Rustoleum Topside Paint

[Wolverine]

Our local hardware store stocks Rustoleum boat paint. At $30/qt, it could be a great deal, or a total mess. Has anyone used it on their boat, and how did it work out?

[Ed]

Hello,
   I used it to repaint my second Sea Pearl Trimaran and it worked very well.  I remember thinning the crap out of it per the recommendations I found online.  I rolled while my wife tipped the hulls, then she rolled the interior with a serious respirator on.  I added non-skid for the side decks and didn't mix it well enough and that caused a big, thick non-skid area on one side deck.  I'm probably going to use it for the topsides portions of my latest Sea Pearl Tri but apply non-skid to gelcoat on the aft and forward cockpit decks while painting the bulkheads and seats.  Probably won't happen before the 120, if this year.  See you at the 120, if the weather doesn't suck, in which case we may go with plan B - Ft Desoto and Caladesi Island, if the weather doesn't suck further south.

[Frank B.]

I've used it in any place that was not UV exposed.  For instance, I painted my Bateau FS14 skiff with a two part cat poly but didn't want to use that expensive paint on the bilges and under cover areas, so I used the Rustoleum in the same color.  It has done great.  I also used it on the Compac 23 to do a new battery box area also with great results.  Can't speak to UV exposed areas but for where I used it expectations were met.

[Wolverine]

Looking through my vast collection of boat paints and solvents this evening, I found a can of it. I forgot I used it to paint the dock box. It's been a year now and no peeling or chipping. The box sits in full sun all day and the top is low in the middle so it collects water, but it hasn't bubbled or started to peel.

[Captain Kidd]

I've used Rustoleum spray paint for my cove stripe. No issues. For what it's worth, I've painted four boats with Glidden oil based porch and deck enamel, roll and tip. That's been on all painted surfaces (except cove stripe and bright work). No issues. One boat was 9 years old. All boats kept in carport or garage except current boat which is tarped. I use Kilz as primer.

[Charles Brennan]

Wolverine, I used the Rustoleum Navy Blue boat paint, when I first painted the bunks in my cabin, 10 years ago.  Did a minor touch-up 7 years ago, mostly for dings and scratches.  Has held up well; don't have experience with exterior applications.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Brian S]

Slightly unique application, but I have used the Rustoleum marine and regular alkyd enamels on both my recent builds. These two are skin on frame construction with polyester fabric.

On the red pram, I trowled on thin layer of Loctite PL Premium construction adhesive, which my old timer boatbuilding friend says is basically the same polyurethane as 3M 5200. This is to seal the weave and make a more durable skin. The boat designer no longer recommends doing this, as skin on frame construction is durable enough. The issue with the PL Premium is that it has no UV resistance, so must be painted. It's recommended to sand lightly to scuff it before painting, but I forgot to do that, and I find the paint doesn't adhere to the PL Premium all that well if it get dinged. Dunno how much better it would be if I had scuff sanded it. I mean, it is well outside the usual recommended application!

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On the second build, the green boat, I just painted the skin with the Rustoleum marine primer and topside paint. This fills the fabric weave and waterproofs it just fine. This boat has gotten more use than the pram, but it also gets babied on and off the trailer, and I don't drag it up beaches much at all.

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Both boats are fine. If I hadn't discovered the marine formulation on Amazon, I just would have used regular old Rustoleum alkyd enamel from the hardware store.