Re-Paint my shower?

[frscott]

Howdy, Does anyone know if you can repaint the floor of the shower? I may be too picky, but I just hate that mine is yellowed. The drain is also corroded, do they screw out just like a normal drain? Where would I find a replacement?

[89Excella]

Hi,

Yes the drain screws out like a standard tub drain. Funny, I just took mine out today. I am refurbishing the interior of my '89 Excella 25 ft.

Does anybody have good or bad experiences with the product for tub refinishing called "Tubby"?

[purman]

I repainted mine with a kit from Home Depot. It was $48 bucks. Only used one can so any epoxy paint will probably work. It turned out nice. you can see it kinda here.. http://www.airforums.com/forums/f44/...r-44644-4.html

[89Excella]

Thanks Jason. Your tub looks great! Good luck with the rest of your project. You're making fantastic progress.

I have been working on mine on and off since April. Replaced range with a cooktop and dishwasher, new corian countertop, microwave convection over the fridge, remodel the bath with new corian countertop, re-apholster the sofa, laminate flooring with radiant heat.

Ed

[philandshez]

Hi. i found the best way to efinish the bath was to re-gel coat, this is the paint finish that is used when the factory make the fibreglass bath, after a few searches i found you can buy the gel coat from any marine supplier or fibre glass shop, i purchased a 1 quart tin with hardener, this was enough to paint the tub twice,firstly i prepared the tub by sanding with a 100 grit pad and then sprayed with a sandable primer, to take away the flaws, then the tricky part, the gel coat is a two part paint, so the mixing has to be done really well, it is better to spray the gel coat but i didn't have the equipment to spray, so i rolled it on with a non shed short fleece roller and a very good quality natural bristle brush, you have to do this with a good face mask, and with all the windows open. the finish is as near to proffesional as you will get.

[64airstream]

I had a guy come to the house to spray mine. Same process used for old tubs. I thought about a kit, but, I've never had a very good touch with spray painting. I also built a temporary enclosure in the shop to keep down the overspray. My son said it looked like a meth-lab. (Too much television) But the bathroom turned out looking very good.

We did it in 2006, and it's held up well.

Roy

[frscott]

Thanks to all, now I am looking forward to a project! I think I might try to spray the gel coat. I still need to locate the drain, they seem to be much smaller than household drains, though I guess I am not surprised.

[Dr.Theopolis]

I painted the fiberglass floor of my boat shower once. I used 1-part polyurethane paint with a polymeric non-skid additive. It came out great, and most of it lasted for years. A very tiny area started flaking but that was with daily shower use. The nice thing is it is so easy and quick to do. I used Petit Easypoxy paint and Interlux non-skid compound.

[wmarsha]

I just replaced the strainer on my shower (85 excella)-I, too thought it might be smaller than standard-but I got a replacement over at the local hardware store-about 8 bucks-don't forget the plumber's putty. The new piece i got had a new rubber washer, (and some other parts which went into my "hell box"). I tried using a pair of heavy needle nosed pliers to get my original drain (pot metal) out-the four cross points in the bottom broke out-so I gently tapped a flat nail bar (stanley) into the drain, turning it with an adjustable end wrench (crescent-style). worked like a charm-new one is plastic (go figger) and is "chrome plated" it'll probably last 3 years. I lubed the threads with wd40 after cleaning and it went together nicely using the needle nosed pliers as a spanner. Is there some kind of specialty wrench to remove these? I couldn't find one.

[68 TWind]

Just painted the complete tub/shower out of my 68 Trade Wind. Used the 2 part epoxy tub kit that Sherwin Williams sells. A couple of tips. The instructions in the kit said it could be brushed. Tried brushing on a hidden portion and it did not look good. The other option is spraying. I used the Pevair sprayer kit I bought at NAPA. You will need to thin the paint a little for it to spray properly, if you don't you get orange peel. Lots of very light coats, don't get in a hurry or you will get runs. The fumes are really bad when spraying the bottom of the tub so goggles and a good carbon filter mask are absolutely required. I also sprayed my sink which is ABS plastic (I think) and it did fine. Like all paint jobs, prep is the key. The epoxy paint will magnify any imperfections in the finish so take you time and fill and sand any cracks or holes.

[89Excella]

Thanks 68 TWind,

I will check out the Sherwin Williams product. I am a great fan of SW paints having great success with their house and automotive paints.

I wrote to Tubby to see if they had better color samples than the miniscule dots of color on their website and have gotten no reply after 6 days.

[tallytwo1994]

wmarsha,

There is a special wrench to remove the bathtub drain/strainer. Ask at Lowe's....

Carol

[Bob Thompson]

Just a thought, almost every epoxy paint yellows over time unless you topcoat it with a urethane paint that has UV inhibitors. For a non-yellowing paint you can roll on, do some research about Awlgrip yacht paints. Some are acrylic urethane based but the best are polyester urethane based. Other than Imron, Awlgrip is about the very best choice. It is one of the toughest paints available and will look great for years and years and like I mentioned earlier it can be rolled on.

[89Excella]

Thanks for the idea, Bob. I have been looking into polyurethane yacht paints and it looks very promising. One thing I have learned is that they contain solvents that will attack the ABS shower pans. This can be controlled by first coating the surface with an epoxy primer.
I ordered a color chart from an Imron dealer and am waiting for it to arrive. Will report back after the pan is painted or melted, one or the other

Ed

[Bob Thompson]

I used to be a big Imron fan, but then they got sooooo pricey, like $250 per quart. I was able to pick up some Awlgrip on Ebay for about $100. I'm shooting it on a windsurf board I'm building. The Awlgrip can be rolled on by using a foam roller and the correct reducer. The epoxy primer sounds like a good idea. I have been told by an auto paint company that Nasan "frethane?" is a very good substitute for the original Imron, not the Imron 5000. Back when I had a SOB I made a new shower for it and shot it with original Imron. Worked great.

[89Excella]

Ahh, I made a mistake. It was Interlux Perfection, not Imron. I got the color chart today and we are going for the platinum color on the shower pan. The stuff is $52.99/ Quart. Not too bad.
Here's the link: Interlux Perfection Two Part Polyurethane Gloss Finish

Ed