Okay more dumb questions...
Obviously lots of choices are possible and the best one is based on a lot of factors. Boats I have built have had different requirements and a few different finishes. I am thinking about what I might do on my pirogue.
My first though was a natural wood finish with a good marine varnish (epifanes?), but the boat is likely to live outside. I did a sea kayak in epifanes and it held up well in Maryland, but I doubt it would do as well in the Florida sun where I live now. Also it occurred to me that fishing, birdwatching, and hunting would be uses that might not suit that finish well.
I also considered a beautiful yacht like finish, but again considered that the pirogue would likely be used for stuff where a dull finish or even camo would make more sense.
In the past I have either spent on really nice varnish or gone cheap by buying house paint that was mixed wrong, returned, or not picked up for some other reason. I have been able to buy high end house paint for next to nothing. They typically will mix a color to my order, but it won't be an exact color on their chart (since it was already a color) so I can't go buy more that will match exactly. I think I have paid as little as $1 a gallon and had it hold up well for years of use as a tender and on the dinghy rack at the marina for a lot of years.
I know that the paint is probably designed to be put on bare wood rather than glassed wood. That said the boats I used latex on were not sheathed in glass, but they did have taped seams and the paint on the seams held up fine.
I have never tried to do camo with this latex paint. I typically rolled it or brushed it, but people do spray houses so I am guessing it could be sprayed on using camo stencils. Does anyone have experience with that? I do have the tools to spray paint.
Are there reasons why latex paint is a bad idea?
The camo kits seem to use Rust Oleum rattle cans. Does Rust Oleum hold up long term in the sun and to wear and tear? What kind of paint would you use to paint the whole boat with if spraying the camo patterns with Rust Oleum.
Obviously lots of choices are possible and the best one is based on a lot of factors. Boats I have built have had different requirements and a few different finishes. I am thinking about what I might do on my pirogue.
My first though was a natural wood finish with a good marine varnish (epifanes?), but the boat is likely to live outside. I did a sea kayak in epifanes and it held up well in Maryland, but I doubt it would do as well in the Florida sun where I live now. Also it occurred to me that fishing, birdwatching, and hunting would be uses that might not suit that finish well.
I also considered a beautiful yacht like finish, but again considered that the pirogue would likely be used for stuff where a dull finish or even camo would make more sense.
In the past I have either spent on really nice varnish or gone cheap by buying house paint that was mixed wrong, returned, or not picked up for some other reason. I have been able to buy high end house paint for next to nothing. They typically will mix a color to my order, but it won't be an exact color on their chart (since it was already a color) so I can't go buy more that will match exactly. I think I have paid as little as $1 a gallon and had it hold up well for years of use as a tender and on the dinghy rack at the marina for a lot of years.
I know that the paint is probably designed to be put on bare wood rather than glassed wood. That said the boats I used latex on were not sheathed in glass, but they did have taped seams and the paint on the seams held up fine.
I have never tried to do camo with this latex paint. I typically rolled it or brushed it, but people do spray houses so I am guessing it could be sprayed on using camo stencils. Does anyone have experience with that? I do have the tools to spray paint.
Are there reasons why latex paint is a bad idea?
The camo kits seem to use Rust Oleum rattle cans. Does Rust Oleum hold up long term in the sun and to wear and tear? What kind of paint would you use to paint the whole boat with if spraying the camo patterns with Rust Oleum.
