Paint on the hull of Volga 70

[Georg Weinstabl]

Dear Friends,

I am going now into the second weekof paint removing and found out, that there is a big difference between certain sections of the hull. (My boat was built in Batumi, Georgia and I do not know, how much this reflects on other boats built somewhere else. )

Beneath the water line, the hull was covered with somekind of rubber based paint, that after years of being applied still was flexible and durable both. This paint (black) had the characteristics to fill ANY gap of the rivvets, thus to make the boat waterproof. Anybody who checked this out seemed to be impressed about a paint, that is performing as well after 23 years of application on a hull. Remarkably is that this paint did not even show any kind of cracks or lifting of the hull or so. It was particularly hard to get it off, but it took several steps to do so, as it was still sticking well, unlike the other applied paint.

Does anyabody know about the characteristics or type of this paint? Manufacturer? Chemical compositon? Or whatever?

The paint above the waterline was probably as disappointing as the paint beneath the waterline was astonishing.
It seemed to be dryed out and was easily to be removed with a blade. The paint must have been directly sprayed on the aluminium hull without seriously making use of a primer or use of a gap filling paste. The aluminium sheets themself had somekind of white priming paint on them, nobody in the CCCP should be proud of, as it was removed in seconds and did not show any characteristics to make any applied paint to hold-on properly.

The paint of the interior hull is of a medium/dark grey, that seems to me somekind of oil based. There are certain places on the hull, where it was not exposed to any kind of physical threat and there it remains well, in covered places even like the first days it was applied, but generally whereever you have stepped or there is somehow contact this paint is vanishing soon. It seems to be very easy to remove and does not show any outstanding characteristics.

My questions:

1.) Does anybody of you know the paint used beneath the waterline?
2.) are there recommandations of volga boat owners for the paint to substitute this paint?
3.) Which paints have you used for your own boat and can you recommand them for my boat.
4.) What kind of paint (Antifouling) would you recommend for the stainless steel wings below? Would you paint them with a antifouling varnish as it is advertised for inflatable boats?

I would be pleased, ıf you can drop me a couple of lines regarding the painting subject....

best regards,
Georg Weinstabl

[Klas]

I have laid a new coat of white paint on my boat last winter and it looks good. I youst rubbed my old paint it was good sticking to the hull but pale. I had paint from International TOPLAC 001. Two laiers with airspray brusch. The paint looked very good when i lifted the boat a week ago.

[Georg Weinstabl]

Hi Klas,

Thanks for your reply. What would be interesting me the most is actually the priming paints that are used, because they are the heart of the issue. The original Batumi boat had 3 different layers for the hull, before it was painted I guess with two layers of paint and antifouling.

1.) White steel filler mastic. very adhesive and capable mastic, hard to remove. (Compound unknown)
2.) black priming paint (only at the vicinity of the flat rivets, mostly only under the waterline.) Characteristics: Very adhesive, good rivet gap
filling, difficult to remove. (Compound unknown)
3.) White priming paint (aluminium), medium adhesive, cracks away easily with the top paint,
in other words, sticks better to paint than to hull. (Compound unknown)
4.) Top layers, probably of oil based paint, cracks due to UV, no favourable characteristics also at parts, that are not exposed to sun light.
Can remove paint already with fingernail (Compound unknown)
5.) Antifouling, rather adhesive but very inefficient antifouling. (boat was jungled within 4 weeks) (Compound unknown)
6.) Internal paint probably oil based, can be removed with fingernail. very unfavourable characteristics. (Compound unknown)

Especially 1. and 2. would be interesting to know the components or material specifications, if anybody knows. The other paints are uninteristing due to their poor characteristics. I will try to use International Paints for replacing 3 - 6. The hull will be freed from any paint and the aluminium will be bare and slightly scratched for better sticking of the priming paint.

I will record any characteristics of all if possible for future references.

best regards,
Georg

[aliscafi]

Hello Georg,

Is it possible that the black undercoat paint which you mentioned is "Coal Tar Epoxy"? It has characteristics similar to what you have described. If so, I hope you took care while removing it. There are some concerns that this product is associated with increased risk of cancer so it is not in widespread use anymore, at least not where I live.

Martin

[Georg Weinstabl]

Hi Martin,

Here are some photos of this paint. It was encountered everywhere, where flat bolts and smooth hull was used. Between the aluminium sheets there was somekind of fabric, which was also drained in this paint. This paint being the last layer has been removed already from the hull. The upper deck has been cleared and the engine room is presently under paint removal. Last will be the passenger compartment.

Unless not encountering an insane pricing we will go for international paint for Aluminium hulls. Results will be posted.

Little damages or repairs were encountered on the hull. Probably boat was not used often and taken very good care off. The layers of paint where not more than 6 including antifoulings and priming paint.

IMG00035-20091021-1757blackpaintBow.jpg (29.62 KiB) Viewed 42634 times

Among 8 paint removals tested, most of them being unuseful or doing little to remove the paint, somekind of scandinavian Christin brand remover was extremely effective.

IMG00037-20091021-1758blackpaintstern.jpg (32.56 KiB) Viewed 42634 times

What looks like a piece of modern Art painting of Jackson Pollock is my Volga being stripped.

IMG00036-20091021-1758BlackMiraclePaint.jpg (43.89 KiB) Viewed 42634 times

[Georg Weinstabl]

Hi,

Another surprise! Only the paint material was quoted to me as approx 4000 EUR. This seems to be insane as they quoted 175 ltr. of material
(Paint, Primer and Paste). All epoxy, but last cover polyuretan from International. Does this give sense? I was estimating 25% of this cost.

[Volga70]

Hi Georg,

Sounds a bit ridiculous to me. I bought a 15 Liter industrial quality primer (Jotun) for 350 euro's 2 years ago, and it is enough to cover the complete (outside of the) boat with 5 layers or more. 5 liters of Sikkens SuperGloss lac was enough for 3+ layers above the waterline, and then there was 1,5 liter of anti-fouling (Chlorerubber 2000 by Sikkens, aluminum friendly) for everything under the waterline. Total price was just over 500 euro, for a total of 21,5 liters of paint, and I put quite a few layers!

What are you using the "paste" for, and what kind of material is this? What were the specifications for the materials? Perhaps you can find some webshop for paints? I got some good deals this way.

Cheers,

Maurits

[Georg Weinstabl]

Hi

sorry I meant filler mastic.

The quantity of 175 litres seemed so redicoulously high.

[Georg Weinstabl]

The black paint was described to me as an ottoman navy invention.

They mix boiled animal fat with coal powder. What comes out is seawater resistant mastic. Hard, but still elastic and extremely hard to remove.