Re-painting hull stripes

Posted by wlll@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 11 comments

Hey all, The time has come to re-paint our boot stripe and the stripe at the top of the topsides. They're looking tired, and as we're having new canvas we might change the colour too. Wise folks of r/sailing, do you have any suggestions or tips for this? I believe it's currently blue paint over white gelcoat, but I couldn't tell you the type of paint the blue is at all. My plan was to sand if off then apply some sort of epoxy based paint, but I've not got experience in this or know if it's the right thing to do, has anyone done anything similar? https://preview.redd.it/nu7cy38vpgme1.jpg?width=1901&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e5b32895916904f15b293cd7dff7028428b042b

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11 Comments

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Foolserrand376@reddit

3m decals. DIY or hire a vinyl company to apply a vinyl stripes

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cr8tivspace@reddit

If you going to repaint, there will be no need to sand off. Sand it yes, most to give the new paint something to adhere to. When we did it, we went from blue to gunmetal grey using Stoppani paints. It was a dream to use, sat down perfectly without tipping and coverage was excellent. Four years on and it still looks like the day we painted it. The secret really is the prep, first sand use 180 grit then rinse off and wipe down, second round use 220 grit rinse off, wipe down and acetone. Tape up your lines and stick to the manufacturer’s recommendations on coats and timings.

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wlll@reddit (OP)

Thanks, that's great information and great to hear!

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nylondragon64@reddit

They make topside paint. All the major brands I believe. Might even be called boot strip paint too.

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Brokenbowman@reddit

I repainted the boot stripe about 5 years ago with Epiphanes Polyurethane- still looks good. Here’s the Epiphanes guide to painting https://www.epifanes.com/page/painting-fiberglass Looking at your photos, the upper section by the windows may be gel coat- have you tried compounding and buffing?

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wlll@reddit (OP)

I'm worried it might be gelcoat on gelcoat (blue painted over the white), that might make it harder to handle. The plan is to compound and buff in the next couple of weeks for sure, but I'm considering changing the colour too.

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Defiant-Giraffe@reddit

This isn't about stripes exactly, but I repainted my fiberglass dinghy a couple of years ago, and I found out that all the advice from Andy at Boatworkstoday on youtube was spot on and well explained.

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wlll@reddit (OP)

Thanks, I'll see what he's got to say on the matter.

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TripAdditional1128@reddit

We did just that last year. 35 ft. We repainted the entire hull. We researched the colour codes and then came taking the measurements for the stripes and then we sanded and sanded and sanded and then we primed and then we painted and sanded and painted and sanded and painted, several coats. Looks gorgeous now. We used the Alexseal paint system, was recommended to us by several people. We took the portlights out btw. And every piece of hardware in the way of the paint we took off and reinstalled afterwards. We put the boat inside for the actual paint job (like 4 days or so). Do proper research on technique (we roller painted) and surface requirements and temperatures and dry times, sanding grit sizes, roller types and so on. It is very doable.

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Easy-Captain-1002@reddit

I’m getting the boat lifted after Easter and have a professional company overlaying a vinyl stripe on the oxidised stripe of the hull & cabin top sides.

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oudcedar@reddit

I had it done professionally once at a huge cost and when it had a bunch of scrapes and scratches about 10 years later the paint had faded just enough that sanding and patching them would have been too obvious. So I went to B&Q gloss section, got some of those colour match strips and took them to the boat. Then bought a litre of paint for very little 3 hours later the work was done, the patch looked great and you couldn’t see the difference.