Bilge Epoxy Paint

Restoring our 88 BFN and I am at the point of epoxy painting the bilge. We faired out the bilge with US Composite Medium epoxy and then sanded it down. I purchased the Rust-Oleum 1-Gallon Semigloss 2-Part Epoxy Garage-Floor Coating Kit from Home Depot. After reading the instructions it states "do not use on floors that have been sealed" and test by dripping water on the surface and look for it to bead up.

Will this paint stick to the epoxy we spread out on the bilge? My concern is that it is designed to penetrate concrete which gives it an anchor to the underlying surface but not sure it is going to penetrate this epoxy.

Did you paint it over new epoxy? I did sand the bilge with 100 grit to prep for the rustoleum garage paint.

I like the idea, but I would be afraid that it wouldn't stay where you put it while it dries.

That would be me. Has held up very well and still looks great.

Don,
I'm not sure what you mean by "stuff". If you mean the paint it self no it was just like painting anything else to much product it will run.
If you mean the specks, no they stick right to the wet epoxy.

Knowing now how it held up, if I were to do it again I I would probably coat floor and all for a little extra protection/seal.

you can also put a color into us composite epoxy and paint it on. Did mine with the gray and it loooks great and is holding up real well.
Mike

My first batch was a little on the clear side. I doubled up on the tint and it was great. Not a lot of sun gets in the bilge.

I was thinking the same thing, I bought some tint but never used it during my stringer project.   Looks like the the floor epoxy is thicker than laminating epoxy.   Gel wold be really nice, but a lot more work to get it laid down and shined. I've been looking at some floor epoxy that I could do a colored coat and the a clear to bring out the shine some to look more like gel.

I wanted to follow up on this Topic! I purchased the Rust Oleum garage floor 'gray" 2 part epoxy paint as mentioned above. Sanded all areas with 100 grit. Followed the cleaning instructions and used 5 gallon buckets under the hull drain to catch the cleaning solution and the rinse water. Let dry completly and then started the mixing and painting process. The paint is very thick and covers in one coat. I painted the bilge and the floor of the boat including the plywood panel that sits behind the engine. The whole project used about 3 quarts out of the gallon. I let the paint cure for 5 days before getting back in the boat. The paint left a semi gloss finish and seems to be very durable. I did not have any problems with the paint adhering to the epoxy or any other areas. Personally I am very pleased and for $ 75.00 I think it is a great option to the bilge paint. Thanks for all the input.