Painting a fiberglass canoe

[anglerdave]

A friend of mine gave me a 15" glass canoe. The paint is pretty worn on the inside. I was thinking of using some Krylon spray paint for plasic. Would love to paint the whole thing, but will most likely use some paint restorer for the outside.

[billknepp]

I'd ask around here... http://www.neilbank.com/phpBB2/index.php?...

And if your wanting/willing to take the bottom of the hull to bare glass...Applying an Epoxy and Graphite finnish sounds like a good way to go to..If you do alot of banging around on rocks or rocky shore lines...also they say it greatly improves a boats performance in heavy weeds and such...Again..I have no idea what your wanting to do to the boat..But these guys know Glass...But they are all builders of Glassed wooden boats...!?!?

[MOturkE]

You could talk to someone who does boat restoration- Marine supply store, etc.- and see what they recommend. I have a 16' fiberglass canoe that I bought for $50 several years ago that I've always wanted to paint and just never checked into the type of paint it would require. So, if you find out what works best, please let us know how things go for you.

Gel-coat is the only thing I've ever used on fiberglass boats.The canoe I've got is finished with green Gel-coat and was brush-painted with a gray Gel-coat inside. The hull is a bit thinner than I'd like, but adding anything to it would make the craft impossible to load by myself. The main reason I bought a yak was because of the weight and bulkiness of this canoe.

But, I still love to paddle around in a canoe. It just seems to blend with nature better than any other craft.

[MikieFinn]

I'm in the process of building a boat so I have researched this pretty good over time.

What you want to do is first remove all of the flakes or chips. Andy dings or dents should be filled with epoxy. Do not use BONDO!!!!! Go to the marina or order over internet West system is one of the top but any other marine epoxy will do. You can use wood dust, silica or microballs as a filler to turm epoxy into paste. (Visit www.glenn-L.com for more info). Once epoxy is set you will need to sand the whole thing with progressivly smailler grit sandpaper. Onece finished sanding you will need to wash the whole thing with water and soap. Right before applying paint you will need to wipe the whole thing with a rag soaked with acetone. For painting use any sort of marine topside epoxy paint. I've used Pettit one part epoxy paint called Easypoxy with hvlp gun. Worked like a charm but any other topside paint will do just as well. I know it's a lot of work but you can ahve that thing looking like new.

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

[weehooker]

You don't want to use "plastic" paint for a fiberglass canoe. That paint is made for polimer type plastic vs fiberglass ( big difference). Use an oil or acrylic based paint. Good old rustolium works great on fiberglass finish'es either directly on teh glass or over (sanded gel coat.) You can spray or use a 'roll and tip" method that works well. ( Research on the net.) I've done 5 canoes in this method and it works well.