Hull Paint: Alexseal or Awlgrip

We painted our 63' Hines Farley with DuPont Imron 7 years ago it still shines like new and those 7 years have been on the west coast of Mexico

Bottom Paint

Good Morning,

This off season I need to repaint the bottom of our fresh water (Lake MI) Tiara and although this thread seems to be more focused on hull/topside paints, it caught my eye. The boat (2008) currently has Awlgrip (Awlstar 502 Deep Blue) bottom paint so I was planning on using the same. However after reading this thread I have to ask if using the same is the correct answer? Were there also issues with Awlgrip bottom paint? If so is there another paint MFG 's product that would adhere to the existing bottom paint? I'd rather not spend the $ (nearly $250/Gal) on the Awlgrip paint if we're going to have problems later. At the same time if the paint is fine I don't want to run the risk of another mfg's product not adhering to the existing either.

Thoughts?

Hey Maxwell,
In your waters, there are actually no problems with the Awlstar system.
As a professional, I prefer the International systems, as they combine their many years of Commercial experience with the yachting experience, and my experience has shown that they actually have the better Anti foulings.
The Pacifica could be interesting for you, but as I normally don't work in Fresh waters, you could check with your local dealer.
It can be applied on top of the Awlstar, you only have to ensure that the leach layer (dried flaking stuff) has been removed by light sanding with 120 grit. I'm sure the Interlux dealer will want you to put a sealer/primer on first, but that's only the Salesman coming out!! ;-)
They also have Blue for ya.
Hope to have helped.

Thank you for your input. I'm glad to hear that the bottom paint should be OK and will likely stick with the same to keep things simple.

Max

The Painter

well thats been an interesting trawl through all the posts and some very interesting opinions.
I have been using Alexseal for all my metallic work for 4 years now and have to say the system works very well and as TK-F430 has said his boat looked as good after 18 months.It is now 2 years and it still looks fantastic,I visited the boat 2 months ago !!!
I also use Awl Grip and mainly for My solid colour projects.I am very much a pure polyurethane Man and that was the reason I ended up using Alexseal as the Awl Grip SE range is designed for use with Awl Craft 2000.Now I know the 2000 has a place in the market and is very popular but for me there is nothing like a Polyurethane Paint that has been applied correctly.It looks great,It Lasts !!!!
I know semi acrylics are easier to repair but lets face it,They are easier to damage.
So why do I use Alexseal for Most metallics and Awl Grip for most solids?
Both Polyurethane systems fit with my ethos on Yacht painting and i do not have all my eggs in one basket.
There were a lot more politics in the decision to split but that is for another disscusion.
Anyhow Been great to read all the comments and see one of my paint Jobs getting so much attention and yes it was definately the reflection of the shed and not join lines.
I have painted 40 plus boats with Alexseal over the last three years and been over the moon with every one.Repairability is the same with any met system,The darker colours are easier than the light ones which is reversed for solid colours.
Great thread
Keep up the comments
Jim the Painter

Awlgrip or alexseal or DuPont paint

I was about to paint my vintage 1962 62ft Feadship "Tiky" ex Alto Volante, with Awlgrip when I was warned against using it by the refit manager of a certain well-known "Mega-yacht" Dutch builder. It turns out that they had a couple of new build yachts with paint issues and were in litigation with Awlgrip. When I did my research on the internet and saw quite a lot of posts on the subject I asked Awgrip about the issue and my concerns . They were quite frank and said that they had indeed had issues as a result of the constituents having been changed in 2010 approx in order to conform with environmental laws and that the solvents they were using had caused issues that had since been resolved. I was still uncertain. Eventually Awgrip gave me an extended 2 year warranty and that, and based on the fact that most mega yacht and refit builders in Europe continue (as of 2013) to use Awlgrip, is why I went for an Awlgrip system. It's early days yet as she was only painted a month ago but the finish is superb, especially bearing in mind the hull is 60 years old and she has her affair share of wear & tear, bumps and bruises.

Front view

Front view of TIKY on hard after painting

What an elegant boat.

1962 62ft Feadship TIKY paint

Thank you. Here is an another view

Tiky -

Originally, ie as launched she didn't have a PH ...

Tiky

Then, in the 1980s she had a very boxy PH added. The decision as to whether or not to keep it was made for me when it turned out to be rotten as a pear.

Tiky

And this is my original drawing

Tiky

PH in build

Painting nowadays

As we are approaching MYS shortly,where potential projects,refits are going to come on the table,wouldn't be good to make some update of the topcoats/paintwork discussions- concerns that many have been talking about during the last 4-5 years?

There are a couple of coating conferences held during the last years to address the issues and finding solutions (e.g last one the very recent captain conference or every year talks in GSF). Any input from Captains/owner reps or experts attending these conferences or discussions would be of great value I believe.

Also recently a number of paint projects are being applied with different brand name than the heavily ones discussed on this topic.

Efforts to set up some standards (e.g ICOMIA) have taken place.

Very recently Benetti announced two large newbuilds contract, meaning market is moving and painting is going to be an essential topic.

My idea is not to specifically focus individually on paint brands and their plus/minuses,I believe we should have a more global view to include also applicator builders/owners' negative/positive critics .

fruitfull thoughts/experiences please..

The Europeans are leading the charge on a set of coating standards with ICOMIA and Joop is doing a great job. While there are other coating society's in the U.S. and in Europe ICOMIA is strictly focused on the marine sector. Between ISO and ASTM
standards they're going to find a middle ground of agreement for distinction of image gloss and what refraction measuring equipment and measurement angles are to be acceptable . How much suspended debris in the topcoat is acceptable per meter. where and IF any sags are to be permitted and the subsequent method of removing the sag IE , complete panel repaint or a cut and buff depending on the area affected. Materials used and so on. this will be good for an industry where expectations of the finished product often don't measure up to the delivered product and up front standards and contracts will save the owners and the applicators in the end.
What paint system are you referring to that's not getting much keyboard time? Could it be Jotun? Very good company known for excellent commercial marine coatings and tank coatings but are now making very big inroads to topcoat systems that are as good if not better than the leaders.

I thought that I had made a post on this thread about Jotun...I finally tracked down somebody at Jotun's headquarters, and asked them why 95% of their products weren't available here in the States....the reply was the EPA has put a kibosh on most of their products due to some of the ingredients, something they are working on. This came from searching out the distributors in Florida and the Gulf Coast and seeing the products they had for sale....100% of the distributors gave me a verbal shrug...I dunno.

When you look at the EPA guidelines for VOC reductions by 2024 the chemistry is really just bringing the coatings industry back from the edge of using several exotic solvents and pigments like hexemethylene and isophorene found in todays high performance Aliphatic urethanes and back to the days of the so called "good" chemicals of the 1960 such as tulene and phenylmethane that mom and dad used?? While it has spurred some good research in water based or "water bourne" urethanes, up till now they've been limited to low solids clear coatings such as spar varnishes for interior uses due to the low UV resistance. acceptable concrete coatings and steel coatings have come to market using H2/0 based urethane but high quality Pigmented water bourne urethanes are still a work in progress and the compounds out there that you use to coat your garage floor still have solvents suspended in water that use evaporation in the curing cycle rather than off gassing through chemical reaction and into the atmosphere so the misnomer of 'water based only means that yes, there's water in the compound and yes, you can clean up with water but that's about as far as it goes as these are still toxic compounds by any stretch of the imagination.. Aromatic urethanes and acrylics have had good success with the water bourne one component or type IV coatings but are far and away not as durable nor do they have the image of gloss and hardness as the exotic solvent based coatings.

Nordlund just launched a 115' Yacht fisher and it was painted with a dolphin blue iridescent made by Alex Seal. Absolutely gorgeous finish. I'm going to track this boat and see how well it stands up.

Nordlund just launched a 115' Yachtfisher with a dolphin blue iridescent paint made by Alex Seal...from what I can see and incredible finish I'd like to see what it looks like in a couple of years. I tried to cut and past the photo's to no avail, so here's the link:

http://****************/Netto/nordlund_115_01.html