Prep/Primer for Previously painted decks.

[bigd14]

Hi everyone,been lurking for a couple months but not posted till now. I have a 1972 Ericson 27 that will be undergoing a deck recore and finishing. The PO painted the deck some years ago. The paint is adhering well, but he did a very shoddy job and it needs to be redone (especially after the core repairs). My question is how should I prep the old paint? Complete removal to gelcoat and start over, or sand and prime with something that will work over the old paint? Removing all the old paint will be impossible in some areas, so I'm hoping there is a primer that will work...

Any and all advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[Jason K]

It depends on the condition of the paint and what type of paint was used. If the condition is at all suspect, take it all down to gelcoat. It is possible to get it all off - not necessarily easy, but possible.

If you elect to paint over the existing paint, be sure you know what type it is. If you topcoat with incompatible paint, the solvents in the new paint will lift the old paint. That would be a disappointment.

[Rachel]

What Jason said.

To elaborate, the basic idea is that you can put a softer paint over a harder paint (not that you'd want to); but you cannot put a harder paint over a softer paint. In a nutshell, this means you cannot put a two-part paint (harder) over a one-part paint (softer).

If you know what kind of paint you'd like to use, you can usually look on the website of the new paint and find a test that you can do of the existing surface. Typically, you'd cross-hatch the paint and then tape a rag soaked in the new paint's solvent to that area for x number of hours and see what happened. If it melts, etc., then the new paint is a no go.

So... do you know what kind of paint you'd like to use for the new paint job?

Rachel

PS: Welcome! I'm sure we'd all love to see some photos of your Ericson :)

[Tim]

Recore + Shoddy Paint Job = Strip to Gelcoat

The amount of sanding and prepwork you're going to have to do to not only repair and fair your decks after recoring but to also properly prepare a less-than-good existing paint job is so significant anyway that you're only a short distance from just going back to square one and starting over; you'll be halfway there even if you try not to be. To me, this situation cries out for a fresh start. But in the end, it's really all about your own expectations for the end result.

Removing all the old paint is never impossible--difficult, painful, and tedious, perhaps, but never impossible. It's not all a bed of roses, unfortunately.

[bigd14]

OK, nothing is impossible! Just daunting. Sanding it is. Thanks for the advice.

Hmmmm, I see some new tools in my future...