first camo paint

mike braden

mike braden

Well-known member
I painted my 15 foot aluminum canoe. Used Parker's paint. I opted for the gallon b/c I knew I'd spend at least $35 in spray paint and the gallon was $35. I still have well over a half of gallon left for the touch ups.
I looked around for stencils and they were quite expensive from $30 up to $100. I really didn't want to go crazy b/c I knew I'd never get the money out of the boat if I were to sell it, so I opted to just make it functional. My wife went to A.C Moore craft store and got the fern and leaf patterns for under $5. I then hand drew the grass and got a clear piece of stencil and cut with a razor blade. It came out ok. I am a total newbie to this so me and the kids had fun painting the boat.

I then went to the auto store and purchased 4 spray cans of bedliner. I know that the dog will just tear up the bottom paint as well as dirt, sand ect wrecking the outside bottom. so, I painted 2 cans on the inside bottom and 2 cans on the outside bottom at the water line. This paint is a little shiny which is why I paint a few leaf patterns on the bottom for now but I did get the ghillie grass from Ed L to help cover it. Scrathced the hell out of it and it didn't even leave a mark. Very durable.

I am going to run a bungie cord down the side for the grass and other blind material. I will also be adding guns racks on both sides and possibly a nice beverage holder. If anyone is interested I will post some followup pics. This should be the ticket for the marsh area that we go to. I did find a nice layout type boat that I may purchase for the other hunting.

Just wish I had a garage so I could build a real boat like all you guys are doing.

Cheers,
Mike

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Mike,

The pics are not coming up for me but you did a great job of describing it. That should certainly get you in the game this season! Be carefull out there. I'll be in touch about getting the boys out for a hunt. I was glad to meet you and your son saturday.

Best wishes,
Gene
ps. You'll NEVER get your money out of any boat. Unless you steal a BBSB from somebody that doesn't have a clue and it turns out to be a good "name" boat.
 
When I was writing the thread, I cut and pasted the photos as I alwas do with anything. They were showing up but when I clicked the post thread button and went to view my post, they weren't there. I have tried like 10 different ways and 99.99999% it works. Except for here.

Gettting ready to head out to Tuckerton for another day of excitement. Not sure if you saw the one guy who had the two identical layout type boats. They were small. About 8 foot. We tried to get both boats but price wasn't quite right so we may try again today.

Cheers,
Mike
 
Finally got the pics to come up. Had a friend resize them for me. Inline feature didn't seem to work for some reason but here are the pics anyway. Nothing great, just thought some guys may be interested You guys have some pretty awesome boats. In due time I will find a boat that suit my needs and make me happy.

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. once I get the grass set up along with the gun racks and storage, I'll post more pics.
 
That looks real good Mike! I just got done painting my Grumman. I will post a pic on here tomorrow too if you do not mind. Maybe we will start a show me your canoe deal HA! HA! Shawn
 
Looks vewry nice, I just repainted my indian river fiberglass vcanoe with parkers hunter green and tried to stencil some on but it came out elementary comapred to yours.


I did not read anything about priimer. If it was bare aluminum, dont be upset when it starts to flake off. If it had some paint on there you'll be fine.
 
I first spray painted the outside in more of a greenish olive color. I didn't like it so I bought a gallon of the Parkers Marsh Grass. I did two coats of that and then an additional two coats of the black paint on the outside and inside bottoms. I didn't post any pics of the outside bottom, but as previously stated I used a black bedliner spray paint. It went on very easy and looks like a pro job. I am even considering painting my whole truck with that stuff. It isn't bumpy or textured like the other paint. It is very durable and I won't have to worry about scratches when I take it into the woods.

Thanks for the positive comments. This being my first job, I was quite pleased but it is nothing compared to the boats that some of you guys build.

Cheers,
Mike
 
As promised here are the pictures of my Grumman. I washed it very well and primed with a self etching primer. Then put a base coat of flat brown enamel. I then just over sprayed the bamboo in the background with black and flat tan. I think it will hide o.k. where I plan to use it.


This is a picture that shows the foam anti-fatigue mats I glued in the bottom and on the seat. These are a life saver when you paddle from your knees. I also split some poly water pipe and covered the gunnels, I knew this area would take a lot of abuse and I was trying to cut down on the noise. Shawn

 
The poly water pipe is a good idea along the rails but it might be a bit shiny. Some companies make the bedliner spray paint in different colors. I know that I've seen beige/tan maybe even a green/olive color. Once I find that, I am going to paint along the rails because as you previously said, that is the area that is going to get most of the abuse and the paint will wear there first.

Thanks for the pics. Base on the color, do you hunt more of flooded timber area. I am more in the marsh with some back water areas which is why I chose my color pattern.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Yep, this canoe will be used in a small flooded timber spot we have (if it ever rains) I will not hunt from it but I wanted it to look like one of the floating logs around. I am with you on the shine. I may try to dull it with some flat black. Shawn
 
Try fusion paint, that probably will stick. One other suggestion is the cleaner or primer for gluing PCV that will dull it. Then again the ducks won't mind.
 
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