Anyone Paint Underside of Hatches?

[Chopski]

My hatches started off white but mold/mildew and 15 years have taken its toll. 

Anyone have luck doing it themselves with some kind of rattle can?

Thanks,

David

[Nauti]

I guess with some sanding and a good primer coat that spray paint may work under there.  Have you ever taken them off and let a bleach/water mix sit on them for a bit?  If they're beyond help then I'd give the paint a shot.

[MarcoFishHippie]

David - did you decide to paint? I have a 2002 Redfisher and have the same issue. I was also thinking of painting. If you do the project I'd be interested in the results. I will post pictures once I am done. 

[Chopski]

Haven't got around to it yet, if you do it let me know how it goes.

[MarcoFishHippie]

Absolutely will do. BigSnook35 has a bunch of pictures of his rebuild, and there is one of his livewell that looks like he repainted it. It looks sharp, which is where I got the idea. 

[bigsnook35]

I actually had the inside of all the hatches covered in line-x including the under side of the lids. 

[hurricane]

How bout the roll on paint for the bilge?

 

[SpencerforHire]

I am the original owner of a "93 Hewes 16 bonefisher. In the late 90"s the under side hatches began to yellow and didn't look good, so I did some paint research

I found Pettit Easypox (single component polyurethane topside paint) in bright white and I painted all the underside of the hatches with coats. That was I'm the late

90's. The still look great,smooth,glossy white. To clean I just wipe down with damp cloth. No mildew can penetrate that hard surface--so no more mildew!

I bought the paint from West Marine way back. It has gotten pricy since then, but well worth the price. Other web site dealers have better prices.

Will try to get a couple pictures this weekend

[MarcoFishHippie]

Thanks very much Spencer. I was at my local West Marine yesterday looking at paint. The West Marine "house brand" is made by Pettit, and they also sell Pettit products. I picked up some of the Pettit with epoxy. I have a friend who is a commercial painter and has the proper paint sprayer to spray the insides of the hatch covers and the boxes. It won't be done for a few weeks but I will post pictures. 

[SpencerforHire]

My boxes still look good, so I didn't paint them. I took the hatches off layed them flat so there would no paint run and used a brush. I used 2 coats.

[SpencerforHire]

Finally was able to get some pictures. Here they are

[fin-addict]

suggest only marine paint be used. cheap rattle can paint will not hold up nearly/look as well. I would use pettit with a little thinner added and roll and tip. will look like a spray job. jmo, fin.

[JEM]

Really nice.  The hatches look brand new.  Very worthwhile effort, in my opinion!

[MarcoFishHippie]

I just repainted the inside of my live well and the hatch cover. I used marine grade paint on both. Before and after pictures are below (there is a little debris in the well in the after photo as I tested it out today). 

[Chopski]

Marco,

What paint did you use and did you roll it or spray it?

[MarcoFishHippie]

I used the West Marine brand, which is made by Pettit. Given the space is so small and difficult to get in to I just brushed it with a high quality brush. I am in the process of preparing the larger compartments to be painted. All of those will be sprayed. I will post pictures, but it won't be done until about 10 days from now. 

[MarcoFishHippie]

finished work on a few more

[civilized]

Revitalizing this old thread, did you sand with a fine sand paper prior to sanding?  What other suface preps did you do prior to painting, if any?

 

Thanks!

[Moderator]

Marcofishhippie’s last time online was April of 2018.  Perhaps someone found out how the paint stuck to the surfaces, and exactly how he prepped before painting them..  ? 
Mod Marc 

[Josh B]

I'm in the process of restoring a 2003 Redfisher and will be painting the inside of all of my hatches. Still doing the research on the best products to use... but I would just like to add that you'll definitely want to consider the type of surface material that was used in your hatches. Depending on the year/model, etc. they could be gelcoat fiberglass, they could be plastic liners. Regardless of material, it's always best to sand/scuff the surface and the #1 most important thing is to clean it thoroughly with a quality degreaser. Use the "two rag" method where you use a heavily saturated "wet" rag to clean and then a second "dry rag" to wipe while the surface is still wet. If you just use one rag you're more than likely just moving the contaminants around the surface and not completely removing them. I prefer a pre-paint wax remover/degreaser, but many folks use Acetone or 70/30 Alcohol. 

So my steps would be:

1. Vacuum out

2. Wash with soap/water and dry

3. Wipe out with cleaner/degreaser

4. Lightly sand/scuff surface with 300/400 grit or even Scotchbright pad

5. Wipe out with cleaner/degreaser again

6. Prime with an etching primer (if plastic/polycarbonate)

7. Roll or brush paint/gelcoat.

I'll try to remember to update this thread when I get around to doing it.

Josh B.

[Moderator]

Thank you, Josh.  That is the proper and thorough process to prepare surfaces for painting.. The question is/are which products for the two surfaces.  And further, is the cleaning and paint process the same for fiberglass hatches as well as the carbon or carbon Kevlar hatches ?

MM

[Josh B]

On 10/5/2021 at 8:21 AM, Moderator said:

Thank you, Josh.  That is the proper and thorough process to prepare surfaces for painting.. The question is/are which products for the two surfaces.  And further, is the cleaning and paint process the same for fiberglass hatches as well as the carbon or carbon Kevlar hatches ?

MM

I haven't finished my hatches or hatch lids, but I did complete the bilge area last week. I used the TotalBoat Bilge Epoxy based paint. Pretty impressed with it and it seems to be a really nice finish that will hold up to dirt/grease/grime, etc. I'm going to use the same thing for the inside liners of all my hatches which are the plastic/poly material. This stuff is really sticky and I feel like it would hold to just about anything being an epoxy base. I actually did not use any primer for my bilge area, just sanded down really well and cleaned several times. 

I do have the carbon/kevlar hatch lids and I wouldn't dare paint over them. I'm going to sand them down and apply another coat of the clear epoxy resin over the top to bring back the shine and show the fabric. I did have one hatch that was damaged/replaced at some point and I sanded down the fiberglass and laid a new layer of carbon/kevlar fabric with epoxy resin. It turned out nice, but doesn't quite have the same amount of yellow kevlar as the original hatches. I'm going to sand it down one more time and add an extra layer of epoxy when I do the remaining hatches. 

But to answer the question, in my opinion the process is the same for both plastic/fiberglass materials and I would use an epoxy based paint as it has a much higher bonding element over standard paints. 

Josh B.

[fin-addict]

Bilge paint works the best for those unseen areas so to speak. Hold up very well. I also finish up with a Tack Rag just before painting to pick up anything left on the surface. Below is a pic of a boat that I completely painted by roller and tip method. Looked liked a spray job when finished. The sides of the deck house has 8 coats varnish on Mahogany wood. Same as Transom, looks like glass.

[SouthernWake]

The time and quality of outcome is really in the prep stage

I did the underside of my hatches with rustoleum marine topside paint as I did not want to use a high dollar 2 part paint for the underside of hatches, it is also easy to find. It came out well.

[blewbyu]

On 11/14/2016 at 5:48 PM, MarcoFishHippie said:

I just repainted the inside of my live well and the hatch cover. I used marine grade paint on both. Before and after pictures are below (there is a little debris in the well in the after photo as I tested it out today). 

What brand, color is this blue paint?