Let's talk bilge painting

[Woodsong]

This will be a topic we are all sure to enjoy. *

So I am researching options for painting my bilge. *She appears to have portions of her bilge repainted some unknown years ago. *It is not holding up and needs to be redone to make her bilge look like a happy, homey, comfy place that we all want our bilges to look like.
I see several options. *Some recommend BilgeKote by Interlux. *Some recommend interprotect 2000e. *Some say they are both a waste of time. *I even read one example that I must confess caught my eye....clean/prep as normal but paint with engine paint that you can get in a spray can at an auto store for vey little $$.
As I continue my research, I find I would be remiss if I did not let TF weigh in on the decision making process.
1) What is your preferred bilge degreaser/cleaner?
2) What is your preferred bilge paint?
3) Has anyone tried or heard of others using engine spray paint for a bilge paint?
4) General thoughts, past experiences, ideas, suggestions, etc. welcomed.


I think boaters sometimes make things overly complicated and expensive. *As nice as I want the bilge to look, I will most likely refrain from serving cocktails from the bilge when guests are aboard and most of the time, it will just be me and my son pondering the bilge and enjoying her scenery. *With our trawler being 28 years old now, I like a simple, cost effective solution that will work. *Main reason for wanting to paint is to be able to identify leaks, etc. immediately so that they can be rectified without delay...hard to do that when things aren't pretty and clean. *The idea of a few simple cans of spray paint designed for engines sounds almost too easy and too cheap but I could see how it could work. *I have read many reports of bilgekote and the like flaking off badly even after light duty wear and tear which obviously, like all painting issues, will be related to how good the prep work was done prior to the paint. *Acknowledging that scrubbing/cleaning/prepping all corners of the bilge in a 28 year old engine room with equipment everywhere, the spray paint sounds like a nice option. *

Ok- fire away- surely it cannot be so easy as engine rated spray paint after a good degreasing and cleaning.

 

[JohnP]

I like Rustoleum Gloss White Oil paint.**Less than 30. per gallon.* Drys hard and smooth, easy to brush on.* Cleans easy and has held well. I have used kilzs primer but never really got hard enough and scuffed easy.** Happy with the Rustoleum and it is cost effective.

 

[Woodsong]

Guys, which series of rustoleum? They have several different products- link would be great!

think I can get away with engine spray paint on the topsides too?? haha

 

[JohnP]

Rustoleum Professional Oil Based Enamel.* There is a # on the can BUT I dripped paint over it.* Off The Shelf at Home Depot.*

 

[Woodsong]

John,
Did you use it in your current boat or past boats? How has longevity been?

Other suggestions welcome too- I want to do this relatively soon but will probably wait til it warms up some!

 

[Larry M]

Instead of painting have you considered applying gel coat?* Most fiberglass boats, when the layup is completed during construction, gel coat is applied in the bilge.* We have used gel coat in the bilges on 2 boats with great success.* It is*durable and a very chemical resistant finish.* If the bilges have been previously painted, the paint must first be removed.* If they have not been painted,*degrease,*lightly*sand and wipe down with acetone.**We use cheap paint brushes to apply.* You can tint the gel coat to any color you want.* We prefer white.* Good ventilation is a must as is a good organic vapor respirator or supplied air.* If you decide to do it, you want to buy gel coat with wax.

Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
Zihuatanejo, MX

 

[Woodsong]

I thought of gelcoat as well Larry but the bilge had previously been painted at least once and I fear the prep to remove all of that for a gelcoat application would be much more laborious than just scraping with wire brush (remove flakes), clean, degrease, acetone, and repaint.

 

[ARoss]

Here's a post I made a year ago:

http://www.trawlerforum.com/index.spark?aBID=115492&p=3&topicID=33871706&page=2&sort=oldestFirst

My Rustoleum hull paint job's going on 3 years now, and still looks good.* I am sure it'd hold up in the bilge too.

 

[Larry M]

Woodsong wrote:

I thought of gelcoat as well Larry but the bilge had previously been painted at least once and I fear the prep to remove all of that for a gelcoat application would be much more laborious than just scraping with wire brush (remove flakes), clean, degrease, acetone, and repaint.


Prep is the key no mater what you end up doing.* Our forward bilge was painted a second time just before we bought Hobo.* The paint is now peeling in some areas.* Not enough prep?* I don't know.* Next year we will be doing some major projects and we are leaning toward stripping all the paint*and going back to the gel coat.* I only want to do it once.

 

[Woodsong]

Aross- mind posting any close up pics of your paint job?

The more I hang out here and talk to you guys the more I am thinking about painting my topsides myself along with the bilge!

If anyone else has pics of their painted bilge and what they used I'd love to see it. The rostoleum is sounding pretty good- maybe even better than the engine spray paint idea.

 

[JohnP]

Hi,* I have used this paint in the bilge of 2 boats.* It holds up well. Did not flake of unless the paint under it was loose.** It is not a real high tech system, but it looks clean and fresh for at least 2 years.

Pics on paint are one year old -looks pretty good to me.

 

[awpptdt]

* Well, here goes nothing. Over the years I have used a variety of paints which have held up for five six years.
At issue was the area under the engine, I could never quite get it*clean so it was never painted.
** Being a Marine Trader may have been a factor or not as I have had no experience with other makes. When I would try and clean under the engine I was always poked in the finger or scratched by the errant piece of glass sticking up/out.
** *The bilge in front and behind was the same and I ground those ares down years ago thus*eliminating the problem. On this refit I pulled the engine and overhauled it. I cleaned and cleaned using simple green, then I ground down the whole area including the tops of the stringers and cleaned some more. I did this to all*four areas, stuffing box, transmission, the area in front of the engine and the area under the engine.
** I then mixed whitening agent to epoxy resin and*applied this to all areas. It took about 8 coats to get a nice white slick finish. It really looks good and will try to post a photo soon.*Toodles, J.T.Duncan

 

[Nomad Willy]

"Let's talk bilge painting"



Tony * * ..personally I prefer to rise above that.


But if you must know
Latitude Marine used a grey coating that they called Bilge Coat.
Look at the Interlux website. It's probably there.

 

[Delfin]

And now for something completely different...

A product called Quietship was developed to reduce vibration noise on new all aluminum fast attack navy vessels.* I sprayed it throughout Delfin as a first step in overall noise reduction.* That material goes on about 10 mils, as I recall, and presented no particular problems in application.* What is interesting about it, and makes it an interesting choice for bilge treatment is that it is a polymer that is resistant to most all chemicals, is incredibly sticky and very durable.* I doubt that it would ever need to be recoated, and you can get it in any color you want as long as what you want is black or gray.* White is available, but the minimum order is 5,000 gallons, and you would need a really big screw driver to open the can.*

It's usages have expanded into automotive, construction and other areas, so it's not an experimental product.* The company that manufactures it is called QuietSolution, and while their web site doesn't talk much about marine applications, that is where the product got its start.* I prefer having bilges coated with this, than with paint.* Here's an original flyer on the marine product:* http://files.buildsite.com/dbderived-f/quietsolution/derived_files/derived264341.pdf.

It can be brushed, rolled or sprayed.* No special prep is required and it celans up with water.*




-- Edited by Delfin on Saturday 15th of January 2011 07:50:12 PM

 

[dwhatty]

Delfin wrote:

White is available, but the minimum order is 5,000 gallons, and you would need a really big screw driver to open the can.

Maybe we could do a group buy.

*

 

[Carey]

dwhatty wrote:

*
Delfin wrote:

White is available, but the minimum order is 5,000 gallons, and you would need a really big screw driver to open the can.

Maybe we could do a group buy.*OK, if were going to do a group buy, we'll need to come to a consensus on the color. White is so, last year, and we all have different engine colors to deal with. Black won't do, as we really need all the light we can get in the engine room. Caterpillar Yellow works for me, and I think that might work with the John Deeres, but it might be a bit clownish with the Lehmans. I guess something in a Mauve would be chic, and coordinate well with most engine room curtains. What say you all???

*

 

[sunchaser]

I'm with Larry - Gelcoat. Last year the yard that did my bow thruster install sprayed the "work area" in the forward hull with gelcaot. Super*looking and it will last a very long time. As was mentioned on a different thread, lining up screw heads gets some excited, a sparkling bilge does it for me and many others.

 

[FF]

NO PAINT , bare GRP , so should the boat be hard grounded the damage , if any, will be visible.

 

[Peter B]

Personally, I can't see the point of becoming anal about a fricking bilge. All sorts of stuff can find it's way into it, and in a boat the age of mine it would never stay clean, let alone 'shiney', so I keep it as dry as possible and don't care what it looks like. No-one else but me sees it, and a shiney bilge will not make it go any faster, or quieter. If what I just said is 'blasphemous, well sorry, but I have no intention of wasting a single precious minute trying to pretty up my bilge, keeping things working properly is always a work in progress. Maybe if I ever had a new 'bright and shiney' boat, (if I could afford one), with dripless shaft seals, and an engine room you could eat your breakfast off the floor of, (like some Nordhavns and others I've seen at the boat show), show then I might feel different. Woodsong, have you asked yourself that question? Is it worth the effort?

 

[RT Firefly]

Hiya,
** Mr. Peter B.* MY point in being frickin' anal about a clean bilge/engine is, aside from the minimisation of any errant smells, it allows me to spot any leakage/drip problems.* I try to keep the engine as clean as possible on the boat the same as my old Chebby (Chevrolet).* Every time I do an engine check, on both, I can*see if my valve cover is leaking or if one of my hoses is weeping AF.* Just me.

 

[dwhatty]

Carey wrote:

*
dwhatty wrote:

*
Delfin wrote:

White is available, but the minimum order is 5,000 gallons, and you would need a really big screw driver to open the can.

Maybe we could do a group buy.*OK, if were going to do a group buy, we'll need to come to a consensus on the color. White is so, last year, and we all have different engine colors to deal with. Black won't do, as we really need all the light we can get in the engine room. Caterpillar Yellow works for me, and I think that might work with the John Deeres, but it might be a bit clownish with the Lehmans. I guess something in a Mauve would be chic, and coordinate well with most engine room curtains. What say you all???

*

*

Let the Admirals form a committee and decide?

 

[koliver]

Peter: You represent the vast majority.

I get into a lot of different boats in my CCGA Courtesy Examiner coveralls. In 15 years of doing these inspections at a "high end" yacht club, I can count on the fingers of one hand the boats with a clean bilge. (I exclude from this gross generalization any boats over 20m, as they get inspected by the real CG, not amateurs like me).

All others fail the anal test. Most have a little water sloshing around, with various engine liquids floating on top. Some smell awful.

Those owners who show obvious pride in their boat, show it in the bilge as well, but rarely to the extent of a pristine cleanup.

 

[ARoss]

Woodsong:

Aross- mind posting any close up pics of your paint job?

The more I hang out here and talk to you guys the more I am thinking about painting my topsides myself along with the bilge!

If anyone else has pics of their painted bilge and what they used I'd love to see it. The rostoleum is sounding pretty good- maybe even better than the engine spray paint idea.

_______________

Woodsong, this is a pic I took when the job was done. Sorry I don't have any current closeups, but it is still holding up.* As I recall, I used 2-3 quarts of the Rustoleum, and with filler, etc. I think the whole job cost $50-60.

 

[skipperdude]

I read though all the posts. I don't think the prep work was discussed nearly enough.

When last I painted my bilge. I don't know about yours but there was a lot of oil and such in mine. It is hard to get any paint to stick to that. my solution was a good scrubbing with TSP. Trisodium Phosphate. Local hardware stores Have it.

It sure worked on my application and not so good where I missed.

SD

 

[O C Diver]

Another vote for gelcoat. When the motor was out and we were redoing through hulls, we sanded (lightly) the existing coating, faired a few rough areas, wiped the whole thing down twice with acetone (lots of ventilation) and 2 coats of gelcoat. Looks great; easy to clean with Joy and water.

Ted

 

[Woodsong]

I would to do gelcoat but just don't see that being possible with all the stuff in the engine room. If I was pulling the motor then yes, I'd go that route, but I think to try and do this around existing equipment, paint will be the easiest way.

 

[skipperdude]

with the avatar that way you don't have a bilge just an overhead.

SD

 

[dwhatty]

skipperdude wrote:

with the avatar that way you don't have a bilge just an overhead.

SD

No, the bilge is now the overhead or the overhead is now the bilge or both or.....pleeeease uncapsize your avatar.

*

 

[Moondance]

Cleaning the bilge - I used everything. Dawn dishwashing in a spray bottle works well. Ultimately the best degreaser for oil, diesel and dirt is Zep purple from Home Depot. I tried Simple Green, Greased Lightning and Totally Awesome (from the dollar store, not bad). But the Zep in a plant sprayer and plenty of paper towels, oil pads and rags. Once I got all of the grease and oil off, I sprayed the entire bilge with Awl Gard. You can also paint or roll it on. It is a two part, or actually three part if you need to thin it with ionized water. Great stuff. You need respirator for this. It's water based, and you need to wipe with acetone before painting. This product is made especially for engine rooms. Very expensive, but worth every penny. It creates a very hard finish that oil, dirt, water, diesel can't penetrate. I'm very happy I used this. I am a bit anal and figured once I do this, I don't want to do it again and I want it to look and stay clean.

 

[Woodsong]

Well, started painting the bilge today...definitely didn't get it all but got some done after a bunch of degreasing and cleaning. *Should hopefully help with odors too?? *

My 8, almost 9, year old son was a big help and we had a lot of fun working together today, interspersed with some good fishing on the dock! *You can see a picture of him down in the bilge with a stiff brush scraper to scrape up the loose old paint before vacuum of bilge and degreasing. *Also attached are some before and after pics. *The forward bilge pic where you can also see the holding tank...the "before" pic of that one was actually taken just before we bought the boat last August...you may notice the different water pump for the HVAC since the old one died! *

*

I opted to go with oil based rustoleum in their stock grey color...figuring I will never have a spotless bilge so why drive myself crazy with a white bilge??? *

**We'll see...maybe I'll switch to white.

*

P.S. I can attest that things will be better for you, should you elect to paint your bilge, if you refrain from knocking over the quart can of paint you are using while in the bilge! Luckily it was only 1/2 full but it made for a panicked moment for a bit!! *

-- Edited by Woodsong on Saturday 9th of July 2011 08:35:11 PM