friend for many areas. I love wood but I embrace using newer technologies to achieve certain goals. I fall under the category that the common saying "wood needs to breathe" is a myth (yes I just said that). While there are things to consider, I see nothing wrong with coating one side, it'll breathe through the other if that's the concern. The thing to remember is that the coated side will be more stable than the other, this is an important consideration sometimes. And what happens when you completely encapsulate a piece of wood? it can't breathe, but it will never rot either. I've removed a lot of vinyl on wooden cabin tops and bridges over the years, wetted out with epoxy and laid glass, faired, then painted. I've also completely coated and glassed the side sections shown in the pictures above, you'de think they were fiberglass after I was done. No more worries about rot, no cracking, and they still look great with no issues due to suffocation Now glassing a hull, that's a different story!

The bottom line as mentioned earlier is how much work one is willing to put into it, and your comfort zone in the application. Of course how pretty you want it to look, how often you want to re-do it, and how deep your pockets are, all play an important role.

I think I'm going to test four different options, as I'm looking for the best varnish option myself. I routinely use cpes, but haven't used it with varnish. These will be my 4 test panels:

1. 8 to 9 coats of varnish, thinned for the first couple

2. CPES until saturated wood, and then varnish when tacky.

3. West 207 and then varnish

4. CPES, then West 207, then Varnish.

I'll leave the samples outside and analyse them every 3 or 4 weeks.

We'll see what happens