Com-Pac Yacht Owners Association

Anyone know anything about using Benjamin-Moore enamel house paint to paint the boat deck and cabin top?  I read about someone that did this and it has worked great for two years, so far.

Would you paint your car with Benjamin Moore enamel house paint? The stresses are similar. Boats and cars have to survive exposure to extremes of heat and cold, remain tightly adhered to surfaces that bend, flex, expand and contract, keep their shine under frequent washing, and be very cleanable to remove soiling from hands and feet. It's no coincidence that car and boat paints are so similar.

I did just hear that Sherwin Williams has a new line of marine paints. Interesting.

Wes

"  Would you paint your car with Benjamin Moore enamel house paint? "

Most important: The paint job is no better then what is underneath it. Surface preparation is EVERYTHING. Laying the paint down upon a substrate is nothing.

Yes if it is an OIL alkyd enamel base. If it was water base Acrylic above or below the waterline, no.

Alkyds: Resins used mostly in trim paints, inside and out, although some medium duty equipment and marine enamels employ these resins as binders. Most often alkyd resins are found in vehicles employing aliphatic hydrocarbons (mineral spirits or other refined petroleum distillate) as thinner. Alkyds offer good leveling properties and cure to a relatively durable film, but tend to yellow interior and embrittle with age. Color and gloss exterior is only fair, and alkyds are highly prone to failure exterior on surfaces containing even moderate levels of moisture. Chemically, alkyds are synthetic resins formed by the condensation of polyhydric alcohols with polybasic acids. They may be regarded as complex esters. The most common polyhydric alcohol used is glycerol, and the most common polybasic acid is phthalic anhydride. Modified alkyds are those in which the polybasic acid is substituted in part by a monobasic acid, of which the vegetable oil fatty acids are typical.

Binder: The binder cements the pigment particles into a uniform paint film and also makes the paint adhere to the surface. The nature and amount of binder determine most of the paint's performance properties -- washability, toughness, adhesion, and color retention. Acrylic polymers are the binder of choice in producing quality high-performance latex paints.

Enamel: (1) Topcoat which is characterized by its ability to form a smooth surface; originally associated with a high gloss, but may also include lower degrees of gloss, i.e., flat enamels. (2) A class of substance having similar composition to glass with the addition of stannic oxide, SnO2, or other infusible substances to render the enamel opaque.

Extender: A less-expensive ingredient than titanium dioxide that fills out and extends the pigment's capabilities. Extender cannot be used without pigment. Some common extenders are clays, calcium carbonate, and silica.

SOURCES:
PAINT/COATINGS DICTIONARY, © 1978 by Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology.
PAINT QUALITY INSTITUTE

You get what you pay for. Don't go cheap. skip used an OIL alkyd base enamel on my trailer in 2007 and it has sat outside for ever. Still glossy yellow and unaffected by the elements.

The 'blue' below the waterline on my CP-19 is oil based ACE Hardware house trim paint, standard color. I painted that area, then glued on my 'KEEL BOOT' and that was how many years ago? Paint is still there, and no grass, and I sit in fresh water 6 months a year. Just pull the boat and drag it over to the carwash and sprits it down before winter storage.

skip.

Surface prep isn't everything, you still need a good paint that can handle the environment and use. Sure would be a waste of hard work to do great prep only to be cheap on the paint and have a crsppy looking boat down the road.

Touché

I guess one just has to use some common sense.
If you use a really good paint over a poorly prepped surface, it's toast.

skip.