Paint Blisters Update (2)

In the previous post I said that the expert from TeaMac told me that the blisters are being caused by microscopic air pockets which I introduced to the paint when using a soft foam roller and brush to roll on and tip out the paint.

He may well be right, but a friend who is a professional painter and decorator has told me that blisters are usually caused by water. He asked if moisture could be coming out of the wood. That isn't possible of course. The marine ply is encased in fibreglass cloth and epoxy resin. But I do remember painting the boat during the winter, when I suppose dampness could have been a problem.

And I have been thinking about what else I might have done to cause the problem.

It only happens to the white paint, and it occurs all over the boat. So it is something which I have consistently done regardless of season, temperature and humidity.

One of the things Andy from TeaMac told me was that I should be using their own Thinners 14 to clean brushes and rollers. This is it.

I didn't. I used inexpensive brush cleaner from the DIY store. Here it is.

Even worse, I reused it after the paint had settled to the bottom over night … so I am thinking that this might have contaminated the foam brushes very slightly, and something in the white paint could have reacted to it.

So there we have it. One expert says it's air. Another says it's water. And now I think it could be solvent.

It could of course be all three.

The only thing we can be sure about is that we don't know. Not for the first time!