Painting the head

[HappyAfloat]

Hello,

The heads/shower cubicle in our BAV 38 2003 is looking tired, the original colour has darkened significantly and has colour mismatched repairs any recommendations on a paint system to give it a refresh?

Thanks

HappyAfloat

[Salty]

If your heads compartment is similar to mine, it’s mainly a plastic interior lining, then it’s possible that a UPVC cleaner such as that used for cleaning plastic window frames and doors would return the plastic to its original colour. The stuff is available from builders merchants in the UK.
Make sure to test it on a small relatively inconspicuous area before treating the whole surface so that you are sure it is doing what you want.

[HappyAfloat]

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately the previous owner made some significant repairs to the plastic shell in a different colour.

[Kibo]

Head compartments are usually moulded from Polyester or vinyl ester/GRP so similar to the decks and hull of the boat.

I suspect that if the previous owner has made repairs he may have used polyester/vinyl ester gel coat similar in chemical makeup so should not be a problem.

There are a few good canned spray paints that will adhere to this after a good cleaning and a solvent wipe down with Acetone or xylene.

Take a look at Rust-o-leum and similar brands that will adhere to plastics. B and Q etc if you are UK based A primer coat may be a good idea to help with paint adhesion and to cover up differing colour areas. You could use any of these plastic surface acrylic spray paints but I'm honestly not sure how long this would last with constant use and cleaning. They might be a short term cosmetic solution but you may end up repainting in a short time. This would certainly be the cheapest option.

My recommendation would be to talk with a professional boat painter at a yard and ask about products such as Awlgrip which is used on exterior decks and hulls and is very hard wearing. It is usually a two part system polyurethane based coating.

If you are confident then I would think it is a reasonable DIY job but you would need to rent or borrow a paint sprayer and compressor for the job.

Hope it helps