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Fellow builders,

I have been using a product for priming my boat that is just great. It is made by Sherwin Williams and is called Tile Clad HS. Cost is about $90 for the TWO gallon kit. This has been more than enought to do the sides and bottom of my Malahini. It sands very well and can be mixed to any color in their color chart. I have applied mine with a roller and it sands so well that the texture left by the roller is no problem. It is an epoxy base and gives excellent adhesion to your fiberglassed bottom and is compatible with virtually all polyureathane coatings. I will be using interlux brightsides one part ureathane this month to finish the colors on the bottom and sides. Attached some pictures of the product and my boat when I was in the priming stage.

Arnold Holmes
Lady Lake FL

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Not one day or someday but build your boat TODAY!

Looks interesting, I am a big fan of the 2-componant paints. But, when I went to the Sherwin Williams website, that stuff was quite elusive, I couldnt get any info on it.

Kens,

I would agree that the SW website is not the easiest to use. I found out about the product froma professional wooden boat builder who has been using it for years. I did some research and it looked good to me. It has been worth the effort. I was able to buy it locally so no shipping to boot! Works well and is cheaper than using most other "marine" paints.

Arnold

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Not one day or someday but build your boat TODAY!

I did all the research I could on the net and have determined that the tile clad is probably the best deal around. There are a couple of things that I need to mention though. Sherwin Williams does not address putting tile clad over fiberglass. My local store manager told me not to do it. I did it anyway. Another issue is that there are two different types of tlle clad. One is a water based epoxy the other is not. the water based mixes 4:1 and uses water clean up and thinning. the other mixes at 1:1 and uses a special thinner. That is what I used. The paint came out looking for all the world like factory gel coat. Slick! I sprayed it with a cheaper gravity feed HVLP gun. Sprays easy, builds good. I will post pics after the 2nd coat. This stuff is cheap and it is good. 2 gallons for 100.00

Arnold,

I was wondering if you feel this product is suitable for the final coat? Does it have any gloss? I was just wondering why you were using it as only a primer rather than a final coat.

I have no experience with it but would really be interested in your thoughts on it. At that price it deserves some serious thought.

Thanks

KB

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"I'm not trying to get it perfect. I'm trying to get it finished!"
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Do a google for tile clad. the solvent thinned stuff I used had a very high gloss. It did orange peel pretty bad when I sprayed it. I then went to a finish grade foam roller, I did not need to tip, it came out beautifully. I did sand all the light orange peel out and then went back with automotive clear to bring the gloss back. (I could've just polished, but that's work!) good luck

It is my understanding that the Tile Clad can be tinted to any color, and if I use it again as a primer it will be tinted gray. The white made finding flaws much harder, seems wrong but even using a guide coat when sanding, I still missed obvious things that did not show up until I put a gloss on the boat.

I see no reason why you could not use it as a final coat. It rolled out pretty good for me although it did orange peel a little. Nothing my DA could'nt take care of. It did gloss up fairly well for being rolled on. If you choose to use it, be sure to get the correct thinner as it makes a big difference in how it applys. It's to thick right out of the can.

Arnold

_________________
Not one day or someday but build your boat TODAY!

Thats no joke about the correct thinner! I painted my bottom deep red and it took lots of coats to cover the white primer. I mentioned this to the folks at Sherwin williams and was kindly told that red is known for not covering well, prime with very dark colors and no trouble, they recommended charcoal black. live and learn. I will use this stuff again, but the learning curve was steep. READ THE CAN. good luck!

John,

Everything you have said I am in complete agreement with. Not that it matters.

Arnold

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Not one day or someday but build your boat TODAY!

Does anyone have any updates on this paint? I am about to buy paint for my BoJest, and this sounds good. I don't think I'll need anti-fouling paint since it will not be in the water for more that a few days at a time.

Tom

tom, no real updates, just advice and opinion. I would use tile clad again, use either the water borne or the solvent base, use the right thinner, and expect orange peel. my boat is a fiberglass bottom trailered boat so I was'nt worried about a lot of things others worry about. I just sanded the light orangepeel out and applied automotive clear coat for U.V. resistance. Really the bottom isn't subjected to much sun, but I thought it best to give it some protection. it is epoxy, it is cheap and it does shine. my advice is to roll it on rather than spray. I have a good spray gun, it just did'nt work for me. Roller did. prime with a similar color to get good cover. thats all! john bell

Thanks John. I'll go by the Sherwin Williams store tomorrow and see what the current price is.

Tom

one thing that I might mention about tile clad is that the local store manager here is Paris Texas did not recommend it for fiberglass, I used it anyway. I could not find anything on Sherwin Williams website about using it on anything but steel, etc. maybe wood i can't remember, but don't let them discourage you, I believe it will work good on glass, and probably wood too. It is epoxy, what can go wrong! lol. john

I used it because Raul Parker recommends it in his book "the new cold molded boat building". Check out page 180-181 for his thoughts on the subject. I figured that he has a 1000 times more experiance than I ever will and has built 1000 times more boats than I ever will, so I took his recomendation.

Arnold Holmes

_________________
Not one day or someday but build your boat TODAY!

I went to the local SW store yesterday. A very helpful salesman first told me he would not recommend using it. Then he offered to call his cousin, who used to work for SW, and who was currently repainting a fiberglass sailboat.

He got the cousin on the phone, and when I explained to him that I was building a trailer boat, he said the paint would work, although he reminded me that SW would not back it since they don't recommend it for below the water line.

He then said that the only problem was "chalking" due to UV rays. He said I could expect a loss of about a half mil per year in full sunlight. (Two coats would be 6-10 mils thick).

This is probably why some have specified this paint for use as a primer - it would be best to use a UV resistant top coat. This is what I plan to do. I'll get them to mix it a color similar to my finish coat, then put on two coats of the Tile-clad followed by one coat of the expensive stuff. This will still be much cheaper than putting on 3 coats of "real" bottom paint.

Tom