Painting a wood hull

I am looking at purchasing a 1970 GB32 with a wood hull. It's in really good condition. There are scuffs and dings in the hull paint and I did notice on the bow, about 6" above the water line, a spot where a patch (4" in diameter) of paint flaked off (or was knocked off by a log).

My wife and I discussed that if we were to get this boat, we would haul it out right away to do bottom maintenance, specifically repaint the entire hull.

There is a local yard that I can haul it out at and do the work myself. Does anyone have any links to or advice for prepping and painting the entire hull of a wood boat?

I still need to get a survey done on this boat, so I'll have a great chance to view the bottom, but from the last survey performed on this boat, the bottom was in great condition.

I am imagining the steps I would be doing is;

1. pressure washing
2. cleaning of all debris and salt
3. sanding the old paint and sanding smooth any edges of paint where it chipped off to expose wood
4. masking
5. prime any exposed wood areas
6. sand primer
7. prime a second coat
8. sand primer
9. paint hull
10. sand hull
11. paint hull
12. sand hull
13. paint hull
14. paint anti-fowling paint below water line
15. Stand back and enjoy the look of a freshly painted hull while simultaneously nit-picking all the little things.
16. Put back in the water and take a tour around the bay.

Am I missing anything? I realize that pain, anguish, frustration, tiredness and soreness are all a component of this process and I'm prepared for that.

Any recommendations for paint? Primer? Anti-fowling paint?

Thank you!

I enjoy learning and watching from "Travels with Geordie" on YouTube. Peter Knowles maintains and restores three older wooden boats. He makes me almost think about getting a wood boat.

CharlieO. said:

I enjoy learning and watching from "Travels with Geordie" on YouTube. Peter Knowles maintains and restores three older wooden boats. He makes me almost think about getting a wood boat.

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Thank you. I'll check it out!

Before I would spend a lot of time making the boat pretty, if the boat has not had a thorough survey including pulling fasteners and reviewed by a top notch, commercial vessel surveyor..... I would have one done....then do a great job prettying her up.

I have too much experience with wooden boats sinking and failure to detect the problems even with good maintenance and "the usual" surveys.

psneeld said:

Before I would spend a lot of time making the boat pretty, if the boat has not had a thorough survey including pulling fasteners and reviewed by a top notch, commercial vessel surveyor..... I would have one done....then do a great job prettying her up.

I have too much experience with wooden boats sinking and failure to detect the problems even with good maintenance and "the usual" surveys.

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Yes, for sure. I forgot to mention that is one of the things I would be lining up soon. The survey that was performed in 2022 came back as a fair value and good insurance risk.

If it was me I'd stick with a traditional enamel topside paint instead of an LP or something like that. LP's are too shiny for a wood boat, they just don't look right. Also wood boats by nature move around a lot, so you always end up with cracks at the seams and are looking to repaint for those way before an LP would need redoing. Also enamels are way more economical and you don't feel like you're in a hazmat zone when using. IMO, the big paint companies don't care about their basic paints anymore, they care about the fancy new stuff, I'd try Kirby Paint or Marshalls Cove, whichever you can get the easiest.
Wood boats are a treat to paint. Brush paint and just break at a seam.

First thing I would consider if looking at a wooden boat is can you get insurance and a slip. It may be very difficult to do that so check before jumping. As far as paint goes you need to determine what type of paint is on the boat currently. If it is LP then you can’t go over it with a one part paint. So check that out before deciding what type of paint you would use.

We bare wooded our GB above the waterline. One coat of primer then two coats of marine enamel, we used Kirby Paint Co white and GB Beige. Are you planning on hauling at Colony?

sean9c said:

If it was me I'd stick with a traditional enamel topside paint instead of an LP or something like that. LP's are too shiny for a wood boat, they just don't look right. Also wood boats by nature move around a lot, so you always end up with cracks at the seams and are looking to repaint for those way before an LP would need redoing. Also enamels are way more economical and you don't feel like you're in a hazmat zone when using. IMO, the big paint companies don't care about their basic paints anymore, they care about the fancy new stuff, I'd try Kirby Paint or Marshalls Cove, whichever you can get the easiest.
Wood boats are a treat to paint. Brush paint and just break at a seam.

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Thank you for this information. From my research, it seems that wood boats are a bit easier to paint and perhaps cheaper if done DIY.

Comodave said:

First thing I would consider if looking at a wooden boat is can you get insurance and a slip. It may be very difficult to do that so check before jumping. As far as paint goes you need to determine what type of paint is on the boat currently. If it is LP then you can’t go over it with a one part paint. So check that out before deciding what type of paint you would use.

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Thank you, I will ask about it. In anticipation of getting a larger boat, I put in a slip change request for a larger slip and got it about a month ago.

PNWPederson said:

Yes, for sure. I forgot to mention that is one of the things I would be lining up soon. The survey that was performed in 2022 came back as a fair value and good insurance risk.

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Remember, trusting the average surveyor on a fiberglass boat is a crapshoot. Avwooden boat is a whole nother specialty...the ines that are very familiar with, and very experienced in USCG requirements for wooden passenger vessels are te ones you want. The 2022 survey may get you by the insurer if enough of an in depth survey was done.

I hope I am not insulting your experience, but you haven't outlined your experience with wooden boats.

PNWPederson said:

Thank you for this information. From my research, it seems that wood boats are a bit easier to paint and perhaps cheaper if done DIY.

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Like I mentioned before, if I had a wood boat I'd use enamel and that is certainly considerable less expensive than an LP. The labor with a wood or fiberglass boat, to just prep for paint is about the same if both start at the same place. There are lots of nasty things in LP's so you're using protective gear and a respirator that you don't need with enamels. I'd say that enamel is easier to apply for a DIYer, certainly a shorter learning curve. The big hurdle with either is finding a space that will allow a DIYer

PNWPederson said:

Thank you, I will ask about it. In anticipation of getting a larger boat, I put in a slip change request for a larger slip and got it about a month ago.

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We have used Stephen Hemry and Global Marine Surveyors, (425) 422-9592. He has extensive wooden vessel experience.

Comodave said:

First thing I would consider if looking at a wooden boat is can you get insurance and a slip. It may be very difficult to do that so check before jumping. As far as paint goes you need to determine what type of paint is on the boat currently. If it is LP then you can’t go over it with a one part paint. So check that out before deciding what type of paint you would use.

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Actually, you can do 1k paint over 2k. Can’t go the other way without doing an epoxy coat first.
Before doing any paint over old, I do an adhesion test first to be sure the substrate is sound. Then give it a thorough cleaning before doing any sanding. If you sand first, you can drive contaminates down into the scratch marks. Sand the whole thing with 180 on a da sander and then do the top coat in a good enamel. (For a 1k paint anyway)
If doing a higher end finish the process is much more involved.
You can add hardener to regular enamel to give it a tougher finish, but I’d still get some fender covers to help protect the paint.

My bad, I typed it wrong.

Plus one for Kirby or Marshall Cove.

I owned a GB 42 for 29 years and soon came to realize I did not like enamel paint as it soon chalks and later cracks lasting just a few years at best. I shifted to 2-part Valspar and later to 2-part Awlgrip snow white for a lot of years. The hull sides lasted quite a long time with me finally getting tired of all the scuffs from raft-ups after seven years or so and doing a full repaint. However, I never in all those years needed to wood out the boat between the rub rail and the waterline. My preferred method was to sand the hull fair letting the sander go through to bare wood wherever it did - not much. Bared spots were treated with clear penetrating epoxy sealer and then coated with either Awlgrip primer of just a couple of coats of the snow white topcoat to conceal the dark spot of the bared wood. If filler was needed to cover a "divot," it was coated with a primer of topcoat. A light sanding was the done. Painting the side of my 42 took 45 minutes per side with two of us using roll and tip method. Let it cure a day or so and a light sanding before the second coat went on. I once did the job for 500 dollars, and it fooled people close up who did not know it was fiberglass.

Yes, a softer pain like the Awlcraft I have on my current fiberglass boat is easier to blend into existing paint when doing patches, but on a hull with bevel-jointed strakes which you can paint one at a time over the years doing repairs, does it matter?

Underwater hull is an entirely different animal. In the time I owned the boat, it came out of the water at normally 18-month intervals sometimes extended to two years to inspect for marine borers and paint condition. Normally the paint was OK, but it always got one new coat until it became obvious the hull need to be wooded out. After I learned about the benefits of using CPES on bared wood (yes, even under the varnished rails), the next time I wooded out the bottom, I spent 600 bucks on enough CPES to saturate the bottom with it after the caulker had finished his job. Don't go thinking the CPES is going to coat the bottom like a thick copy of epoxy resin because it does not. It just makes it about impossible for marine borers to get at the wood and bottom paint applied before the CPES has cured bonds beautifully. Two coats of bottom pain were used any time the boat was wooded out - three times in 29 years as I recall.

Bob Cofer said:

We bare wooded our GB above the waterline. One coat of primer then two coats of marine enamel, we used Kirby Paint Co white and GB Beige. Are you planning on hauling at Colony?View attachment 157290

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Yes, I plan to haul out at Colony

Bob Cofer said:

We have used Stephen Hemry and Global Marine Surveyors, (425) 422-9592. He has extensive wooden vessel experience.

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Thank you for this. I'll give him a call.

OP that's a lot of sanding between coats. Is that really necessary?

BTW I used enamel on my steel/wood boat and like it a lot. Easy and inexpensive to apply. I did repaint often though, but it was easy to do.

I think the schedule is overly optimistic:
* Unless the boat was refastened and recaulked recently, it's going to need some attention. Do you have those skills or do you need to hire someone, what is his name and schedule looking like.
* Plus you may need to change the cutlass bearing(s).
* Check how true the shaft(s) are, hopefully they don't need to be pulled.
* Rudder packing.
* Attend to dings in the props.
* Zincs take time.
* Not a bad idea to open and lube all your seacocks and maybe remove and rebed them as well.
* Does this sound like a lot of work... might want to check the number, capacity and operation of all your bilge pumps because if the hull dries out it will take time for her to tighten up.
* Are the batteries healthy enough to support days of on/off bilge pump operation if your shore line disconnects when you refloat it?
* What other things are much much more convenient to attend to while on dry land? That means from the sheerline down to the keel shoe.
* Anything heavy in the engineroom need to be hauled out (batteries, generator, etc.).
* However, how about sanding the entire deckhouse on dry land if that is an advantage from an environmental POV. You get a sheen of dust floating on the water when you're back in your slip and some nosy neighbor is going to cost your beaucoup buck in fines.

A suggestion is to make you own list of absolutely everything that could possibly need repair or maintenance, everything that you wish to check (like things above) and go down that checklist. You surveyor will likely hit a good number of those items, plus you can discuss other items that he doesn't hit while the boat is up on land.

PS - If the PO has hit some of these points, but it was more than 2-3 years ago, then I would repeat it all over again. It's your boat and you're (hopefully) planning to own it for years.

Have fun and let us know how it goes!

You might want to check when was the last time the bottom was refastened? If it needs to be done, prepare to spend major $$ to have it done