Interior Paint

[ian6460]

We want to repaint the interior of our lockers. The back of the locker is figerglass, but the sides & bottom are plywood. Is there a paint that will adhere well to both surfaces and is safe for interior use?

Thanks

[Radicalcy]

According to Paul Casey in his book "Sailboat Refinishing" the best paint for interior use on a boat is Exterior grade house paint.Alkyd Enamel.

[sailnaway]

You can get some two part paint that mixes much like fiberglass with MEK it will cover both and sets fast so it is dry in a day and the smell leaves in a few days but it is not a good thing to use anything that is not marine grade because it will soon be pealing off. Just check with the local West Marine or who ever you have they will hand you a couple of quarts of what they have Clear Coat or Fasco some of it may be epoxie but that works well on fiberglass and wood lockers.Remember they may have left the wood bare to keep it from rotting if you paint it it may trap the moisture in so make sure the other side is bare wood so it can breath.

[sailnaway]

You can get some two part paint that mixes much like fiberglass with MEK it will cover both and sets fast so it is dry in a day and the smell leaves in a few days but it is not a good thing to use anything that is not marine grade because it will soon be pealing off. Just check with the local West Marine or who ever you have they will hand you a couple of quarts of what they have Clear Coat or Fasco some of it may be epoxy but that works well on fiberglass and wood lockers.Remember they may have left the wood bare to keep it from rotting if you paint it it may trap the moisture in so make sure the other side is bare wood so it can breath.

[pjfsail]

I''m in the process of a major refit of our 30 year old sailboat. I had the same question and came up with my answers from Interlux. The technical help at Interlux is terrific. What I ended up doing is painting a two part undercoat called Interlux Epoxy Barrier-Kote 404/414. This goes on real easy but has enough odor you would have to leave the boat. Before applying the under coat I had to wash the unpainted fiberglass with soap and water and rinse well. Then I was instructed to wash the area with Interlux 202 Solvent Wash. 202 Solvent Wash is a combination of several solvents, some of which are very slow to evaporate from the surface of unpainted fiberglass being wiped. This characteristic is very important because the wax contaminants must stay in solution so that it can be wiped from the surface before it dries.
The purpose of all this washing is to get rid of the natural wax on the surface, called amine blush, on the fiberglass/epoxy/gell coat. If you don''t go to all this trouble any paint you apply will peel off over time due to the amine blush. I used the same cleaning treatment for the wooden parts, which was probably over kill. I then used a one part primer called Intelux Pre-Cote. I then used Interlux Bilge Coat as the top coat over the entire project. This paint goes on so easy and looks great, is tough, and perfect for the locker areas. I can''t say this is the only way to approach the task, it is the way that seemed most reasonable to me. My intent was to never have to do this again. You can go to Interlux''s web site at http:\\www.yachtpaint\com\us. The phone number for their Technical Support is 1-800-468-7589 Monday 1000 to 1600 Hours and Tuesday thru Friday 0900 to 1600 Hours EST. Regards, Peter