Deck Paint

My experience: Use 2-part! Carefully pick your day and hour to paint. Sand comes in several grits. Silica is also popular to add to paint. Some don't like the uneveness of the grit pre-mixed in the, in the paint technique. Throwing sand works great, then another one or two coats. Can't kneel down on sand with bare knees, so consider type of grit. How about crushed walnut shells. They also comes in various grit. Using a chemical bond/two part, means you don't have to sand between coats. Wow! What a time saver. Just plan to have another day off to paint again within the time window. Roll the non-skid and roll and tip the smooth. Do the smooth first. Two keys...weather and amount of thinner. Best to you!

Thanks for all the responses on the painting. I'll likely go for the 2 part. I'm a bit nervous about the time constraints, but I agree that if I'm going to remove everything on the deck I might as well do it right. I didn't realize I could skip the sanding part with 2 part so that's a big advantage, too. Really appreciate all the feedback.

A tip I've heard for 2-part: do small areas and keep a wet edge. When you're doing the smooth parts of the deck, you're often doing long strips between the nonskid and toe rail. Try to do these areas in stages, avoiding having more than 1 wet edge going. For instance, do the "loop" next to the toerail first, with the other strips masked off. Then do the other strips one at a time. Don't try to do them all in one pass. I'll be doing this myself this year--we can compare results. bw From: "ehall1971" <ed… [at] ge.com> To: <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 7:58 AM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Re: Deck Paint > Thanks for all the responses on the painting. I'll likely go for the > 2 part. I'm a bit nervous about the time constraints, but I agree > that if I'm going to remove everything on the deck I might as well do > it right. I didn't realize I could skip the sanding part with 2 part > so that's a big advantage, too. > > Really appreciate all the feedback. > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > >

On Mar 9, 2006, at 8:02 AM, Bob Walden wrote: > A tip I've heard for 2-part: do small areas and keep a wet edge. > When you're > doing the smooth parts of the deck, you're often doing long strips > between > the nonskid and toe rail. When I did this on my Cal 34, I used the two-part paint over everything, including non-skid. That seals it and makes masking much, much simpler. When you are all done, then mask only the non-skid areas and roll that paint on. The two-part underneath is protecting the deck. I would do the entire deck with the same two-part and then do the non-skid over it. > Try to do these areas in stages, avoiding having > more than 1 wet edge going. For instance, do the "loop" next to the > toerail > first, with the other strips masked off. Then do the other strips > one at a > time. Don't try to do them all in one pass. Sounds like a lot more work with a seam between the two paint areas that could let in moisture. Just my $0.02 but the Cal 34 is sitting in Cabrillo Marina in LA about 14 years into the paint job. I haven't looked at it closely in years but I see it from time to time and it looks good. The Cal 40 was sprayed by the yard all in one weekend after two coats of primer. I'm going to paint the non-skid another shade one day when I get all the other projects done. I had told them I wanted the nonskid a shade of light grey but the painting went so fast when they finally got to it that everything wound up the same shade of white. It's awfully bright in the sun so I'll change the non-skid to light grey someday. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 #96 >

Bob Walden wrote: >A tip I've heard for 2-part: do small areas and keep a wet edge. When you're >doing the smooth parts of the deck, you're often doing long strips between >the nonskid and toe rail. Try to do these areas in stages, avoiding having >more than 1 wet edge going. For instance, do the "loop" next to the toerail >first, with the other strips masked off. Then do the other strips one at a >time. Don't try to do them all in one pass. > > > > This sounds like good advice. I haven't done a large, complex surface since i did the deck of my 26' Seafarer about 1975. Then I did it with brushes and paint right from the can. The kayak was only 18' long and easy to do. When I did the kayak, the instructions (on the can and from written materials) were more sophisticated. The most important part is using the right thinner, using it in the right proportion (measuring carefully), and applying thin coats--lots of thin coats instead of a few thick ones. Too much thinned paint will run! I got too enthusiastic on what was to be my last coat and got runs. So I had to sand and do one more coat. The advice about doing sections is sound. If you want to do a very large surface in one pass, you'll need friends--one to be mixing and thinnung new batches of paint for you, another to be "tipping" with a brush after you've rolled. I just rolled on the kayak--no tipping--and it turned out extremely well. It was because I thinned properly and used thin coats. And finally, the most important painting tool is the vacuum cleaner. It's the last tool used before you paint, to get all the little dust bits out of cracks & corners. If you leave 'em there, your brush tips will snag them and drag them into your glossy paint and you will see them forever. Chris Campbell