Paint or sink

Ever since people have put to sea, they have battled it to delay the deterioration of their vessel. Whether it was a reed raft, a wooden boat, or a steel ship. The sea eats it all, and if it wasn't the sea itself, the animals living inside the sea love to turn your ship into a tasty meal. As you might imagine, this is not good for the integrity of your ship. If too much rots or is eaten away, your ship will fall apart! And that's not really good for the crew and/or cargo onboard.

Paint has become the go-to solution to stop or at least slow the decay, by means of creating a barrier between the material of the ship and the seawater, air and animals trying to eat it. How to best create this barrier, is a whole science in its self. It has to stick to the ship, stop the contact, be durable, not fall off because of contact with salty seawater or by being shined upon by the sun. Paint has to be safe to apply and be around after for humans, and animals. It shouldn't have a negative effect on the ship's performance.

Other advantages

But in addition to stopping rot, when you splatter it on your hull anyway, you want it to look nice! So it has to be a precise colour, end up shiney or matt if you prefer. Other advantages that can be created with paint, is for the paint to be of a chemical compound that stops or slow downs of plants growing on the bottom of the hull of a ship, this growth really slows a ship down. Some other boats have extra slippery paint for even faster sailing. Navy ships might have special paint that reduces the reflection of a radar beam. And submarines have a special paint that makes them more silent.

Application

Traditionally, and now still for difficult spots, a brush was used to apply paint. Now for larger flat or slightly curved surfaces a paint roller is the better choice. But spraying is also an option, from a can, or with a spraying tool.

Before you paint though, you need to prepare the surface. Removing all dirt, grease, oil, fat, removing the rotting parts and if necesarry replacing them. Removing all rust. That later part has become a daily chore on any ship made of iron or steel. Even the smallest pinhole or scratch in the paint allows seawater to come into contact with the steel, and rust will create. If you paint over rust, the rust will continue to spread below the paint and your ship will be destroyed soon.