Painting a Zodiac sole

[adsadler]

Has anyone had to repair the wood in the bottom of their Zodiac before? What kind of paint is best to use?

[camaraderie]

Use MARINE grade plywood and coat with epoxy. Alternatively, you might think of using something like starboard instead which is lots more expensive but need no work and never will.

[adsadler]

Thanx for that info, but I still have the original wood and it's in pretty good shape. I just need to touch-up the paint on it and want to make sure I get the right kind. Any Ideas?

[sailingdog]

Why don't you sand it, and the fiberglass and epoxy over it. That will make it last a long, long time.

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Why don't you sand it, and the fiberglass and epoxy over it. That will make it last a long, long time.

I chipped the strakes on my Zodiac RIB in a couple of hard beachings, sanded it, put in mayo-style microballoon fill, sanded that, and then glassed on three layers of increasingly wide fibreglass tape. I wetted that out and then sanded it. Works great, but now I'm going to apply two-part epoxy barrier coat and some anti-fouling, as my new location in my club seems to be a mollusk-magnet...

But you were asking about the floors, weren't you? I agree: sand bare and then "encapsulate" in epoxy. Will last for ages.

[TrueBlue]

I've done some research on doing the same for the plywood floor of our ten-year old inflatable - decided to use a two-part epoxy paint from Interlux:

Perfection

[camaraderie]

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True blue has it right if all you need to do is paint.