new guy: Hull Paint Sample

M

mutt

New Member
hi everyone.
i'm new to this, so please bear with me. I have an early 70's boat that i am repairing for a customer (we are actually a street rod shop). I am comfortable with the fibeglass repair and 'bodywork' (hullwork?!). I have found emron to be a good high strength paint and it is probably what we will use. this boat has a light blue (very oxidized) deck and white or off-white hull. i want to match the colors as close as possible. my paint jobber can match it if i had a sample. My question is... where can i get a sample, or will it buff out bright enough to match. thanks for checking this thread out. sorry for no proper intro... gotta get to work!
 
Just remember boat hull work isn’t the same as auto body work where any hole exists in a critical area. A boat’s hull is it’s frame so a boat hull has to withstand a little more twist and pressure than a cosmetic quarter panel. Small chips are one thing, but more major repairs aren’t just a matter of filling a gap. Hole and split repair requires backing fabric support to tie across the breech at the same strength level as the original piece. Fill is reinforced with fiber to resist breaking up under torsional stress.

Dupont Imron® polyurethane is widely known in professional circles for its high gloss and hard finish. I surmise it’s not as well known in the self repair market because good results rely so much on good prep and Dupont doesn’t want its reputation hanging on the variability of novice users. Use Imron® MS600™ Marine ( http://pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/visitor/i/marine/home.html ) and you should get a great outcome.

I see no reason to try and match faded and aged color if you’re shooting the whole boat. There’s no way I know to show an aged color to your supplier-blender without taking them the exact boat. If you are doing repairs that require removing a piece of the original gelcoat, why not cut a small sample out instead of sanding it down. Just send them the exact color to work with. If you aren’t shooting the entire hull you won’t know what the true color is until you deoxidize and buff out the existing surface so that’s your first step before color matching. I don’t believe even new gelcoat would gloss-up to the level of freshly shot Imron®.
 
The older boats had pure white hulls, so the off white is likely due to age. Every boat of that age is going to have an oxidized deck, so there is likely no real source for what the color originally was. If you buff it - or maybe even scratch below the surface - you may be able to get a better idea of what it was.

Since you are a hot rod shop, how about some flames on the deck, or perhaps fireballs trailing down the sides of the boat??!!

That boat will look better than new once you have Imroned it!

BB
 
wow! thanks guys. Based on the other research i did and some of the work from yesterday you guys are right on! I found decent gelcoat under some of the rigging and polished it some to match the blue. My jobber will hem haw about it but he can match it. Thanks for the paint part number too. Those guys work better with part numbers. They don't like to research. thanks also for the white advice. After pulling of the sunfish sticker i was almost convinced it was an off-white. Pure white is an easy match. As far as the 'bodywork' goes, the deck only had minnor scratches and we just put a little finishing putty in them(don't laugh this is a freshwater twice a month for three months kind of boat). Thehull has a few major issues and we will use fiber and do a proper 'glass repair on any of them. Now ther is just a bunch of sanding, some epoxy primer (more sanding!) then the Imron. I hope i can get it lake-worthy flat. I know the boating community likes 'em as slick as the street rod folks. Thanks again for the help! By the way, does anyone know where to find the sunfish stickers?
 
mutt said:
Now ther is just a bunch of sanding, some epoxy primer (more sanding!) then the Imron.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a winner.

By the way, does anyone know where to find the sunfish stickers?
Click to expand...

New style can be had at either a Sunfish dealer or the factory outlet store. ( http://www.laserperformance.com/main/index.php?lang=american ). Stickers from the '70s have to be custom made by a decal shop. Download the artwork by searching the archives of this forum for past talk about stickers and look for attachments. You could look at Sunfish_Sailors ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sunfish_sailor ) in their extensive file library of downloadable Sunfish materials.
 
Just a word of caution - Imron is a great paint but fairly toxic and must be used in strict accordance with the company's instructions. Several years ago we had a fatality in our area linked to a guy who was spraying Imron without proper ventilation.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
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