thompsondockside.com

Hey all, has anyone painted the existing tempered hardboard flooring material used in the late 1950s and early 1960s boats made by Thompson at Peshtigo? If yes, what type of paint have you used and what colour(s)? Has it held up?

Andreas

Andreas.. I have stripped and painted the masonite flooring of my 1960 Seacoaster.... I think there were three coats of various colors of paint, the last appearing to be a Latex gray porch & deck enamel that was flaking off.. It was hard to retain the 'weave' finish of the masonite as the layers were scraped off, so I decided not to do any sanding.

After getting things down as far as I could, I treated with CPES 24 hrs before applying the paint. It was an oil based Porch & Deck enamel (I can't find the can tonight), that was mixed by my local paint store. He used a panel that I left with him, that appeared to be down to pretty much the original color. It is a light green, but a little bluish tinge.

I can't find your aol id, as I have realoaded my computer and didn't replace my sent mail filing cabinet... If you are interested, I can send you two or three pics and you can see the color.

I also used a little bit of Interlux Intergrip Non Skid Compound to compensate for losing some of the original texture.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info John. I drove thru Pine River on Sunday.

My email address is: thompsonboat@msn.com

Andreas

I just went downstairs and scraped thru two coats of paint on a little scrap piece of the original 5/16 " masonite floor from my 57' Sea Lancer... I found light grey color as the base coat. I would call this common "machinery gray". I repainted my floors with Sears oil based Porch and Deck Enamel (light grey) with good results. No peeling and pretty good wear properties. This was 4 - 5 years ago, don't know if this paint is stilll available. Also dusted a bit of fine silica sand (white sand) onto the wet paint... probaply would have been better to mix the sand into the paint first for better retention.
As for restoring the original texture pattern... just about all the older style tempered masonite had this "window screen" pattern on the back side. Unfortunatly the common thickness was 3/16" . If one could still find this style you could glue up a double thickness, using the "back side" for the new face. OR ... an idea ! how bout' bedding common metal wire window screen in a fresh coat of ( epoxie maybe?) , lifting it just before it sets hard... might work ???
Joe

Thanks for the tips Joe,

Andreas