Transom Painting

[Tres03]

Good morning,

I am a new Hatteras owner. I bought a 1981 46' Sportfish recently and I am in the process of slowly fixing it up. The previous owner had the name of the boat hand painted onto the transom. I was not to found of the name so this weekend I tried everything to get the old name off. What worked in the end was wet sanding it off with some 400 grit wet sand paper. No I have to repaint the transom to get it ready for the new name which will be vinyl lettering.

The boat is still in the water. What would you guys suggest on what paint and how to apply it so it will look good and hold up for a few years? I thought about spraying it but I didn't want to spray with other boats around. I guess maybe put up some plastic and build a little dome.

Suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

Tres

[workingonadream]

you need to find out what kind of product is on there currently . I know that awlgrip is not compatible with other paints or epoxys so you need to be careful. if you don't know what product is on the transom, I would strip the transom and start fresh. I would spray it if you don't know how to tip and roll it, or are not that good at tip and rolling, or find someone that is good at if you don't want to spray. ive seen tip and roll jobs that look like they have been sprayed.good luck

[rwappleton]

Welcome to the asylum!!!!

If you have not sanded through the paint you can sand/polish the transom back to like new using higher grit paper 600/1500/2000 them compound. Not easy but much better than painting.

If you went through the paint.....good luck

[workingonadream]

you will need a high speed buffer to polish if you didn't sand thru the paint. be careful not to burn thru the paint with the buffer. you may want someone with experience to do that job if you have never used a buffer before.

[jim rosenthal]

You should get a marine painter to look at it for you. What you decide to do really depends on what shape the transom paint is in, and whether you decide to use vinyl lettering, as you say, or have the new name painted on.

One option you have is to wet-sand the entire transom, have the new name painted on, and then clear-coat the transom. That works pretty well. If you decide to repaint it, the only paint that includes brushing converter and reducer is AwlGrip. I'm advised that other paints can be brushed, but not officially. Your boat is probably painted with Imron if it has its original paint. If not, it could be anything. But AwlGrip primer will stick to just about anything, so if you wanted to roll and tip it yourself, use AwlGrip.

This is one of those things that it's worth getting the opinion of a pro on, I think.

[bobk]

If the transom has never been repainted, it should have Imron on it. If so, it can be over-painted with Algrip which is easy to roll and tip. You can probably find directions on the Algrip site, or PM me.

If you haven't sanded through, try rwappleton's suggestion. If just a spot or two have sanded through, perhaps your new lettering can be adjusted to cover it.

Bobk

[fissioneng]

If you have not sanded through the paint you can sand/polish the transom back to like new using higher grit paper 600/1500/2000 them compound. Not easy but much better than painting.

This is exactly what I did. I had to sand through the clear coat and then remove the gold leaf of the old name. I then put vinyl lettering on. Looks great 7 years later.

[Tres03]

Thank you for all of your suggestions. I ended up sand thru in a few spots because whatever paint this guy used stained the paint under it. This is not the original paint. There is quite a few spots that show it has been repainted back there.

I called a friend of mine who owns and automotive body shop and he is going to help me this weekend and it looks like we will end up wet sanding the whole thing and spraying it. I have never done tip and roll but I have sprayed before. Is there a preferred paint for our boats?

Thank you for the warm welcome.

[dsharp]

DuPont Imron is what the factory used in the past. I would call them to make sure.

[Tres03]

Didn't the formula for Imron get changed many years ago?