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Hull Blacking


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Good morning all, more tedious questions for you ever helpful people if anyone would be so kind as to help.

So my recently purchased boat it seems was last painted in 1988!! I've had a fun 3 weeks scraping and painting the inside which is starting to look a lot better giving me a much needed morale boost! It's now time for the outside. Blacking and a base coat for the rest, I have to do everything here on the river (tidal) and will not be getting her shot blasted although this seems like the way forward. In terms of gear, I have a diesel powered Pressure washer at my disposal, numerous sanders, grinders and a fair amount of time on my hands! Is the best way 1: to go all out and try to remove all the old paint or 2 :take off what I can and Prime all bare steel followed by Blacking lower down then undercoats and gloss higher up?

I want the best possible finish I can get above the waterline naturally! I'm presuming the old hull blacking paint will be fairly hard and messy to remove.

 

many thanks Ed

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Good morning all, more tedious questions for you ever helpful people if anyone would be so kind as to help.

So my recently purchased boat it seems was last painted in 1988!! I've had a fun 3 weeks scraping and painting the inside which is starting to look a lot better giving me a much needed morale boost! It's now time for the outside. Blacking and a base coat for the rest, I have to do everything here on the river (tidal) and will not be getting her shot blasted although this seems like the way forward. In terms of gear, I have a diesel powered Pressure washer at my disposal, numerous sanders, grinders and a fair amount of time on my hands! Is the best way 1: to go all out and try to remove all the old paint or 2 :take off what I can and Prime all bare steel followed by Blacking lower down then undercoats and gloss higher up?

I want the best possible finish I can get above the waterline naturally! I'm presuming the old hull blacking paint will be fairly hard and messy to remove.

 

many thanks Ed

If you intend working and blacking below the waterline between tides at low water you will need something quick drying as most ordinary Bitumin or tar based blacking needs 24 hrs or so to dry before re-floating.

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Good morning all, more tedious questions for you ever helpful people if anyone would be so kind as to help.

So my recently purchased boat it seems was last painted in 1988!! I've had a fun 3 weeks scraping and painting the inside which is starting to look a lot better giving me a much needed morale boost! It's now time for the outside. Blacking and a base coat for the rest, I have to do everything here on the river (tidal) and will not be getting her shot blasted although this seems like the way forward. In terms of gear, I have a diesel powered Pressure washer at my disposal, numerous sanders, grinders and a fair amount of time on my hands! Is the best way 1: to go all out and try to remove all the old paint or 2 :take off what I can and Prime all bare steel followed by Blacking lower down then undercoats and gloss higher up?

I want the best possible finish I can get above the waterline naturally! I'm presuming the old hull blacking paint will be fairly hard and messy to remove.

 

many thanks Ed

 

I think after that length of time, your greatest need will be to get rid of rust scale around the water line which needs impact tools. Air tools are the best for this - air chisel, scabbler, needle gun. An electric Kango-type demolition hammer or a good SDS drill in non-rotary mode with chisel attachment will also work, and you can get (hire) Needle gun attachments for Hilti hammers & possibly others. Just be careful not to find holes in the hull if you're working between tides! Keep a tin of body filler and the makings of a couple of 'pot menders' handy for emergencies. How old is the boat?

After getting rid of the scale you can start to deal with surface rust with, for instance, angle grinder with twist-knot wire brush.

 

A rotary nozzle on the pressure washer should make it hugely more effective. Don't worry too much about removing old blacking, if it's still there after this length of time it'll provide a good base for the new stuff.

 

Tim

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I think after that length of time, your greatest need will be to get rid of rust scale around the water line which needs impact tools. Air tools are the best for this - air chisel, scabbler, needle gun. An electric Kango-type demolition hammer or a good SDS drill in non-rotary mode with chisel attachment will also work, and you can get (hire) Needle gun attachments for Hilti hammers & possibly others. Just be careful not to find holes in the hull if you're working between tides! Keep a tin of body filler and the makings of a couple of 'pot menders' handy for emergencies. How old is the boat?

After getting rid of the scale you can start to deal with surface rust with, for instance, angle grinder with twist-knot wire brush.

 

A rotary nozzle on the pressure washer should make it hugely more effective. Don't worry too much about removing old blacking, if it's still there after this length of time it'll provide a good base for the new stuff.

 

Tim

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Hi, thanks for your swift response! she was built in 1988 as a nigerian river barge that didn't get bought and sat on the canal. As far as I'm aware she's never been out of the water since. Actually the waterline doesn't look too bad but theres certainly a lot of rust on one side(the exposed side to the canal) and I suppose I wont really know how deep the rust is till I get scraping! In that case do you think I need to get rid of every trace of rust, grind a section, paint a section with quick drying paint before the tide comes in?( sounds like a challenge :) )

I guess i have the problem of not mixing too much epoxy paint at one time, also is it ok to put the paint on in stages or would you normally bang on as much as possible but then the boat would normally be dry docked anyway probably. One advantage is I do have a welder next door if the need arises!!

thanks for your help

 

Ed

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If the boat has traditional blacking, there are a couple of things. First, it seems to make a poor undercoat for epoxy paints. Secondly, it doesn't like being painted onto primer and falls off

 

How big is your boat? Would you be best off getting her dry-docked, especially after all this time?

 

Richard

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