New Rib Owner Question, Paint on tubes

rino · 12 July 2008, 06:59

I just picked up my first rib, a 1986 Hurricane Rescue Craft, model 400, 14 foot. From what I researched this was just prior to Zodiac buying out the Hurricane Rescue Craft company located in Canada. It is in good shape for the year, it was mostly indoor kept. It was used by A Fire Dept as a rescue vessel. It has the jockey console for two, color is orange and had no motor. It has a slight leak in the tubes, I was told, but so far after three days it has not leaked down much. I think the hotter weather in Florida is helping me with that issue.

Here are my questions:

What can I use to remove the large letters "RESCUE" painted on the side of the tubes. I don't want to use something that will damage or weaken the tubes.

Next, what can I use to paint the registration numbers on the side of the tubes. I don't think I want to hang a plate off each side to display the numbers. I figured that whatever type of paint was used to paint "RESCUE" on the sides has held up great over the years and would like to get an idea what type it might be.

thanks for any input

enwulff · 12 July 2008, 20:00

Check out http://www.tuff-coat.com/ . I used this to refurbish my 1994 Zodiac Hurricane Coast Guard Boat I purchased. What you may have to do is sand the tubes down, then recoat the hypalon with the tuff-coat system. The boat will be brand new looking.

rino · 12 July 2008, 20:14

Enwulff: thanks for the info, I was searching the website and could not find a price, and I am going to guess that there are different amounts of the product for different size boats. This stuff may be nice to turn the orange tube into gray.

Anyone else have any ideas?

thanks

enwulff · 15 July 2008, 02:34

I did just that with my tubes, I painted them grey over the oarnge, so far so good. You can order the supplies right from the website, you are probably looking at $200.00. If you search for my posts, I show the before and after pictures of my project.

rino · 18 July 2008, 00:12

Enwulff:

Was there a contact number in the Kit you purchased, I would like to contact the company but I can not find a phone number anywhere on the web site. Did you submit a question to the company, if so how long did it take for the company to reply to it.

P.S. I found the prices on the web site, however I do not know if I would need a larger Kit, I would like to remove the tubes and paint all of it. Do you paint all the your tubes or just what was visible while it was on the hull?

thanks

rino · 18 July 2008, 00:14

I forgot to ask, I found your posted pic., with the light gray you used, was the orange visible under the gray or did the gray completely cover the orange color?

thanks

Tim J · 18 July 2008, 07:29

The prices are all there on the "buy now" page. As far as color covering, the basecoat is grey, regardless of the topcoat color, so the original color wont show up, unless there is a major scrape.

enwulff · 22 July 2008, 03:21

The paint will flake off on the bottom of the tubes where it hits the water, you just have to touch it up. I am going to recoat the bottom of my tubes, but I am going to beef up the number of coats I used. I used the zodiac grey color as I wanted a light grey.