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TECHNICAL

84 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MARCH 2016

Paint, polish or wrap?

Painting

SUMMARY

PROS

■ A well-painted boat will

look fantastic

■ Invisible repairs

can be made

■ More permanent than

wrapping or polishing

CONS

■ Paint will fade eventually

■ Scratches will show

through the gelcoat

■ Mast and rigging removal

makes it expensive

Durability

There is a wide range of high-

quality paints on the market, but

like many refi t yards Berthon

uses Awlgrip, which comes in

hard or soft varieties. The

harder paint can withstand

more scratches and wear,

but is very diffi cult to

repair when damage

occurs. The softer paint

will mark more easily,

but invisible repairs

can be made. The softer

paint is more popular with

owners, who know that in the

real world accidents will happen.

Longevity

Paint will be affected by UV

light, but good quality paint

should outlive gelcoat colour and

last more than 10 years. Boats

heading for warmer waters can

suffer problems with excessive

heat post-curing the fi breglass.

Imperfections start to show more

than they would, and the paint

could end up shrinking, showing

the laminate beneath. To stop

this, Berthon post-cures the hull

at 60°C for 48 hours before

they start painting.

Down the line

Marks from pontoons,

collisions, fenders and

ropes can damage the

paint, usually faster than

UV rays will. But Dominic

says fender socks can

make it worse: ‘Even

good-quality fender socks

absorb salt water, which

evaporates and the salt is

left to abrade the topsides.

This is also true with old

fenders, which get tiny bits

of grit stuck to them.’

P

ainting boats has come a

long way in recent years,

from tins of colour brushed

onto the topsides to today’s

high-tech methods of getting the

perfect fi nish. The quality of the

fi nish will depend on the boat’s

shape. Slab-sided boats tend

to show imperfections, while

wineglass-shaped yachts hide

defects within their curves. With

the health risks of using two-

pack paints and the diffi culty of

getting a good fi nish, this is a job

best left to the professionals.

What does the

process involve?

‘We paint a lot of new boats,’

says Dominic May, a director

at Berthon. ‘For starters, we

have to ensure that the hulls

are clean. This means using an

anti-silicon wash, because if any

mould release is still on the hull,

it will reject the paint. We then

rub down the gelcoat to allow

for a mechanical grip, and spray

the primer. If we are painting a

previously painted, faded hull,

then it is likely to have been

polished to an inch of its life. As

polishing takes away the top

layer, it opens up microscopic

holes, which while are invisible

to the naked eye, but will hold

grit and polish. This has to be

removed, so we start with a

steam clean. Then we sand it

back, wash with a detergent to

remove dust, then prime the hull.’

Berthon speeds up the process

of hardening the primer by

baking the boat at 45°C in a

booth, then applying a mist coat

of paint, followed by two full

coats. ‘This means that we can

hand the boat back to her owner

within two weeks,’ Dominic says.

COST

30ft boat from

£5,000 plus rigging

and boat movement

(Osmotech)

40ft boat from £7,860

plus rigging and

boat movement

(Berthon)

After painting, this boat is waxed

to give the best fi nish possible

With damage

prepared,

Winsome IV is

ready for painting

Berthon always paints

in professional painting

booths that are kept

clean to minimise dust

Just half way

through and the

colour looks great

A week later,

Winsome is

ready to go

BEFORE

AFTER

ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE: BERTHON