Bilge paint.... white or grey?

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 10:54 am

At the moment I'm favoring white, as it's more reflective (convenient in engine compartments), thought it may drive one crazy trying to keep the gunk-marks under control.

Any thoughts?

Post by **Tim** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 11:36 am

I like the gray, myself. I'm a stickler for clean bilges and lockers, but think the white gets too crappy looking too soon, no matter what one does. The gray is a good balance, methinks: it's still clean and bright (believe me, anything will be nicer than the nasty grime of original Triton bilges!), but isn't so starkly white as to be a nightmare to keep decent. And it's still easy to spot fluid leaks and clean them right up, or investigate their cause.

I'm using gray in the new Daysailor bilges. I hemmed and hawed about using white for a while too, before deciding on the gray once again. The current gray is a bit darker than the gray I used on Glissando, but I still like it.

Now, all this being said: the white is nice too. I think it's a personal preference more than anything. Gray, though, to me, provides the best balance and is easier on the eyes. Bilgekote is terrific paint: easy to apply, and nearly bulletproof. You'll love it, whichever color you go with.

What's the engine verdict?

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:38 pm

The engine verdict, though tentative, is to hold off on the diesel conversion for now.

The answer between repairing the original A4 or using the "backup" A4 was, predictably, somewhere in between. The foundation is the "backup" motor, which is now wearing the original's distributor, cylinder head, intake/exhaust manifold, and carburator. Thankfully all of these parts are interchangeable between "early" and "late" model A4s.

Much to our surprise, she fired right up and appeared to be running strong on the bench. Cleaning and painting the bilge is proving to be a far more onerous task than the enginework.

Post by **Tim** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 2:01 pm

Sounds like a good choice to me! I didn't realize you had a second A4.

It's undeniably easier to swap out A4s than it is to convert to diesel. That's a big job, when everything is factored in to do it correctly.

Good luck with your final installation, and successful completion of the job.

Post by **dasein668** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 7:04 pm

I also prefer grey, although I ended up using white this year out of necessity?no grey in stock!

I do prefer the old grey formulation... the new one is quite a bit darker. Still, preferable to white.

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 11:06 pm

Tim, your "easier on the eyes" comment about the darker color of the grey bilgekote got me thinking... Back in school we used to paint our study models a color we called "photoneutral grey". It's light enough to give adequate contrast between light and shadow, but dark enough to avoid highlighting the quick'n'dirty craftsmanship. Basically, it's just a touch lighter than automotive bodyshop primer, and it made model photography a far more forgiving process.

I had most of a can of grey bilgekote on the shelf leftover from godknowswhat, so I went with the idea and bought a can of white, and field-mixed a batch of photoneutral grey. The mix was something like a 2:1 ratio of white to grey. Or maybe more like 8:5, but whatever, the result was just what I was going for. Bright enough to give good light reflection in dim compartments and around the engine, and grey enough that I won't feel compelled to get too anal about the upkeep.

Backup engine.... last fall someone on the yahoo triton list posted a "whoever wants to come help me pull this engine can have it", and I was lucky enough to get first dibs, so I've had this not-quite-running engine waiting in the wings. The plan was to get this replacement engine running during the windless august, and swap in next winter so that I could rebuild the original and reinstall at my leisure. The best-laid plans....

Post by **Tim** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 7:24 am

I'm guessing you ended up with a lightish gray similar to the "old" Bilgekote gray, which I used in Glissando:

I'm not sure why they changed the color, although I am pretty sure that back in 2000, when I first used Bilgekote, there was only the one color available (the gray). The appearance of the white-colored Bilgekote was news to me a year or two ago.

Anyway...

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 9:32 am

Similar, but just a touch lighter. Or it could be the settings on my monitor.

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the color.

Painting begets painting, however. Especially when someone knocks over the not-tightly-closed can of grey onto the settee full of tools, and nobody notices for a few minutes.....

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 10:19 am

Speaking of bilgekote, I just painted out the port section of my new sole and one side of a new bulkhead, and noticed on the can (after painting, of course) that it says to contact Interlux technical support before applying on epoxy. Have any of you ever contacted them to see what the deal is?

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:45 pm

I used bilgekote on epoxy last year with no trouble. Didn't bother contacting Interlux.

Lemme guess... "Sand or wash thoroughly to remove amine blush from new epoxy prior to painting"

Post by **Tim** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:29 am

I have experienced no problems using Bilgekote over epoxy. It's an epoxy-based paint, so I will second Mike's guess as to what Tech Support would say if you were to call them. I have had good luck with Bilgekote sticking to every surface imaginable, however, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:15 am

That's what I figured, and I wasn't planning on calling them anyway...just wondered. :-)