Rolling & Tipping Paint

[Helmar]

I need to touch up sometimes. That goes like sand with 320, wipe with Interlux 333, paint and don't crash into the dock again.

I thought that was docking by braille :BigHappy1:

[TheBronze]

Good tips all. I plan on getting down to at least 600 on the 404 before paint goes on. Prep is where all the work is, so 100 hours doesn't seem too out of the question....

[bruceb]

I totally agree with the posts calling for a place on the forum to save specific gems or chains of posts for painting. The combined knowledge on this forum is exceptional.
As some of you may remember, I'm one of the very few here to have used System3 paint, and at that, with slight success on the 14 Skagit. Hah, depends on how close to the boat you get !
Careful attention to the instructions is absolutely essential. Not just the instructions on the cans, but the expanded booklet available from S3. I used their 155 high build primer as a base, which was an incredible choice, as it
thoroughly covered the issues of a 47 year old spider-cracked fiberglass boat.
Attempting to paint the hull in the winter with a space heater inside a specially built tent in the garage yielded a horrible set of runs,( rolling and tipping, at that point)- nowhere near acceptable... waiting until summer temperatures brought a whole different set of issues with S3 paint. The spraying causes their paint to dry too fast in the delivery process, requiring a tub of ice and water to run the hose through.
I finished the hull off with their semi gloss clear, a great idea, as it still has a nice sheen.
The deck is another story, as somewhere in the drying of the primer or just before the first or second layer of the deck color (red) I tangled with airbourne contamination, despite thorough cleaning, wiping with all the S3 suggested products. So it might have been pollen, although it wasn't the main season for it. I call it my non-skid deck treatment. By that time, I was over beating my head against painting a boat.....
The interior was done with a roller and tipped, leaving a nice gloss without a clearcoat. That has held up well.
What was impressive of the 2 part S3 paint products was the "leftovers" in the paint cup. Being a smooth, unused cup, the dried paint comes out as a
continuous sheet, much like a very heavy plastic bag.
Would I use their paint again ? No. Seeing the paint from Interlux, Petit that Chuck, Marty, GregJ, Tim and all, I'd try spraying that, knowing that with those paint's unique challenges, I could deal with that better !!
I recommend the S3 epoxy resin products,love the way the thickened resin performs. These have more predictable handling parameters and produce exceptionally strong bonds between wood and vintage fiberglass. (I'm not a paid endorser for S3 !)

[GregJ]

Trying to do all of this outside really sucks. When I did my boat last winter I had the use of Tim McCrains heated shop for a couple of months. I never would have tried to do the deck outside but I have done the hull outside several times as long as there is no wind and the temperature is right. It also helps to avoid direct sun light because Interlux dries so fast.

[strobee]

Is it possible for a member to post a thread on his profile page to keep info handy that we would like to see in the future. Saving fiberglass fuel tanks and the rolling and tipping are two threads that I would like to have available and it may be a while and I could forget them. Some sort of stop gap measure until the new web page is done.

[bruceb]

To get better control of conditions and temperature, next time ( if there is another resto in my future), it'd be best if I rented a local paint booth.