Painter Recommendations in Texas Coastal Bend

[jprobins]

I am finally getting down to some serious cosmetic work on my B26.6 II Sport Convertible outboard. I am pulling out all the dura board ceilings and trim and replacing it with teak as it was originally. I am also going to paint her, top and bottom. I want to have the painting professionally done. I don't trust myself on that at all. The boat is in Rockport, Texas. If anyone can recommend any painters in the vicinity or share any experiences, it would be greatly appreciated.

Jim

[CaptPatrick]

JP,

Check with Daryl Gatewood about painters in the area...

Gatewood's Service & Repair
105G Cove Harbor South
Rockport, TX 78382
phone 361-727-9787
fax 361-727-9848

[JohnCranston]

The best painter that I know down there is Paco Duran 713-302-9373. He used to work with O.J. Young before OJ got out of the business.
John.

[jprobins]

Somehow my reply did not post. So, I am doing it again. My apologies if it causes a dupe.

I have talked to Daryl. His pick is Billy at Northshore in Ingleside. And several other people agreed. However, Billy is so backed up that I would be looking at Christmastime to get it down. I am keeping this as a fallback position, and it may well be what I end up doing. But I would sure like to find someone who could get to it a little sooner.

Paco's reputation has pretty much gone to **** lately. He has not been at FYY for a while. The complaints I hear are that he does none of the work himself anymore, but gets his relatives to do it, and the quality is no good. When he was doing the work himself at FYY, his work was great, I agree.

FYY now brings someone in from Houston to do their painting. I haven't really seen the quality of the work, but the bid they gave me was sky high.

[CaptPatrick]

I hated to bad mouth anyone, but what you hear about Paco is true. Pure crap! Not qualified to paint barns...

[jprobins]

That's a shame

[JohnCranston]

Sorry for the bad lead. Paco used to have a good reputation about a dozen years ago or so. If your boat is trailerable, I know a great painter in Freeport...Lisa Vasek 979-417-8594..very reasonable. She painted Reel Cowboy last fall, rub rail and all.
John.

[bob lico]

I hated to bad mouth anyone, but what you hear about Paco is true. Pure crap! Not qualified to paint barns...

Love that kind of talk ------- tell it like it is no politics!

[jprobins]

Is anybody familiar with a painter in the Houston area named Juan Morales? He has a brother named Fernando who also does some painting. I am told that he occasionally does work out of the Hooking Bull yard in Rockport.

[Hyena Love]

Reach out to Tom P. in Houston/Galveston. I seem to recall he had a good paint/glass guy that did some nice work on his Hatt.

John - did Lisa V. paint your boat?

[Tom]

Pepe Duran is perhaps the best painter in the Galveston area. Just one of a few that awl grip certified, for what it's worth. Maybe nothing. He travels some but don't know about Rockport. His # 281-467-3804

I ran out of time or he would have painted me this spring.

His brother Salvador Duran does amazing fiberglass work. Both work out of Clear Lake Marine Center.

[JohnCranston]

Ernest,
Salvador painted our boat 8 years ago...281-799-3218. Lisa painted her this time around...both do great work. Salvador also painted Targeted Species....also, did the spray rails on both boats...the rails and the exhaust going out of the corners...the two of the best things we did on Reel Cowboy. Steve fabricated the fish boxes going forward off of the engine boxes...everything worked out great...wouldn't have changed a thing.
Let me know if you and Tom want to go snapper fishing June 1-9th.
John.

[Parker]

JP,

I went looking for a painter in the Coastal Bend last year and found that there are 2 Juan Morales operating in the Rockport area. They are referred to as Big Juan and Little Juan because of their stature... seriously. I was told that you do not want Big Juan anywhere near your boat but that Little Juan does excellent work. He lives in Houston but does all his work in Rockport. One hell of a commute. I was told where I could see a couple of boats he had painted. I checked them out and they looked fantastic. So, when I had my B31 hauled last May for new antifoul at Hooking Bull, I had Little Juan refinish the sides from the rubrail down to the antifoul and do a new boot stripe also. He did a lot of prep work and used Awlcraft paint. It looked great! Now after a year of being bloodied, tuna tail slapping, shark skin scraping, gaff hook banging, fuel dock tire scuffing, dockline rubbing and whole bunch of other things, it still shines like new. He was also very reasonable on the 'cash' price. If you are interested, get with Jimmy at Hooking Bull and he can give you Juan's phone number.

[jprobins]

Thanks, Parker. I have gotten ahold of "little" Juan and am getting a bid from him now. It turns out I had seen some of his work at FYY.