Painting Procedures

[cyber]

Hi All. looking for opinions on painting procedures.

Doing a complete refurb on an '84 Thundercraft (I intend to start a
thread to follow progress from start to finish complete with pictures,
will start it when I have enough to make it interesting & worthwhile)

I have read pages & pages of really good stuff on here, but I believe
I've read just enough to completely baffle me!!

I started out trying to buff the oxidization out of the paint, but
decided I wasn't prepared to spend a gazillion hours and numerous
bottles of Meguiars compounds (@ $15 a pop) to end up with
a semi-shiny 25 year old paint job.
So swap the buffer for a random orbit sander and so far I've done
the complete hull (it's upside down w/ cap off) with 120 grit sandpaper,
it looks really good to me, all scratches & nicks are gone, and now I
intend to go over it all again quickly w/ 180 grit, then probably once
more w/ 280 or 320 before starting to paint.
I've gone through to the fibreglass in a few small areas where there
were deep scratches or gouges, so I guess I should prime that before
finish coat---is that necessary?? Do I need to prime the entire thing??
I bought 3 qts of Interlux Fibreglass Bottomkote-Racing Bronze simply
because I couldn't resist a good deal ($55 for the 3!!) but after a
little research I realize it's actually meant for a boat that stays in the
water all the time, unlike mine which spends most of it's time on the
trailer. So is there any harm in putting this on the bottom section
of my boat, or is that inadvisable?? I think I'm going to do the sides
and the top using 2 different colours of Pettit Easy-Poxy (Red & Burgundy)

If I end up with a real nice smooth base of the original paint/gelcoat can I
just spray on the Easy-Poxy (2 or maybe 3 coats) without the additional
expense of primer?? And is the Racing Bronze OK for the bottom, or should
I just use the Easy-Poxy on the entire boat??

Thanx in advance for everyone's input!!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Painting Procedures

Read this,
http://www.pettitpaint.com/fileshare/tech_bulletins/easyproxy.pdf.

read it again, then read it one more time. The key to a good paint job is ALL in the Prep. Pettit is a good one part poly paint for topside use, so your application should be ok. I am NOT an expert on bottom kote paint so I will let some others comment on that.

I'm just sayin...

 

[proshadetree]

Re: Painting Procedures

Unless you are going to leave you boat in the water, I would resell that paint. Bottom coat is made to keep algae from growing to your hull. Some paint wear away to make re-coat easier and provide a better planing surface, some look like thick layers of colored tar. A trailer boat should be fine with topside paint on the bottom.