This is a long message on a subject covered many times on this forum. It may still be useful to anyone who got a new Marinette project boat and is thinking; “what have I done and how do I recover from it”.

Part of my boat is newly painted but for various reasons I want to change to a different paint. My boat had an old original finish with a lot of pinholes and cracks on the decks. I had the Flybridge and side cowls done by pros in a paint booth. I have to save that work. I had to sand down some coats I put on that failed. My off-brand enamel paint can not be rolled. Also the large building I was renting to store and work on my boat got sold and I am outside again. Setting up for spraying outdoors is just too hard.

The new paint must have the following characteristics. A close color match to my finished fly bridge and side cowls. Popular and available years from now. Can be roll/brushed at the dock. Compatible with a full range of filler and Hi-build primers and finishing coatings for the rough areas. Can be rolled directly on areas where the old paint is solid and smooth.

I had a long phone conversation with an area Interlux representative. He was very generous with his time. I wanted to explore the use of Brightside one part polyurethane to finish up a job started with an enamel.
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The Interlux documents were helpful but not flexible enough for Marinette owners. Look at our situation. We may have original finish which is full of pinholes and webs of cracks. We have prior paint layers, some sound others soft and failing. We may have areas of both solid and failing fairing.

Interlux publications cover painting from bare aluminum. The instructions for painting from bare aluminum is just like doing a bottom job to the whole boat except there are more layers. Finding the time or money for that could be difficult. They also say Brightside can be put over sound one part coatings. Somewhere between the very easy and very hard is the solution for the use of Interlux products by Marinette owners.

The rep was familiar with Marinettes, He suggested aggressively sanding and etching the rough areas and then rolling on a couple coats of Interprotect 2000e right over any remaining pinholes, cracks, old paint and fairing. If it sticks it is like starting over with a clean slate without grinding down to bare metal. Interprotect is the same hard no-sand barrier paint Interlux provides to seal off boat bottoms on glass and aluminum. Many Marinette owners have used it for bottom jobs. First I would have to etch bare spots and set up 4" test areas. He said if the catalyzed primer is going to attack existing coating it should bubble it up overnight. Then you would have to break out the grinder. The published bare aluminum paint table calls for Epoxy Primecote right before the one part Brightside top coat. Why can’t I start there? He said Primcote is an easily sandable “finishing” primer. Fillers and fairings should go on before this and after the Interprotect 2000e. The one part Pre-cote primer can be use to smooth out an existing one part finish.

He said just rolling on Brightside yields a 10 ft paint job. Rolling and tipping yields a 5 ft paint job. He says he can get “perfect” results with his $1500 turbine sprayer. My $800 FUJI - who knows? I’ll settle for the 5 ft job for the rest of the glossy parts. He also reminded me that a Marinette deck has large areas where a non-skid agent could be used. (remember Marinette toe). Non-skid are all roll only areas.

We talked about my particular boat. The fly bridge and side cowls were done in a paint booth and are off the boat. The Brightside Hatteras White is a very close color match to Marinette Ivory.

The fly bridge deck and cabin sides have a smooth coating and could be painted directly with Brightside. The largest area behind the fly bridge should have non-skid rolled on. The cabin sides and lip around the outside of the fly bridge should be rolled and tipped or sprayed glossy.

The big deck forward of the salon windows had a bad enamel paint job which I put on and then sanded down. It is solid enough to just roll on non-skid. To get a smooth glossy pinhole free area will take a lot of more work. The cabin sides and seating area are in good shape and can be rolled and tipped or sprayed glossy.


I took the information to the boatyard that is going to do the work. The liked the approach especially since the work has to be done outside. Sanding begins tomorrow. The hull sides can wait until after haul out in the fall. Probably spray that area. I need to get in the water.

I am a lousy painter so my advice is valuable: If I can get a decent finish, anyone can.

I sand with 36 grit using an orbital sander, but not thru to the metal. I brush on high-build sandable epoxy primer. Then I roll on Pettit Easypoxy.

I have used Brightside with good results.

A friend who makes a living painting boats showed me how to put the paint on very thin with a fine sponge roller, rolling over and over until all the bubbles are gone. The top coat is thinned out to stay wet longer, for the shine.

For what it's worth, I think paints like easypoxy make sense for the topsides. They are going to get banged up and need repair and a two-part polyurethane just is too much work. For the hull, I would go for the longest-lasting paint.

The cabin area painting is finished. The start was rocky. My helper and I put on bad first coats and had to sand a lot of that work off. We got experienced help rolling and tipping the final coat of Briteside. The idea off using Interprotect 2000 as an initial sealer for the deck area did not work. The touluene based reducer ate right into the old original marinette paint. I didn't try the mixed paint. The reducer test put me off. The deck has been sanded and ready for a one part primer. Since I will use non-skid and flattener additives I expect the result will be fine in spite of the spider cracks and pinholes.

The experienced painter convinced me to go ahead with the Interprotect 2000 on the walkaround deck. He said we just would not use the thinner which I put directly on the old paint and it melted it. We went ahead and put one thick coat down. It only ate a little of the new Briteside where it met the cabin walls. It did not eat the old paint. It was very thick and a lot of clots and brush marks had to be sanded off. It filled in the cracks and pinholes and provides a very hard waterproof surface. We left enough orange peel to provide a natural non-skid surface. We are going to flatten the Briteside to satin finish and roll it directly on the Interprotect. I have the option later to put on a layer of non-skid or flatten the briteside more with a second coat.

Once the project 32' is finished I may start painting my project 28'. This time I will make sure I can paint inside so I can use a my fuji turbine sprayer. I will look for a Epoxy hi-build sandable primer for a base I can thin and roll on without melting old finish. I like the Briteside but I will test the much cheaper Rust-oleum marine paint.