Hey gang.....
I am giving my 5.2 a make over, as is my friend in Houston. He is giving his the same. We have been conversing many, many, times and we seem to be both on the same page and have the same issues. His is an '82 and mine is a '77.
Okay, I know this subject has been beaten to death. Paint....
I have a few gel coat crazings. Nothing major, just 30 years of the Texas sun. What should I do?
Next, should I use the existing paint as my primer? I am changing colors. I don't like the all white. I am giving her a white with a blue tint color.
Third....auto paint or marine grade paint. The only difference is the copper content. If she were not a trailer sailor, then I would, hands down, choose the marine grade paint, but since she's going to be out of the water more than in the water, I don't see why I couldn't use auto paint.
Someone please point me in the right direction.
I also have a crossmember in the front portion of the starboard hull that has come detatched, so a little bit of glass work and she's strong as ever.

I know some people have had good success with Emeron (sp?) automotive paint. I would use gelcoat myself, just tint it.

Hi chloemac,

I would prefer gelcoat only, because I think that it is easier to make repairs on a gelcoat surface than on a gelcoat (polyester) + paint. But I never repaired a painted boat, so that's maybe my lack of expierence.
There are basically two sorts of paint:
acryl based
polyurethan based (PU)
Acryl is what most car builder use, PU is a high quality paint which is used for aircraft for example. Some boatbuilder use it too (good against UV rays, most solvents, chemicals, etc.). But its solvent is highly toxic.
If you want to make the paint work by yourself, better chose acryl based paint, which has still good properties.

Cheers,

Klaus

All of the ARC catamarans use Sherwin Williams Auto Paint. East maintenance and UV properties.

"All of the ARC catamarans use Sherwin Williams Auto Paint. East maintenance and UV properties. "

And quite expensive too! Also not your simple rattle can application. Of course I wouldn't paint an entire boat with a rattle can anyway.

The ARCs have an Awgrip 3 part primer (paint, hardener & reducer) and the Sherwin Williams 3 part top coat. While the finish is excellent (I can still see a clear refelection in my paint 8 years later), it is probably overkill for an old Nacra 5.2.

I plan to paint my Nacra 5.2 with some enamel paint I bought from home depot. I asked the paint guy what to reduce it with so it will work in the paint gun and he showed me the reducer. It's a lot cheaper than $75 a quart.

I'll post back here when I finally paint it. Right now I have a lot of work on the RC-27 to do.

“I plan to paint my Nacre 5.2 with some enamel paint I bought from home depot. I asked the paint guy what to reduce it with so it will work in the paint gun and he showed me the reducer. It's a lot cheaper than $75 a quart.”

Rob tell me you don’t go to Home depot for expert paint/painting advice. The guy you talk to there could very well have been flipping hamburgers at Mc Donald’s last month. Bad paint jobs/crappy materials account for more good boats being ruined than any other user cause. Many of those enamels never dry to a truly hard finish. The worse part of all is when that cheap paint goes dead in a year or two; it’s a nightmare to remove.

Regards,
Bob

I would agree with Bob on this one. At the most I would have the guy from HD show me where the item is that I am looking for. Painting wood is one thing, painting wood (or fibreglass) and throwing it into a washing machine is a completely different animal.

Clayton

Emron is a strong paint but has to be sprayed to get a decent finish and requires a posotive air respriator when doing so (versus a good mask). Emron is also getting hard to find due to it being dated. Most car restorers are using Deltron now, same principle, different chemistry. Check out John Casey's book "This Old Boat". Very good reading for this type of project with valuable easy to read information. For what it is worth, I found the two part polyurethane from Interlux was very easy to work with when brushing.

I have never heard of EMRON but DuPont Imron is probably the most commonly available 2 part polyurethane http://www.performancecoatings.dupont.com/bowstreet5/webengine/dpc/common/Controller

It has been reformulated several times over the years and has lost favor with the custom painters who prefer clear coat paint systems. However for tough finishes I have not found anything that beats it.

Check local auto paint supply. For best prices call around and consider using a generic reducer.

The health concerns about using this product are real. The minimum requirements are free air flow and a proper mask and filter. If you are painting in a booth you need a positive pressure system.

You can use Interlux brushing thinner if you plan to brush or roll. You can get a pretty good finish if you roll and tip and then 1200 grit sand and compound.

My experience on repainting 20 - 30 year old catamarans is it's probably not worth spending more than 200 - 300 on repainting. These hulls are way past their design life. They may go for years or they may break in half next time out.

Emron / Imron same stuff, wrong spelling. I thought it had been discontinued but if not it is durable stuff. I was told once that it doesn't roll/tip well and that is why I went the interlux for my monoslug project. I did spray my daysailor with Imron a few years ago and it has held up well even with beach landings.

Reminds me of a story...

Two guys are sitting in a bar. One is Chinese, the other Jewish. Suddenly the Jewish guy jumps up and slugs the Chinese guy in the face. Picking himself up off the floor, the Chinese guy says, “Why’d you hit me?”
The Jewish guy replies, “That was for what your people did at Pearl Harbor.”
The other fellow says, “But that was the Japanese, not the Chinese!”
“What’s the difference?, answers the first.
Another few beers go down in total silence. Then the Chinese guy stands up and hits the Jewish guy with a barstool.
“What was that for?” says the Jewish guy, rubbing his head.
“That was for what your people did to the Titanic,” says the other fellow.
“But the Titanic was sunk by an iceberg!” said the Jewish guy.
“Iceberg, Weinberg, Goldberg, what’s the difference?” answers the Chinese guy.

Try the Inron, but be sure that you have a clear separation of duties and put policies in place to eliminate and detect any possible conflicts of interest. Review all SOX initiatives before beginning the project just to cover your own a$$. Other than that, just spray the paint being careful not to get any on your neighbors Caddy.

Or is it Enron? I can't remeber.......

in my opinion once out sailing the look of your boat isn't really very important.
you should be able to sand your hulls thru the grits with a soft pad on a polisher/sander machine. then put the polishing pad on and buff the hulls to a shine. any repairs can be fixed and gelcoated before you do the big sand. you will take away weight rather than add it, and future paint chipping won't be a problem.

there is a PU paint that they roll on yachts and it flows out perfect. the PU paints give off isocynides which never leave your body once you breath them. they also pass thru your skin and eyes. spraying that stuff is serious business.

Exactly Jeremy!

Try that with paint.