The Sailboat Diaries: Color Change

Several times I’ve read that novice boaters shouldn’t bother with cosmetic fixes to their boat. Inexperienced boaters are likely to cause cosmetic damage anyhow, so it makes sense to just make those repairs after some seasoning. Besides, boat paints typically have to be reapplied once every few years and all that time spent working could be time spent on the water.

Yet, I persisted. There were a few unsightly gouges aftward on the port side of my Matilda 20 that were created by a collapsible swim ladder. Additionally, the yellow bottom paint was peeling considerably, which affects boat performance as much as aesthetics. Lastly, I didn’t want the neighbors to think an albatross now existed in my side yard, so the optics of the situation was also a factor.

The first task was to expand the gouges a bit to create a chamfer on the edge and also allow the fairing compound to be spread easier. This was my first experience working with fairing compound. While the final result was definitely more attractive than the original gouges, the finish is still a little uneven. I resanded and faired this area three times until finally, good was good enough. I wouldn’t call this a failure as it is nonetheless an improvement, but I was hoping for a perfect result. Ultimately, working with this nasty material on a 90°+ F day was a mistake, as it was curing before I could even spread it.

Originally I had hoped to purchase some used boat stands to complete this project, but none were to be had in the local classified websites, and new set of boat stands started at $500—about 125% of what I planned to pay in painting materials. Painting on a trailer is doable, provided you are willing to sacrifice some comfort during the task and ensure the boat trailer doesn’t tip while you are under it. I cut some short 4 x 4 posts to wedge under the trailer frame to prevent tipping and also lowered the trailer jack as far as it could go. The trailer was positioned over a large plastic drop cloth and the trailer itself had a week’s worth of newspaper wrapping exposed surfaces.

Reference texts recommended that I first test the adhesion of the old paint to the hull. This is done by scoring and then applying masking tape to a few areas. If paint comes up when the tape is a removed after a short interval, then entire coating must be sanded off before a new layer can be applied. Thankfully the old coating would suffice after some sanding.

A pressure washer removed a lot of ground-in dirt and grime prior to sanding. It was surprising how white the fiberglass was! An orbital sander with 150 grit paper was used to prepare the entire hull for the first layer of paint, but corners and crevices were wet sanded by hand to prevent damage to the underlying fiberglass. A full respirator and safety goggles are highly recommended for this, as some marine paint dust is highly toxic. A box fan helped with visibility while I performed this task underneath the trailer. Areas where the bottom paint started to chip also required some scraping. All of this was followed by a washdown with some simple house siding cleaner.

The hull was painted in two sections: above and below the waterline. Paints used below the waterline are typically ablative (a.k.a. soft)—meaning that slowly the paint leeches a chemical that prevents the build-up of algae or other marine life. There has been a lot of legislation in recent years about what are acceptable marine paint ablative fillers—copper is most common and is the filler of the type of Rustoleum I used. Since this boat will be primarily used in freshwater, the ablative properties aren’t as important. However, since I didn’t know the type of the bottom paint I’d be painting over, and hard-coat paints don’t cover ablative paints well, ablative was my only choice.

The hull portion located above the waterline was painted first, and my wife was an enormous help here. She had the patience to precisely tape off the waterline, where the hull paint meets the bottom paint. When it came time to paint we used a topside Rustoleum. The wife primarily focused on the trim work while I rolled the rest of the hull. Painting the hull above the waterline was probably to easiest task of all and could be done in about 45 minutes.

Another round of sanding occurred after the first coat of paint, this time prepared with 220 grit sand paper. After a washdown, the next layer of paint was applied.

Outside of the obvious challenges of painting a boat on the trailer (cramped working space, fresh air, paint all over myself) there is also the issue of the trailer rollers. After the rest of the bottom had received the recommended two coats, I needed to roll the boat about 8-10 in. back on the trailer to paint the spots that had been obstructed by the trailer rollers.

Sliding a 1,500 lb. vessel on the trailer isn’t easy, so I deployed a car jack between the upward trailer post and the nose of the boat. After some fabric and wood bumpers were added the car jack was the perfect solution. I kept the boat in this position for about 24 hr., which was just enough time to fill in spots on the bottom of the hull.

This was also my opportunity to do a lot of other painting and aesthetic improvements, including the companionway hatch boards and steps, some areas of woodwork and repair on the interior, toe rails and several other spots that were faded or didn’t match the new color scheme. As one of the last acts of this phase, my wife applied new registration stickers.

And now she’s ready for a name. (The boat, that is!)