Expedition Rowboat Paint
I am approaching the point in my build of an Expedition Rowboat of the painting of the boat. I have several questions and any feedback would be much appreciated. The boat will be used in both freshwater and saltwater (Puget Sound) with the majority of the use in saltwater. It will not be stored in saltwater, but pulled out for storage.
Marine paint vendors talk about “Topside Paint” and “Bottom Paint”. I own a cruising sailboat in Puget Sound so certainly understand the use of these paints on a sailboat permanently moored in the salt water. But, what makes sense for a rowboat and the above use case?
- Should the rowboat have both topside and bottom paint, or just one? And which one?
- What brand and specific type of paint have people used?
- What priming is needed?
- How much paint is needed for an Expedition Rowboat?
Thanks in advance.
Mark
Hello Mark,
I built the sailing version of the RowCruiser and finished it with Interlux Brightside, too and bottom. Like your expedition, it spends 90% of its time in Salt water. I store it on a trailer. Brightside has held up well and is relatively hard. Though the paint says not for below the water line it has done me proud while cruising for two three weeks . Once, I got careless, and left an amas in a puddle of water for three months unbeknownst to me and the paint,on the submerged part, flaked and came off. But my experience suggests that two to three weeks in water is fine. Others have suggested the same pattern. Petit is the same.
Brightside has been superseded by Interlux Toplac. Most annoying, as they did not transfer the colour tints over.
Doing touch ups on the hull this year! I used Pre-kote as a primer on some portions of the hull, not so on other sections. No sure it made any difference! Thjs year after I am done, I am goi g to was the bull with a good paste wax as an added barrier.
cheers
Nick
Nick, thanks for the info, very helpful. At this point I intend to do the same: use a "Topside" paint such as the Interlux on both top and bottom. I was surprised by how hard it was to find info on this topic.
