Gloss Paint | Progress

It's been a while since the last post. I have been trying to resolve my paint problems, with mixed results.

The initial prognosis was that I did not wait long enough for the paint to cure before masking up for the next coat, causing the tape to damage the underlying gloss when pulled.

The paint vendor sent me a sample of some hardener to help the paint cure faster and harder. This is it.

It's called Topcoat Brushing Converter, from AwlGrip. I was advised to add 5% to the gloss, which I did in a test which worked.

However, the same problem reoccurred when I pulled the tape on the fourth coat of white gloss on the hull. The tape tore off the blue paint, like this.

This was discouraging, to put it mildly.

I concluded that it must be the tape itself that was the problem. Throughout the build I have been using 3M 471 vinyl tape. This is it.

Another builder on the PocketShip Forum told me that he used 3M 244 Gold tape to successfully paint his boat.

I did some research and found that the vinyl tape has an adhesive strength of 25 units, whereas the gold tape only has 2 units.

Clearly I was using the wrong tape!

I bought some 244 Gold tape. Here it is.

A fourth coat of blue was applied to the bottom, sides and transom, using this tape.

This was the result.

No damage at all!

The Gold tape doesn't provide the precise edge that I get with the vinyl tape, and there is a very small amount of bleed.

But I can live with that. It is a small price to pay for getting the boat painted.

Gloss Paint | Hiatus

As mentioned in the previous post, I contacted the vendor (BoatPaint) and they confirmed immediately that I had not left the paint long enough to cure.

Apparently the mono-urethane needs a week to fully cure. It doesn't say that anywhere in the product information or instructional videos...

But at least I now know what the problem is.

The downside is that instead of taking ten days (say, two weeks) to apply five coats of both colours, it will now take ten weeks.

It's time for a gin and tonic and some jazz.

Nothing else is going to help at this point.

Gloss Paint | 2nd Coat of White & Disaster!

The time came for the second coat of white gloss, so I taped up again. Like this.

And here is the rear view.

I applied the second coat of white and then removed the masking tape.

That was when it all went wrong... the tape removed large amounts of the blue gloss it was adhering to, leaving patches of bare primer. Like this on the port quarter.

This happened all around the boat. Here is the bow.

Something was seriously amiss. I wet-sanded the damaged areas with a P400 grit to restore a smooth surface, like this at the bow.

And like this on the starboard quarter.

I thought I might have applied too much paint, thereby preventing the solvents from evaporating.

The unused paint remains liquid for days afterwards. Here is the roller tray several days later, showing how fluid it still is.

I also thought I may have not left enough time between coats, and that could be why the first layer was not cured.

I resolved to contact the vendor for advice.

Gloss Paint | 1st Coat of Blue

I had previously decided to apply the blue and white contiguously, a layer at a time rather many layers at once. This was designed to avoid having a significant physical 'step' between the two colour blocks.

So the next task was to tape and mask for blue gloss.

Here is the transom, ready for gloss.

The first coat of blue was applied.

Here is the view from the front of the boat.

And here she is with the tape removed.

The paint covers really well and flows out beautifully, leaving no brush marks and no dry edges. As with the white gloss, I found that adding 10% thinners helps a lot with application.

Lastly, here is the transom with tape removed.

Looking good!

Gloss Paint | 1st Coat of White

We left the previous post with the boat ready for the first coat of white gloss.

I thinned the paint with 10% Epifanes thinners, and rolled it on and tipped it out with my favourite brush.

Here she is.

And here is the transom.

This is the view from the front with tape removed.

And again here is the transom, without tape.

The finish is OK, but not amazing. I found it very difficult to keep the wet edge, and it shows. Although I think that might be due to a lack of experience on my part.

But it covers well and flows out very nicely, leaving no brush marks.

We're on our way!

Lots More Primer | Ready For Gloss!

It's been four weeks since the last post and during that time I have done nothing but apply and sand coat upon coat of primer.

I initially applied three coats of grey and five coats of white primer, sanding the final coats with a P220 grit, ready for gloss.

But as hard as I tried to convince myself that the finish was good enough, in my heart I knew it wasn't.

Both grey and white coverage was still slightly patchy, with some areas less opaque than the rest.

I thought that the gloss would probably cover this up, but I wasn't sure and remembered being caught out by this before, so more primer was applied.

In all seven coats of white and five coats of grey were applied before I achieved an even colouration across the hull.

I found that it was best to pull the masking tape before sanding with the P220 grit, feathering the edges flat at the same time. This eliminates any 'step' between the coloured areas, leaving a flat surface for the gloss.

After some experimentation I found the paint behaved best when thinned by 10% with the stipulated Epifanes thinners.

I took lots of photos, but there is no discernible difference between most of them, so all I need to post here is the outcome.

This is the view from the side, taped up ready for the first coat of white gloss.

And here is the transom, also ready for gloss.

A lot of work and some frustration, but it's done now and as we all know a good finish is totally dependent on good preparation.

So bring on the next phase!

Grey Primer | First Coat

The first coat of grey primer went on really well. It's much more dense and opaque than the white primer, and flows out nicely to cure flat.

This is the first coat on the transom.

And here is the starboard side view.

She is starting to look like a boat again!