Is an airless sprayer worth it?

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GoneDiving

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I'm looking to do a full repaint of my 54 footer. All joinery has been removed so it's all external walls and decks (2 pack polyurethane) and internal cabin and hull (household exterior gloss). Below decks are a lot of ribs and spars that would be very time consuming with a brush and roller. Gloss white everywhere except a light tan to the cockpit deck.

Has anyone done a similar job with an airless sprayer? Do they save time, effort, paint? Are weekend warrior $500 units useful or garbage? I can't justify a $5000 unit for the one job and then irregular use.

Comments?

Thanks
 
Spraying that paint in an enclosed area will require a forced air respirator. I have sprayed 1 part polyurethane paint and the respirator wasn’t up to the task and I had some breathing issues afterwards.

I have a decent airless sprayer. Not sure I would use it to do this type of painting. It is more for things like house painting where the finish needed isn’t as good as the inside of a boat. I did use a HVLP sprayer on the interior of a previous boat. It did a very nice job and the overspray was much less.
 
You'll definetly need a forced air respirator to manage that job. Something like a hobbyair which has a remote fan unit that runs a hose to your mask so it sources air from outside the work area and pressurizes your mask/hood with positive pressure so you have a fresh source of air.

As to the cheap vs expensive HVLP, if you are inexperienced at spraying paint it probably won't make a lot of difference to have a high end unit without some experience on the task first. I haven't sprayed the inside of a boat, but I have done residential work and the masking, setup and clean up can easily exceed the time required to roll and brush in many cases.
 
Thanks guys. Just to confirm that I was considering and asking about an airless sprayer not a HVLP unit. With a HVLP unit I would have way too much fumes and over spray. I'd likely spray everyone else's boat as well as my own. ��

I'm totally on board with the need for forced air respiration.

Thanks again
 
I found with an HVLP sprayer you got less overspray and maybe a better finish. I sprayed the entire salon on a 46’ boat we used to own with an HVLP. Worked great and the overspray wasn’t too bad. The control is also better. I used a forced air respirator. I used Brightside poly paint and it came out beautifully. I tried roll and tip first but wasn’t happy with the results. I just masked everything and went at it. I have an airless sprayer also but I think it would probably have been too much material sprayed too fast and would not have been as controllable. But I could have been wrong. I just used a fairly inexpensive one from Lowes. Sprayed a head on that boat too. It was interesting since the room was so small but I got it done and it looked great also.
 
Hi GoneDiving,

I am the previous owner of a cold-moulded wooden boat. It's hull was routinely professionally overcoated with linear polyurethane (LPU) paint, typically using Awlgrip products. With due respect to overspray, the painters never used anything other than a simple pressure-fed spray gun, and not HVLP, for all the coatings. This included the high-solids primers through the finish gloss coats.

I've also personally sprayed LP on multiple boat projects, using a not inexpensive but simple DeVilbiss pressure fed gun. And I've used both pressure pots and gravity feed. No difference, other than volume in the pot, regarding performance. Not much to spraying LP, other than being mindful of the need for forced air respiration, proper solvents and additives, pressure, orifice diameter, blah blah. And, I've had good luck with the roll-and-tip method of application of Awlgrip as well.

Awlgrip (and others as well) have excellent coatings application guides, available from their URL (https://www.awlgrip.com/).

For the overspray problem, you're on your own there. Nothing for it but to properly mask and protect your surroundings, and spray early in the AM on a windless day. Unless you're fortunate enough to have the boat in some sort of enclosure. Then blast away with impunity.

Regards,

Pete
 
Keep in mind my comments were in regards to the interior of the boat. If I were going to paint the whole exterior of the boat I would look at Alexseal paint. They make an additive that allows rolling without any tipping and it looks awesome. Check out BoatWorks Today for some video. No overspray and no forced air respirator needed.
 
Comodave said:
Keep in mind my comments were in regards to the interior of the boat. If I were going to paint the whole exterior of the boat I would look at Alexseal paint. They make an additive that allows rolling without any tipping and it looks awesome. Check out BoatWorks Today for some video. No overspray and no forced air respirator needed.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm looking to do both internal and exterior above the waterline. I see the interior as more complex as the exterior is large flat surfaces where as internally I have all the C action, ribs and bracing to deal with. Cabinetry has been removed but it's far from a simple coplanar surface.

If it makes a difference, I will be spraying over prepped but existing paint. It's not a new, bare metal paint job.

Cheers
 
The problem with asking the internet about paint application is that everyone has a different feeling about what an acceptable quality of finish is.
An airless sprayer is intended to apply medium or heavy viscosity paints quickly with little concern about finish quality.
There are more sophisticated air assisted airless sprayers that allow you to apply medium viscosity paints to a higher finish quality.
To apply an LP paint, like Awlgrip, and get a yacht quality finish it needs to be thinned quite a bit, around 25%, so you end up with a fairly low viscosity paint. IMO too thin to be applied with an airless.
Sure you might be able to spray unthinned LP with an airless, even unthinned LP is pretty low viscosity so you'd likely need air assisted airless. Would you get a yacht quality finish? No, it's not going to flow out, it'll be orange peely. Is that acceptable to you? Your decision.
Also even an air assisted airless applies paint very quickly, there is going to be little margin for error. My guess would be that you're going to end up with a bunch of sags.
Also a forced air respirator is not mandatory, just the correct good quality cartridges in your respirator.
 
What type of paint will you be using and what is on the boat now? If you are going to use 2 part poly you can’t go over 1 part. Make sure the paints will play nice together.
 
Airless doesn't play well *at all* with thinned paint products. Don't ask me how I know :blush:

It's great with typical house quality paints, which is what it was designed for.

Edit: I see someone above already mentioned it.
 
Comodave said:
What type of paint will you be using and what is on the boat now? If you are going to use 2 part poly you can’t go over 1 part. Make sure the paints will play nice together.
Click to expand...

My intention is Dulux Luxithane HPX 2 pack polyurethane externally (the same as the existing coating) and Dulux Weathershield Gloss White internally. Internal paint is currently a mix of everything.
 
sean9c said:
The problem with asking the internet about paint application is that everyone has a different feeling about what an acceptable quality of finish is..
Click to expand...

True. My focus is on a durable and easy maintain finish rather than a mirror like automotive shine. I'd be happy with a consistent and relatively blemish free application that provides long term durability and rust protection. Wear resistance in high contact or traffic areas is a plus.

I'm not sure if I mentioned the vessel is a 50yo steel ex-commercial trawler.
 
My understanding is that you can put 1 part over 2 part but not the other way around. The 2 part will soften the 1 part. BUT, don’t follow my advice without checking with the paint manufacturer. I don’t want to be responsible for advising and then it turns into a huge mess because I was wrong.
 
GoneDiving said:
Can I paint 1pack over 2pack? I do have some existing 2pack internally and my intention is to use 1pack everywhere inside.
Click to expand...

Yes. You can apply 1 pack over 2 pack but not vice versa.
 
Comodave said:
BUT, don’t follow my advice without checking with the paint manufacturer. I don’t want to be responsible for advising and then it turns into a huge mess because I was wrong.
Click to expand...

You didnt expect the runs and peeling paint to be my fault did you? I need someone to blame!! ?

I'm off to see the paint shop today. I'll ask about painting over a variety of existing coverings and application options for fiddly areas
 
The advice from the pros:

Reapply the same 2 pack externally. Use a 2 pack Surface Tolerant Epoxy inside, do normal surface prep, and go straight over the various old paints and protectants. Try to remove as much lanolin grease as possible beforehand. The STE has little UV protection so should not be used outside.

Forget about airless. It's too awkward. Stick with roll and tip.

Sounds like a good plan to me. ?
 
GoneDiving said:
You didnt expect the runs and peeling paint to be my fault did you? I need someone to blame!! ?

I'm off to see the paint shop today. I'll ask about painting over a variety of existing coverings and application options for fiddly areas
Click to expand...

I usually blame my wife unless she is there, then I blame the dog...
 
That Dulux Luxithane HPX is an acrylic urethane like Awlcraft, which is not as hard as a linear polyurethane like Awlgrip. The Dulux data sheet says that roll/tip is only suitable for small areas. If the HPX applies anything like Awlcraft in reality it's pretty much impossible to get a decent finish with roll/tip.
I've sprayed a bit of LP and roll/tipped a whole bunch of it. Rolling/tipping works fine on a nice flat surface like the outside of a hull. It works less well when you're dealing with corners and intersections or other details, like on a deck, cockpit, cabin . Every time I convince myself to roll/tip anything but the outside of a hull I end up swearing that I'll never do it again.
 
I would go to an independent automotive body shop. Ask the owner if he or any of his painters would like to make a few hundred dollars some weekend.

Pay extra if they can bring their own sprayer or rent one to his specs. I know that some of those spray guns cost many hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands for state of the art.

pete.
 
I did something similar to that when we painted our boat. I hired a local fiberglass and paint guy by the hour to spray our boat. It was well worth it. I can do spray painting but nowhere near as good as he did. I believe it cost about $900 for the job. He said if he had done all the work prepping the boat and painting it the bill would have been north of $25K.
 
Thanks guys. I've been very happy with the Luxathane on the outside. The only reasons for a touchup is where there has been some parking by braile leaving open wounds and a few areas where the prep work was not adequate and the outer coat has cracked. I will agree that it doesn't like sharp corners like the edges of doubler plates but they can be rounded in the prep stages.

The inside is the area of concern, with numerous different coatings to cover and ribs, stringers, joists etc to deal with. A one coat fits all solution here is appealing.

Cheers.
 
I know how that goes. The PO of my boat was a charter member of The Coalition of the Docking Impaired.
 
I haven’t read all the comments here if it were me I would use Rustoleum oil base One part obviously I have a $500 sprayer that’s been going strong for five years or four houses I don’t expect a high quality see yourself in the finish yacht club paint job as long as it’s clean and fresh works for me
 
GoneDiving said:
True. My focus is on a durable and easy maintain finish rather than a mirror like automotive shine. I'd be happy with a consistent and relatively blemish free application that provides long term durability and rust protection. Wear resistance in high contact or traffic areas is a plus.

I'm not sure if I mentioned the vessel is a 50yo steel ex-commercial trawler.
Click to expand...
Rust oleum at Home Depot $35 a gallon that’s exactly what the paint is manufactured to do I’ve been around a lot of commercial boats and they all use it you won’t regret it
 
I bought a $89.00 Pressure pot sprayer off E-bay to use on our Eltoro. It worked great. I used interlux brightside poly thinned about 25%. I think it has a 2mm tip. Its only a 2 quart so you might want to look for a one gallon one.
And as others said, fumes are bad, take care of yourself, and don't blow the boat up! Watch your source of spark/flames!
 

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The only hassle with spraying is the overshoot , and so the need for massive masking.

Time wise you may find the masking doesn't save much time inside.

A good varnish brush (1- 1/2 or 2 inch $40.00) used with paint can give a great finish with out too much work.
 
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