Dinghy Paint

[skylark]

I need to repaint a dinghy that is old, beat up and has severe flaking of paint.  I am kind of frustrated with using Rustoleum paint.  The porch floor paint that I used is also not holding up the way I hoped.

I need paint that is very tough, wont flake after a few years, and the dinghy could be holding water so it needs to be able to handle being under water.

Do you think that basement cement paint designed to seal water leaks would be a good paint?  Or maybe tractor enamel?  Truck bed liner?

I am willing to try something new and experiment, if anybody has any ideas.

[Godot]

I used oil based porch and deck paint on a boat a built some years ago with great results. A friend of mine did the same with rustoleum and it started flaking off within weeks. I did use primer on a very well prepped epoxied hull. I'm not sure my buddy got the amine blush completely off his boat.

The moral of this non-story is that prep is king.

If I really had a hard time getting paint to stick, I might try cleaning, sanding, applying a coat of epoxy, cleaning off the amine blush, and painting again. I have no experience with the other paints you mentioned.

[skylark]

So what is a good prep for an old beat up dinghy made of old marine plywood?  I have started to scrape it.  I don't have any power there so I can't sand it with a power sander.

Maybe a good scraping and hand sanding?  Then some Kilz primer?

[CharlieJ]

Used to use Kilz. Don't much care for it. Have since gone to Zinzer 1-2-3. Also don't really care for Rustoleum paints, personally.

My dinghy that I just finished was painted with EasyPoxy, only because I had a couple cans. Priming was well cured, well sanded epoxy.

I've seen good luck people have had with a decent Porch and Deck enamel. If it doesn't last all that long, it's inexpensive and easy to re coat. But the Easypoxy is good stuff.

Scrape, hand sand with about 100 grit, prime, sand that with say 150, and roll on the paint.

[Godot]

Charlie doubtless has much more experience at this than I; but I'll re-answer anyway...just because...

You don't really say the kind of condition you are looking for. Assuming this is a working dinghy (and not a show piece) and you just want the paint to stick...

Scrape the dinghy. Sand to rough up any well attached paint and time smoothed wood. Wash it thoroughly to get rid of any contaminates that might be stopping your paint from adhering. Rinse, just as thoroughly. Paint.

In the end, if your paint isn't sticking (and assuming you aren't using an interior paint or something really unsuitable) it is most likely because there is some kind of surface contaminate, or because there is nothing for the paint to grip to. A wash and a sand should take care of both issues I would think. I used primer when I built my first boat. Others didn't. I'm not sure how valuable it is, especially since I fiberglassed/epoxied the thing.

I mostly used oil based paints. Some people have had decent luck with latex paints; but it makes me uncomfortable. I've done the single part polyurethane as well, and that stuff seems pretty nice, although you might want to spend a lot more time sanding the dinghy smooth to really prepare it for accepting this pretty expensive paint. I've also used the old fashioned "Boat Paint," which seems to do a pretty good job (if you can find it), although I'm not sure any better than porch and deck oil paint.

Now, if you wanted a show piece, then you end up in the sand, fair, sand, fair, paint, fair, paint blah blah blah process that I have no experience or patience with. The way I see it, boats are meant to be used. I feel decidedly uncomfortable around show pieces.

[John Bailey]

I've used the store brand Ace Hardware paint meant for a hard finish on machinery.  I rebuilt an old Oliver bandsaw and used the leftover paint on a dinghy a couple of years ago and have had no flaking.  Sorry, I can't remember the name on the can, but it was the Ace store brand meant for things like machinery and tractors.

I had the "brilliant" idea to use leftover bottom paint from doing my boat on the dingy this year.  What a mess!!  I'll never do that again.

John