Painting a Sunfish (using an automotive epoxy and urethane)

Pippins

Member
After many years of active racing and multiple gelcoat touchups including a fiberglass repair of the bow and the port chine I decided it was time to refinish my 1991 Pearson built sunfish (I know, not a great year but I've won many races on this boat and what can I say, it works). Putting another layer of gelcoat wasn't really my idea of a good time so that left me with paint. I do not believe that your drying type enamels, even the marine ones are really durable enough for a beach boat. After looking into Awlgrip and AwlCraft and other marine urethane paints I decided I didn't want to invest nearly $1000 in paint. I ended up deciding to try an experiment and painted my boat with Kirker brand automotive paints. I used 2 coats of their DTM Epoxy primer and 3 coats of their Ultra-Glow urethane top coat. Not being the best painter I did wet sand the primer coat before the top coat. After curing in the sun for a few days I could wet sand the top coat and buff it to a nice shine while removing the few runs I always manage to get. My total cost for the primer and paint was well under $200 and I have enough leftover to paint another boat or two.

A couple things I will note is that you NEED to wear a respirator with a FRESH carbon filter if you do this. With regards to the spraying I was a little handy capped using a gun with a only an 8 inch fan. The sunfish, being larger and doing it in the sun, made it very hard to maintain a wet edge. A gun with a 12 or 14 fan would have made laying the paint faster and saved me some post finishing wet sanding to correct some overspray dry spots (i did the boat in halfs and the overspray was onto the tack free first half). The actual painting goes very fast. I did the two primer coats on different days and the finish coats were all done within an hour. The paint was tack free within ten minutes. I did not fuss over the paint too much as I race this boat and it will see heavy use.

This weekend I put the boat back in the water and I am very impressed so far. Riding in the bed of my pickup with nothing more than a drop cloth didn't mark the paint, neither did dropping it off the dolly while rigging, the laser that sailed directly into my beam (I was on starboard, he on port), or the sand and rock beach I launch from.

To anyone considering repainting a sunfish, I think you should be considering this as a much more durable alternative to open part paints and a much cheaper alternative to the multipart boat paints.

I would also like to thank Kirker paints. Their customer service was extra ordinary. I called with an issue (my mess up) and a real person answered the phone, took my name and number and that morning their technical adviser called me back and was of great help and reassurance.
 

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Some safety comments about the urethane paints. I have done car restoration work on a 1931 Model A and researched the safety issues of the paint.

I found a university doing a study of the effects of the paints on people in the business. This is what I learned.

The urethane paint have the standard set of thinners that will evaporate and can cause neuro, kidney, and liver problems over time. BUT it also is an isocyanate. The concept with the paint is all the molecules will link together forming a single coating. That is where the isocyanate comes into play. Yes the same type of stuff with super glue.

Isocyanates can cause an allergic reaction. The first time you have a reaction might be later, even hours later, where your chest feels 'tight'. Once you have that reaction you are done. You can never paint with that again and you need to be careful around super glue. Each reaction after gets worse to the point where you have industrial asthma. As in if you are not treated fast enough you will die.

So how do you get it?

The cans are very clear that they want you to have a pressure fed mask. You would have an air supply in clean air being pumped into your mask. Yes, I have one of these for the car painting.
The researcher was clear that a good carbon filter mask will do a good job. The reason why it is not recommended is because too often the masks do not fit properly.

You have to also understand the largest exposure is through your skin. In fact that is where people are most likely to get exposed.

Painting outside with a light breeze, fully covered, with a carbon filter you will be fine. You do need to consider your neighbors down wind.

Anyway, things to keep in mind.
 
shorefun is absolutely right about about the being concerned about isocyanate exposure. My intent was only to show an alternative low cost finish to Awlgrip and Awlcraft marine finishes, both of which I believe have the same isocyanate health risk concerns as the paint I used.
 
These urethane paints are great durable coatings. They can take abuse. Any low cost alternative is a great thing. I try to bring up the symptoms of iso allergies so people are aware because the symptoms are so strange.
 
You can buy quarts of Awlcraft for about $100...and the kicker slightly less. I guess some thinner will get you close to $250 for one color. I never use Awlgrip because you really can't final sand and buff, as the clear coat rises to the top. That said, auto paint is a good choice, less costly and almost all can final sand and buff. Being able to do that almost lets you paint in the rain in 40 degree weather!
 

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