can BilgeKote be tinted?

Hi,

Awlgrip is or until the duff formula they use now came along an excellent Engine and Machine Room Paint.

It cannot however be used where it might be submerged for any time namely the bilges without it bubbling and coming off.

Bilgecoat is also available in white, we use it all the time, and yes it can be tinted, we use a few drops of uerathane pigment.

White bildge kote, can be tinted with acrylic tints same as are used for gelcoat color matching

Hi,

Here is a quandry for the OP.

The last 2 posters both say Bilgekote can be tinted one says use Urethane pigment the other says use Acrylic Tints.

Which Poster has given the correct answer?

Hi,

Personally I would tend to agree with the Urethane Pigment answer as the last time I used Bilgekote it sure was not Acrylic but I don't know if the current "formula" is the same as it's original composition.

The quantaties needed to tint are very small

A few drops a Raw Sienna colored tint used for tinting Gelcoat will work fine and will change the bright white to an off white / oyster.

It may actually take two or three different color tints to make the Oyster color that is desired.

Please do advise what Interluxe has to say

I believe both are correct. Urethane paint systems are available in both Polyester Urethane, and Acrylic Urethane formulations. the difference is the resin of the the paint system. Both are solvent based systems.

Polyester, and Acrylic are the resins, and the Urethane is the binder. So it is possible to have both types of paint, and still be a Urethane. For example, Awlgrip is a polyester urethane, and Awlcraft is an acrylic urethane. The Awlgrip is considered the better of the two, because polyester resin molecules are smaller, createing a denser crosslinked finish when cured.

The new water based paints, can be acrylic based, but not polyester based. That sometimes creates some confusion, acrylic is associated with water based house paint, as it is the most common type of water based paint on the market today.

Although over the past 5-6 yrs, water based, base coat clear coat systems are common place in the automotive refinshing industry. The pigments for gelcoat are polyester based. There are epoxy gelcoats, but not usually found in the boat building industry.

If you would like use to either system to tint your bilgecoat, a few drops at a time of a yellow oxide pigment will get you close, another drop of black pigment will " muddy" it up and be very close to what you need, but remember, these are concentrated pigments, a drop goes a long way.

One last tip, depending on how close you would like this to be, paint usually dries a different shade than when wet.

I would expect no other response from any paint company. Their paints are engineered to certain performance expectations, any adding or modifing of the product could be detrimental to its performance.
In this case, a few drops of of pgment into a product that will not be subject to any extreme traffic, UV, or constant contact, should perform just fine.Bilgecoat is a great product, easy to use, single stage, and actually made to be subjected to all the products that end up in the bilge.
I think it would be the lesser of the evils, to tint Bilgecoat, than to use a product that is not made to perform in that type of enviroment.

Anybody else??
Not that it makes it right, but we have been doing it for many years....

Thanks

That also is about what I would expect them to say.

As usual we always paint Gel-coat in the bilge. The paint will fall out, for the bilgewater erode.

I have tried to tint Bligekote from Interluxe. The paint store added triple the tinting to my white can of paint but it never changed color at all…

I reached out to Interlux and received the same response.

Still looking for a Ouster Color bilge paint

Might just have to paint the entire bilge white.

Any experience would be appreciated, maybe garage floor paint?

Bilgecoat is an enamel and as a result has nasty fumes so I covered the quart and replaced it with Valspar White Acrylic from Lowes. Being water based it has no fumes, is easy to clean up, and you can get it custom tinted to match any of their many color charts. If I was ever to do a repower, that would be the time for a complete Awlgrip of the ER.