Rustoleum Top Side paint

[stripperguy]

Well, anybody use this?
I have been a fan of Interlux Top Side finishes for many years, but just strolled by the Rustoleum stuff yesterday.
I have a 19 ft sailboat (yes, it's a stripper, mostly) that I built years ago, and a few years back I repaired the hull/deck area, but never painted it.
This Rustoleum paint is nearly 1/3 the cost of the Interlux, not to mention that it's much more available.

 

[Boatman53]

I have used it. It's nice paint. I just used it for accents and gunnels, never the hull. But I think it would be fine.
Jim

 

[boatstall]

I have used it above waterline. Would use it more, but have a local (Louisiana) marine paint that just plain works. "Duralux", made in New Orleans. Home Depot (among others) is a major distributor for it, and it is formulated for hard use, commercial, fishing, etc.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I use it to paint the interior floor of my canoes under the seat if they are vacuum infused and rough to keep from abrading my toe knuckles. it holds up well.

 

[Pook]

Well I filled and sanded the hull on my Bob's Special last year to extend the life of the canvas. I used Tremclad primer and Tremclad Dark Green as topcoat. It flowed and covered well.
And the Dark Green was a close match to the original Chestnut Green.

Call me frugal but read the hint in Mike Elliott's " This Old Canoe".

Cheers!
Bruce

 

[memaquay]

I've used it quite a bit on the exterior of canoes. I've covered strippers and kevlar. Fire engine red is the fastest colour.

 

[stripperguy]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.
Based on the overwhelming positive experiences you've relayed to me, I bought a quart of white to repaint my repaired sections (maybe all painted sections) of my sailboat.
I'll take a few before and after photos and share them in this thread.
Here's a look at the K19 that I built about 15 years ago...For those that may be interested it's 19'2" long with a 7' beam, carrying 175 sq ft of main and jib, and another 175 asymmetric spinnaker, fully rigged weighs a little under 400 lbs. It's a very powerful boat!!

View attachment EyCZd3oy9TZQ1iM6jzkULG8jUs6I2uc1erc24J1MsYO6hKZ_-vWBePqAhIeYNKHLJiaUBB-GqTd2og_J1g6Tefy-VTxd-i6f6Mkt

 

[boatstall]

I like it. 17' Thistle here. 191sq. with 220 spin, but a little heaver at 550. But like you said; powerful. Mine is cold moulded ply. Not near as pretty as yours.
Last time I had her out solo, I got dumped while fully extended in a hiking harness, with only feet on the rail.
Back is getting too old for that level of fun. I love it, but don't love the recovery period.
Yours is nicely appointed from what I can see. Still running wood spars here.

 

[stripperguy]

As promised, here are some more photos, but first the story behind them...
I built this K19 a while back, finishing it in 2004, I think. When I was building it, I was quite concerned with blending the hull/deck and deck/cockpit seams, they looked great for the first few years.
I used to store the boat outside, covering it in winter, which really wasn't too effective. As a consequence of storing outside and my aggressive blending, those beautifully radiussed joints began to split open.
So I sanded down the joints to bare wood, and added some 10 oz tape to all the joints. I didn't do much in the way of blending, for fear of a repeat failure of those joints. Sailed the boat for the one summer that I repaired it, and other commitments took over my sailing time.
Knowing I didn't want to store the boat outside, I tucked it into a garage at one of my rental properties (which only exasperated the non sailing, very cumbersome to spontaneously grab the boat)
Wouldn't you know, we needed to have the garage roof repaired, all 2,500 sq ft of it. During the repair, much residue dropped onto my beloved K19. I couldn't bear to look at it!

So now, several years later, I am finally fixing my mess (mostly motivated by the sale of that particular rental property), at least somewhat.
Most of the deck and cockpit are non-skid coated, so the Rustoleum didn't have much need to appear flawless.
Anyway, after all this jabbering, I'll say that the paint was too easy to use. It took a full quart to almost finish the entire boat. I need to but another quart, but that can wait a week or two until I get back from a week of camping (don't expect a trip report, we're gonna be in our RV at Lake Harris)

View attachment DH-pWAYcewL8GFD4CHdr8xoGk5B8dMDfv1wsQZ_pHNTVw0l_R7OXgK_YP2WQH7vyb_U9FbsPfn3n22dP-Mr85auW-tI7Gm8DqRtL

 

[Shearwater]

Colour me a tad confused here guys. Are you talking about the everyday standard 32 ounce cans of Rustoleum rust paint?
The stuff you normally find in spray cans?

 

[stripperguy]

Colour me a tad confused here guys. Are you talking about the everyday standard 32 ounce cans of Rustoleum rust paint?
The stuff you normally find in spray cans?

No, this is a Rustoleum product specifically made for above the waterline uses on boats.
They even have a non-slip additive...

 

[Shearwater]

OK then. What's a inexpensive paint to paint the entire hull of a 16' fiberglass canoe where I'll be lucky to get $500 bucks on resale?
I already have to put new wood gunnels on so cost is important.
(Trying to refurb and sell off this canoe for the next-door new widow.)
thanks and hope this isn't taking over this thread.
thanks

 

[frozentripper]

Plain old Rustoleum should be fine, the kind that bonds to metal and rust... others have posted here and on other boards that it and Tremclad (now Rustoleum IIRC) worked well. Other paints that are for exterior use with occasional exposure to water, like a canoe experiences and should bond well are car body paint, Home Hardware rust paint and floor & porch paint... I went with floor & porch enamel because it was said to be scuff-resistant.

What's wanted is a good bond with clean, well-sanded fiberglass with an old finish that's still solid and not peeling away itself... wash and sand off any loose paint. If you have doubts about the new paint, paint a small area and let it dry for several days. When it's dried hard, a sharp knife shouldn't be able to chip or peel it off from the fiberglass finish underneath... the new paint should bond tightly to the old finish so it won't separate away at the old/new boundary. If a knife won't be able to separate the new layer, rocks and abrasion won't either.

The floor and porch enamel has been on for several years with no chipping or peeling, hard and durable... about $20 for almost a liter. Rolled on for a nice semi-gloss slightly pebbled finish. Tipping out with a brush would have produced more gloss and made the scratches underneath more visible... so semi-gloss, good enough.

 

[Shearwater]

Frozentripper - many thanks for this info. Really appreciated.
cheers Ted

 

[memaquay]

Ya, I just use the regular Tremclad. Touch it up when it gets scratched.