More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

[Racingman24]

Ok, so I had another thread about making paint smooth when rolling, I've got all that figured out, but it seems that the paint and the boat is wanting to fight me every step of the way.

Here's the issues I'm having:
If the paint is glossy, I end up with a ton of orange peel
If it's a nice and smooth finish, it's like a matte paint. [where I'm at right now]

Here are the steps I've taken so far:
1. Took it down to bare metal
2. Washed with 50/50 water/vinegar
3. Sprayed with ZinChrom Primer with Napa, just a Heavy Dusting
4. Rolled on 2 layers of rustoleum white primer
5. Rolled on first layer of color
6. Sanded back down with 220 grit on a DA [Yes I know I should have done this before color, but I wasn't thinking]
7. Rolled and tipped a layer of color
8. lightly scuffed with Red Scotchbrite pads to knock down any high spots and removed any dirt
9. Rolled and tipped again
10. Sanded with 320 on the DA
11. Rolled and tipped again

This is where I'm at now.

As of now, the finish is very smooth with somewhat limited dirt, but still more than I'd like, but it has NO SHEEN. It's not completely flat, but just about.

AND, I can see where I overlapped when rolling.

Now, it's been pretty warm up here the past few days when I've been painting [80-85 or so], so I've been thining slightly with mineral spirits. 5-10% or so. I don't know exact numbers as I'm estimating, but it's not much as all.

I guess my questions are....

How do I get a nice smooth finish, while retaining the gloss?

How do I limit dirt in the final coat of paint?

How do I avoid visible "overlap" lines when rolling?

Should I be thinning the paint? Are my symptoms caused by over or underthinning?

I'm really getting frustrated here, this painting is taking WEEKS longer than I wanted it too, and I keep ending up with a finish I'm not happy with. And I'm not even doing the exterior yet!

Please let me know what I'm doing wrong. Once the trailer is painted, then I get to start putting it all back together and I might see light at the end of the tunnel, as opposed to now, where I feel as if I'll never get this done, and even if I do, it won't look as nice as I see it in my head.

Thanks for reading my long winded, upset post.

 

[BigBoatinOkie]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

go buy a $50 gravity feed spray gun at auto-zone and spay it. You'll be done in 10 minutes.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

What type of paint are you using, I used brightsides and other than having too do 2 to 3 coats and it drying fairly fast it went pretty good, I did 2 coats of white and 3 coats of navy blue over the white for a stripe and did 1 coat a day and let it dry.
Alot of paint today has orange peel if you are rolling it on and thats your only complaint I think you're doing good.When it turns matte I think its started drying and your taking some paint off.

Hiding the overlap is probably a matter of putting on another coat.


Good luck.

 

[ryan_eyres]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

Sounds like a frustrating time you're having.

After sanding and before painting, you should wipe down the entire surface with wax and grease remover, aka final wipe solvent. It is a mild solvent that won't dissolve the previous coat, but will clean any dirt and grease that could cause problems for the next coat. After this dries, you should also wipe down the entire surface with a tack cloth. This will pick up the last of the dust and dirt. You should be painting in clothes that aren't all dusty too. If you're in a garage, make sure you're not blowing dust around that will land in the wet paint.

Between coats in order to knock down the high spots, it is best to wet sand using a block and 600 grit paper. A red scotch brite is only good for scuffing the surface, and will not remove high spots like sanding with a block will. Once the surface has been wetsanded down with 600 grit and it has a nice and even dull surface, it will be ready for a final coat.

The dull surface you are getting while painting is due to laying too thin of coat down. Overlap lines are probably due to the paint drying too quickly and you not back rolling into the wet paint in order to blend in the paint as you move forward. Painting in warm weather will make it more difficult to lay down an even coat without getting dry edges and overlap lines.

You say that you are getting orange peel when you lay down a coat that is not too thin. I think maybe you can reduce the orange peel by thinning the paint a bit more, but you might be limited by the paint's ability to self-level.

What type of paint are you using? If it is just rustoleum, I don't think you'll be happy with the finish unless you wetsand the final coat with 800 then 1000 grit and then follow up with a machine polish.

Interlux Brightsides is a quality paint that should be easier to use than rustoleum, and it will self-level much better than the rustoleum will. You're putting a lot of time and effort into a paint job, a few extra bucks on better paint might be what you need to do for the finish you're looking for.

Good luck.

-Ryan

 

[ryan_eyres]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

I forgot to mention, your foam rollers might be leaving bits in the paint. I bought a pack of rollers in the middle of a paint job that were a different brand than I was using before. It took me forever to figure out that it was the rollers that were leaving bits in the paint. I switched back to the other brand and had no more problems.

-Ryan

 

[jacob callum]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

hi i am a spray painter the easiest way to solve your problem is wet flat your finish with 2000 this will get rid of your dirt then machine polish. this will also bring your shine you are after

 

[Racingman24]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

I can't believe I forgot to mention what kind of paint and one other thing...

I'm using Rustoleum Topsides paint

And right before I lay down a layer of paint, I'll go over the entire surface with soap and water, then dry to make it as clean and as prep'd as possible.

I have a tack cloth around here somewhere, but I can't find the damn thing.

And as far as the red scotchbrite, I'm not using that to knock down high spots, just to get rid of any dirt that might have happened to end up in the paint.

I guess I should mention one other thing...I'm painting it outside, which most of you will probably slap me for doing, right?

I'm guessing with direct sunlight, everything ends up drying a lot faster than it should???

Anyway, any other advice before I go sink the thing?

 

[Racingman24]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

Anyone else have helpful tips? It's been raining out the past few days, so I haven't been able to do much but sit and look at it and get even more frustrated at the weather keeps pushing the finish date back.

Arrrgggg!!!!

 

[Racingman24]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

Alright...I'm a little better off, but now just confused.

I towed the boat back to my storage, which is fully enclosed and laid down yet another coat of paint on the interior...I think I'm up to 5 or 6.

This is where I'm just confused...

I started on the Starboard side, [I believe anyway, if I have my marine lingo right...also known as the "driver" side on most boats] and I started at the stern, doing a nice roll and tip as I went.

Covered about 4-5 feet at a time and rolled backwards into the already tipped part by about 6-8 inches.

This is the weird part that I just don't understand...
As I started painting [keep in mind this is all observation after it's dried, not as I'm doing it] the paint came out kind of satin...not flat, not gloss. And you could still see the overlaps...but not as bad.

As I made my progress, it got more and more gloss to the finish. The entire port side looks really nice...not perfect, but really nice. While the Starboard side started off ok and got better as I went. AND, the overlap wasn't as visible on the port side...almost not at all.

This was all out of the same pour/mix/can. In other words, I shook the can for about 3-4 min, then stirred for about 5. Poured an amount into my little tray, didn't thin, and went to work. I didn't add any paint from the can as I went, ended up being the perfect pour.

Soooo, can anyone shed light as to why the paint got more glossy as I went?

One other thing, I also scuffed down both sides with scotchbrite again, and washed both sides with soap and water and dried both sides before going to work.

At least now I'm less frustrated...and just more confused than anything.

 

[seamorewaterVIP]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

go buy some better paint. brite sides or pettit easy poxy. use a chemical to degrease not soap.

 

[6meter]

Re: More Painting woes...Getting Frusterated...

Did you bring the boat over and start to paint? If so, the boat might have been hot sitting outside and the further you went the cooler the boat got, the better it looked. Don't use soap to wash the boat between coats, it will leave a film. As said, use a chemical cleaner that evaporates.