How do you go about blacking your boat?

[Greylady2]

Open question really ?

 

If you do it yourself, what method ?

 

If you get someone to do it who do you trust ?

 

How much did it really cost ?

 

Edit : i did myn this year.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Greylady2

[Guest]

Open question really ?

 

If you do it yourself, what method ?

If you get someone to do it who do you trust ?

Done both. It is a really messy job but one I love. Have just pressure washed it in the past, cleaned up with rotary wire brush and three coats of rylard Rytex.

We had it two packed last time, so let a boatyard blast and paint it. TBH by the time you have paid for slipping and a proper high pressure wash, you don't save much over letting the yard black it, in my experience.

[Geo]

As to who do you trust. It is like most things in this life. You listen to what others say about where they had their's done and what they feel about it. Then you visit and see if you feel comfortable with them. Simple thing do they treat you with respect and not try to bulldoze you to do whatever it is in a way you do not want to do it.

 

Time for bed here

 

Night night sleep well

 

Can I send you a PM?

Edited November 26, 2016 by Geo

[dmr]

Have done both, its very satisfying to do it yourself but the novelty wears off. Use a yard where you can live on the boat whilst it gets done, you can watch to make sure its done well and get a load of other stuff done in the late afternoons/evenings.

 

...............Dave

[Greylady2]

Chat tommorow you lot.

 

Nan night

[Geo]

Chat tommorow you lot.

 

Nan night

 

Night night, give that dog a cuddle and sleep well

[Guest]

???

[Bloomsberry]

I think you need to ask another question, "was it successful ?"

In the last 5 years of ownership I had mine blacked with bitumen, 2x by boatyards and once myself after a lengthy prep. Each time I had rust on the waterline within the year. Needless to say this did not meet my expectations.

I had it out the water again this summer and attempted a DIY epoxy job, prep was very time consuming but managed to cover the waterline, weld seams and pitted areas.Early days yet but I'm hoping for more success than the bitumen blackings.

[keith.]

My local yard did the job. I gave them the keys and when they had finished (4 days later) some money. Very happy. 45 foot boat £430. Job done. When I retire and have some time I might give it a go myself.

[Nightwatch]

I don't mind doing the job myself.

 

honest guv.

 

Pressure wash. scrape of the bobbly bits. or visa versa. apply blacking by brush, not roller. let it go off for 24 hours and do it again. repeat on the water line after 12 hours. it doesn't harm, and look after it for two three days after leaving dry dock.

 

we like `rylard.

[Dave_P]

When I had my boat blacked 2 years ago, it was done by a very well used and popular boatyard not too far from Lichfield. I will never go back there again. They did 2 coats and a 3rd along the waterline but then put it back in the water before it was fully dry! I went off to work that morning and they were finishing the third coat that morning. When I got home in the afternoon, my boat wasn't on the slip! It was back in the water.

 

This year I took it to a place which charges a fixed £150 for a full seven days on the slip. I got a guy to do it for me for another £150 and I even gave him a hand with it over the weekend. This had the double bonus of letting me see how well he was doing it but also gave me tips in case I fancied doing it myself next time. (I don't!)

 

As with many things, the prep is the most important part. Pressure wash the hull down first, then angle grind with the wire brush attachment to make a good surface for the paint to go on. The actual painting bit is fairly quick and easy.

[Greylady2]

 

Thanks for the reply's, when i did the blacking on our boat i knew i was in for a big job and to be honest quite paranoid/mistrustfull of giving handing the boat of to a boat yard to get the blacking done, ive heard a few horror storys on here before we bought the boat. (One even sank after shot blasting and being blacked)

 

I am sure their are some boat yards that do a proper job and treat the boats as if they were doing their own but i very much doubt all break their backs on preping the boat before blacking it.

 

When i power washed our boat the blacking came off in sheets in places because it was never shot blasted so it had mill scale which obviously is not a good surface for any paint.

 

I know a few new boat builders who are selling boats and not shot blasting their hulls prior to handing a very expensive boat over to their customers, a few ive spoken to have had to shell out big money on shot blasting once they had used a power washer for the first blacking.

 

I ended up scratching my head when i power washed our boat thinking omg this is gonna take ages and it did take ages.

 

About

60 36 grit grinding discs

25 belt sanding discs

35 hours of prep

30 litres of coflex

24 hour between each coat of paint x 3

48 hours curing before it went back in the water

4 x Anodes

 

Total cost

 

Cost around £1000 DIY

 

I made the mistake of trying to live ln the boat after the first coat of coflex.

(Do NOT do this), the fumes from just applying that stuff never mind sleeping above the hull burned my eyes really bad and it was like having grit in your eyes.

 

I should of worn goggles < wolly

 

Anyway it's nice when its done but i am not looking forward to next time.

 

I am still kicking myself because i never used any primer.

 

Maybe someone can give advice on what works with coflex or comastic ??

 

Edit to add: dont forget to do the rudder tube like i did until the very end.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Greylady2

[Geo]

Thanks for the reply's, when i did the blacking on our boat i knew i was in for a big job and to be honest quite paranoid/mistrustfull of giving handing the boat of to a boat yard to get the blacking done, ive heard a few horror storys on here before we bought the boat. (One even sank after shot blasting and being blacked)

 

I am sure their are some boat yards that do a proper job and treat the boats as if they were doing their own but i very much doubt all break their backs on preping the boat before blacking it.

 

When i power washed our boat the blacking came off in sheets in places because it was never shot blasted so it had mill scale which obviously is not a good surface for any paint.

 

I know a few new boat builders who are selling boats and not shot blasting their hulls prior to handing a very expensive boat over to their customers, a few ive spoken to have had to shell out big money on shot blasting once they had used a power washer for the first blacking.

 

I ended up scratching my head when i power washed our boat thinking omg this is gonna take ages and it did take ages.

 

About

60 36 grit grinding discs

25 belt sanding discs

35 hours of prep

30 litres of coflex

24 hour between each coat of paint x 3

48 hours curing before it went back in the water

4 x Anodes

 

Total cost

 

Cost around £1000 DIY

 

I made the mistake of trying to live ln the boat after the first coat of coflex.

(Do NOT do this), the fumes from just applying that stuff never mind sleeping above the hull burned my eyes really bad and it was like having grit in your eyes.

 

I should of worn goggles < wolly

 

Anyway it's nice when its done but i am not looking forward to next time.

 

I am still kicking myself because i never used any primer.

 

Maybe someone can give advice on what works with coflex or comastic ??

 

Edit to add: dont forget to do the rudder tube like i did until the very end.

 

It will be easier next time, you got rid of the worst the mill scale.

[dmr]

Thanks for the reply's, when i did the blacking on our boat i knew i was in for a big job and to be honest quite paranoid/mistrustfull of giving handing the boat of to a boat yard to get the blacking done, ive heard a few horror storys on here before we bought the boat. (One even sank after shot blasting and being blacked)

 

I am sure their are some boat yards that do a proper job and treat the boats as if they were doing their own but i very much doubt all break their backs on preping the boat before blacking it.

 

When i power washed our boat the blacking came off in sheets in places because it was never shot blasted so it had mill scale which obviously is not a good surface for any paint.

 

I know a few new boat builders who are selling boats and not shot blasting their hulls prior to handing a very expensive boat over to their customers, a few ive spoken to have had to shell out big money on shot blasting once they had used a power washer for the first blacking.

 

I ended up scratching my head when i power washed our boat thinking omg this is gonna take ages and it did take ages.

 

About

60 36 grit grinding discs

25 belt sanding discs

35 hours of prep

30 litres of coflex

24 hour between each coat of paint x 3

48 hours curing before it went back in the water

4 x Anodes

 

Total cost

 

Cost around £1000 DIY

 

I made the mistake of trying to live ln the boat after the first coat of coflex.

(Do NOT do this), the fumes from just applying that stuff never mind sleeping above the hull burned my eyes really bad and it was like having grit in your eyes.

 

I should of worn goggles < wolly

 

Anyway it's nice when its done but i am not looking forward to next time.

 

I am still kicking myself because i never used any primer.

 

Maybe someone can give advice on what works with coflex or comastic ??

 

Edit to add: dont forget to do the rudder tube like i did until the very end.

 

Thats a big job. I have mixed feelings about sanding, if you make the surface too smooth the blacking wont stick so well, though 36 grit sounds good.

 

I reckon if you had shopped around you might just have found a yard who would have shot blasted and epoxied for not a whole lot more than that (maybe £1500) and it would have lasted a lot longer.

However I think you did the right thing, every proper boater should black their own boat at least once.

 

.............Dave

[blackrose]

I used to pressure wash, go around with an angle grinder and wire wheels to take off any flaky paint or rust and then paint 2 coats of International Primocon underwater primer, 2 coats of Rylards Rytex and finished with 2 coats of Rylards Premium. All by myself.

 

Even after all that work and all that paint it would only last about 4 years. So this time I had it grit blasted (not the baseplate) up to the rubbing strake below the top plank, swept it all clean, spirit wiped with Jotamastic thinners 17 and then painted 2 coats of Jotamastic 87 two-part epoxy with aluminium, followed by 2 coats of Jotamastic 87 black.

 

I'm hoping it will last for 10 years.

Edited November 27, 2016 by blackrose

[WotEver]

Any particular reason you didn't opt for Zinger, Blackrose?

[bizzard]

Have built up a good layers of well stuck of Rylard premeum now, which lasts 5 years or more.

[blackrose]

Any particular reason you didn't opt for Zinger, Blackrose?

Yes I had no experience with zinger and I wasn't sure if it was a proven technology. I'd been using Jotamastic 87 while I was jobseeking and working in a boatyard for a couple of years. We used it to paint the bilges of a couple of 113 year old Thames steam launches and also on the outside of a new boat they built. So I knew exactly how to use it and also how good it was. We were once visited by the paint expert who'd been advising the Cutty Sark restoration project - they used Jotamastic for that too.

 

I still don't really understand zinger. Why would you want to paint a steel boat with a zinc material which may act as an anodic coating and dissolve? I suspect that's not how it works, but is zinger used for commercial projects? Jotamastic certainly is. Have a look at their marine coatings brochure.

 

http://www.jotun.com/aa/en/b2b/paintsandcoatings/products/jotamastic-87.aspx

 

It's not that I'm a sucker for advertising and I might be wrong, but zinger strikes me as a product that's not really used widely in industry, and if not then that surely raises some questions as to its efficacy.

Edited November 27, 2016 by blackrose

[WotEver]

I have zero personal experience of Zinger. My only knowledge of it is the glowing reports that its users have given it here.

 

I agree that it might be all hype - that's why I asked the question really

[dmr]

People say good stuff about Zinger but I have no experience of it. I have used Galvafroid which I suspect is pretty similar and was not totally impressed. I reckon its just a normal single pack paint with a lot of zinc in in it. Zinc painting is often called cold galvanising but its nothing like hot galvanising where a very hard zinc alloy is formed at the surface, its just paint?????

 

Why is it so good?

 

Think we should get our baseplate done next time we come out (maybe 2020) as the boat will be almost 20 years old then, am quite tempted by the hot zinc spraying but its not cheap.

 

............Dave

[Chewbacka]

The problem in assessing this sort of stuff is people grit blast, zinger coat then 2 pack epoxy, four or five years later no rust and they tell you how good zinger is. But I suspect that the surface prep and 2 pack is were most benefit comes from.

Has anyone ever just jet washed, zinger coat then bitumen black? That would be the real test.

[1agos]

Our boat was 8 years old when we bought her. Previous owner had boatyards do the blacking every two years. I did the blacking diy this year and found the weed hatch had never been done! Do any of you diy's not black in the weed hatch area.?

 

For OP

I pressure washed wire brushed flakey bits.

& got two full coats and one waterline coat out of a 20ltre tin of Intertuf.

[Tim Lewis]

Our boat was 8 years old when we bought her. Previous owner had boatyards do the blacking every two years. I did the blacking diy this year and found the weed hatch had never been done! Do any of you diy's not black in the weed hatch area.?

 

For OP

I pressure washed wire brushed flakey bits.

& got two full coats and one waterline coat out of a 20ltre tin of Intertuf.

 

Whats a weed hatch? :-)

 

Tim

[Greylady2]

Our boat was 8 years old when we bought her. Previous owner had boatyards do the blacking every two years. I did the blacking diy this year and found the weed hatch had never been done! Do any of you diy's not black in the weed hatch area.?

 

For OP

I pressure washed wire brushed flakey bits.

& got two full coats and one waterline coat out of a 20ltre tin of Intertuf.

Yep i nearly forgot the weed hatch and the rudder tube.

 

20 littes is what i used on 2 coats but i had a spare 2 days in the dry dock so did another coat.

 

Sounds like you were lucky my paint come off in shards, it was two pack as well.

 

I dont rate two pack its very brittle, i use to be a paint sprayer and now i kinda prefer the goopy vinyl tar stuff (it goes on real thick and easily with a fury cloth type roller. :-)

 

So far Coflex has not greyed.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Greylady2

[1agos]

 

Whats a weed hatch? :-)

 

Tim

A place to hide my stash. LOL