Hi . Will be painting the 13' boler. How much paint will it take to cover it? Will be using marine grade enamel sprayed on. I am thinking hopefully a gallon will do it. Anyone?

Thanks
Colin

Hi, Colin

A typical gallon of paint will cover around 400 sq feet. When spraying you will lose between 15-20%.

With some rough calculations, I think I'd get a gallon and 1 quart based on a 10' long, 6' wide, 6'tall camper.

Of course, you may not be painting the bottom thus saving you about 60 sq feet of surface. And, I didn't take anything out for the windows. Hmm, one gallon may do this. But, I'd sure dislike running out and having a slightly different color in that quart. If you do get a gallon and a quart, make sure you mix the two together thoroughly before any application.

The color you are applying may or mayn't cover in one spraying. You need to take this into consideration, too. If going to a dark color, I'd get two gallons, plenty for two coats.

Good luck! Sounds like fun to me!

Thanks Gigi. I will be painting it OFF white with some black accents. I will probably prime it first. Its mostly white right now.

And really scuff up the fiberglass. gotta remove any shine and of course any wax or sealants. 99% of a good finish depends on how much work is put into the prep.

Cool...can't wait for some before and after shots.

ummmmm. Removing the shine will NOT be a problem. The paint is so oxidized i can see the fiberglass under it. Bird doo doo sticks to it like glue so i would imagine paint wont have a problem. There are lots of cracks so prep work will take up 99.9% of the time.

I think i will either have to let the air out of the tires or raise the house to get the thing in my garage.

After you sand the whole shell, got to your nearest automotive paint supplier and get some De-greaser to remove any traces of grease, oil, dirt, ArmorAll or WD40 and wax.
Any products with Silicone in them like ArmorAll and some waxes will give you "Fish Eyes" in your paint.
Also get yourself a couple of Swish Tack Clothes from them. Just before you start spray painting go over the surface with the Tack Cloth. That will take care of any dust and dirt particles.
Nothing worse than spending a lot of time sanding and preping and the exspense of the paint to end up with a bunch of little "Nuggies" or "Fish Eyes" in your finish.

Oh yes! One other thing. Just before painting, dampen down your garage or shop floor with a little water. That will stop dust from kicking up and ruining your paint job.

Thanks Con. Will do.

A gallon should be plenty.

I'm not too familiar with marine based paint but with automotive paint your adding a reducer and a hardner so you basically double the amount of paint once you add it all in.

I have a gallon of paint for my top half and only a quart for the bottom half. These amounts will double once the reducer and hardener is added but I will not even use the gallon of white for the top.

Oh! One other tip re: painting. Don't use newspaper for masking paper like a friend of mine did and was he upset when the paint bled thru to his finish underneath. And he knew better to as he has painted several Mini's, Corvette and a 1937 Ford Panel Delivery street rod. I laughed like hell. Newspaper is like a wick.
Buy some of the proper masking paper at the suppliers.

Just in case Donna's comment persuaded you to take an angle grinder to your trailer - you are trying to 'scuff up' only the gel coat, the layer of thickened resin on the outside of the trailer. If you start to see strands of glass, you have cut right through the gel coat and are cutting into the layers containing the glass. If you have several crack repairs to make, poke around the cracks and you'll be able to clearly see (and possibly pick off a bit of) the gel coat - it will probably be 1/16-1/8" thick, so many times the thickness of paint.

Andrew

Great tips. Thanks

Gelcoat is generally only about .005" thick. Is a resin with a colorant added to protect the glass resin and matt underneath from the ultra violet rays of the sun. It is sprayed into the mold after the mold realse agent is sprayed into the mold. The layup must be done within a specific time to get a good bond between the two.

I have talked to a couple of after maket automotive suppliers who have told me that they will not sell canopies, running boards etc. anymore unless they are painted. They say they have had too many customers come back complaning about the gelcoat discoloring or fading.

You can scuff your gelcoat with a small orbital sander. Do not use any sanding paper courser than 220 grit. You only want to break the glaze.

It is beginning to look like I may have to repaint our Boler, but now We live were I can't get it into our garage to do the job.

Hope these tips help.

I just finished painting my 13' Boler and it took 5qts of ready to spray Centari. The hardest part was keeping the pt on the roof wet so I didnt have big dry and dull spots appearing

I have cracks in my gelcoat as well. My plan was to do the same thing I did with my Hobie Cat restoration.

Using a Dremel I ground out a bit of the crack and then filled the grooves with West System epoxy mixed with filler. It was easy to sand and fair, after 5 seasons it still looks good.

Based on the what I used to paint the boat, I'm figuring 1-1 1/2 gallons of paint.

Good luck.