Will PPG Concept hold up?
 

I am going to be painting my boat over the winter. It's a 32' Spectra. I will be painting just the sides and the deck. The boat would at most sit in the fresh water at a Marina for a week. Will PPG Concept hold up under water for this length of time? Or is there another product that I should use. Also how does the single stage wet sand and rub? Otherwise if a base coat clear coat is needed I can go that route. Any suggestions. The boats primary use is at most every other week for a few hours here and there with an occasional get away for a week leaving it in the water.

Thanks for your help.

John

you will be fine for short terms in the water, a weeks no prob. Biggers thing is just keep it clean. I did a test run on the Scorpion i use to have and left it in the water for almost an entire season and it was probably two months before it started to bubble. I did scrub the sides every weekend though and i believe that helped.

Concept sands and buffs fantastic. Make sure you do it in the first day or two after you paint it though. Any longer and it gets very difficult. Best way to sand it is with a DA and a soft intermediat pad with either 1000 or 1200 grit followed by 3000 TriZak. The Trizak does most of the work and is a breeze to use. Do the 1000 or 1200 dry and the 3000 wet. Buffed white Concept looks awesome and is very easy to take care of. To me it actually looks like a perfect gel surface if done right

If you want a very clean white that goes with all colors use PPG's white #91050. Its a factory match for Nestie Cutty white gel and a very clean white. I use it on everything unless i need a specific match to an off hull shade.

Thanks Dave,
I was kind of hoping you would post. I always respect your advice and opinions. I'll probably end up going with yellow and black stripes. My plan is to do very simular to that of a previous Spectra owner did with his deck mods. I have a post in questions and aswers with the before and after pics.

I do have some bubbles currently on the sides from leaving it in the water for most of the season a couple of years ago. The finish on the sides are the original gel coat. I recall reading a thead here where this is not uncommon with the older gel coats. Considering that this project is my own and I am willing to take risk my plan is not to strip the gel however I will do a good job prep sanding. Is there any two part material I could put down before painting that would act as a sealer? I understand I may pay the price later but I have to consider what kind of boat I am dealing with here.

Any advice on the prep work dealing with the bubbles outside of stripping.

Thanks,
John

thanks, ya know as long as i have been on these websites i enjoy this stuff the most. I started posting years ago as a hobbiest and boat owner and continue to do so. As much as i take out of these sites i like putting back in what i can.

yea, i had to refresh my memory a bit on your boat. The one with the raised deck you were considering cutting down, all come'in back to me now lol. I just saw your avitar and thought white for some reason. I use to have a 24' Omega that had a lery similar deck, daycruiser layout.

You can put down DP-48 epoxy for a sealer. You can either spot seal where the waterline is or seal the whole thing. I tend to try and keep millage to a minimum but if its a complete color change or there are graphics to be covered seal it all. I understand the risk and reasons for considering them, did the same with my 260. One other thing i did on top of the making sure a film did not grow on it was i came up with a simple stripe that allowed me to spot in just that portion of the boat if it did blister. Below the grey and orange could easily be re done.

Thanks Dave,
I appreciate your input and respect your comments also. I seem to frequent this site after getting back into boating again. My girlfriend doesn't like it though. She says I'm on it way to much. I really enjoy it. I have gotten much out of it and also do the same as you with trying to help others in need. I must say I have learned a lot.

Back to the epozxy sealer. If you where in my shoes would you use it or not? Also I assume there is no need for any primer if the surface is blemish and scratch free. I do have some ugly brown gel stripes I need to think about though. Mainly thinking of the coverage and the old brown gel stripes bleading through so to speak. Otherwise if I were to seal any other areas that I paint - is any automotive sealer (PPG) OK to use.

My deck has been painted years many years ago by the previous owner. I have now idea what was used. I think my best bet would be here is to strip it down to the old gel don't you? I just don't want to take any chances of lifting or anything when I repaint. If I had to guess I would say it is just an old Martin Senior enamal or something simular. LOL...

Thanks again,
John

hehe . . . . most girlfriends think we're on these sights to much lol. Just tell them if they enjoy the actual boating part of it then this is the necessary evil that allows us to keep our chit in the water :D

Weather to completely seal the whole thing is kind of a margin call. I honestly dont like to seal the whole thing if i don't have to. I prefer to 320 a surface, use an adhesion promoter like Bulldog and go straight to paint if i can. I will completely seal If there are lots of repairs, graphics to hide or its a complete color change. I will spot seal any repair work and occasionally seal the area below the waterline. I always thin out DP sealers with either lacquer thinner or DT reducer(I prefer lacquer thinner, dries quicker) and lightly scuff it with 600 as part of my final clean up before paint. I use the epoxy lightly for just its sealing properties and not as any type of filling primer (they really dont any fill proprieties to speak of). From the looks of your boat, the location of the stripes and if you customize the deck/fairing you may be better sealing the whole thing. To keep millage down spot seal everything till its covered then do a full coat. Concept generally covers pretty quick so you shouldn be able to get away with standard wet coats. I did a canary yellow boat a few years ago and it covered pretty quick.

as far as the paint on your deck i guess would asses its condition before going through the effort of stripping it all off. If its in good shape and is not flaking anywhere you might just as well sand it down aggressively with 150 or so to remove a good part of it then soften it up with 240/320 then seal it with DP. Again, it depends on if you are doing the deck mods.

somewhere on this sight i have a punch list of steps to complete paint jobs for boats. I'll hafta dig it out and post it up again. :cool:

Hey,
Thanks again Dave. Your a lot of help. I'm sure I'll have to pick your brain a bit as I move closer to the project in another couple of weeks. The yellow on the boat now is the typical old yellow they used on most boats way back when. I would like to bring it out a bit and have one of my black stipes I plan to use along the side where it meets the bottom. Even if I ran the yellow all the way down I don't think you'd notice to much because of the shadows and what not. Here is what I plan to do with the deck and later I'll post what strips I plan to lay on it. They look simular to what I have seen on some of the older Cigs. I would like to stay a little conservative due to the age of the boat.

Let me know how bright the Canary is or if there is something else you may have in mind that won't clash to much with the existing yellow/gel on the very bottom.

Thanks again.
John

John-
Looks like we're doing many of the same projects. I need to repaint the burgandy stripe on my boat. I was going to use Imron which is what is on there now. How does concept compare? Is it easier to spray? More durable?

This is kind of the layout I was thinking. Considering that the interior is going to be mostly white with some yellow and black strips I may even consider the white stripe above my black one.

This is another that I liked however I would probably simplify it a little but it certainly looks nice.