Pettit Easypoxy - durability & report after a season of use

[lakelover]

There has been a lot of discussion in different threads about the durability of Pettit Easypoxy one-part enamel paint, some love it & some hate it. Most agree that it's pretty easy to apply and goes on well.

After a season of use, I want to show a few pictures & hopefully get info & opinions here in one thread so other folks can have it all in one place. After reading many negative posts about it, I was pretty nervous about how it would hold up, but it actually held up better than I was expecting, and overall I'm satisfied.

First of all, my preparation and method:

On some areas of my aluminum boat ('64 Jet Star), I stripped to bare metal and on others, I painted over the existing sound paint after lots of sanding and smoothing. I attempted to follow the manufacurer's instructions & recommendations very closely, with one exception...I did add Valspar Enamel Hardener to it.

Once the sanding, smoothing and cleaning were finished, I used Zinc Chromate etching primer on the bare aluminum areas. I used Pettit's two-part type and rolled it on, but I'm pretty sure any brand of ZC spray would work just as well.

After letting that dry, I smoothed it all over lightly with a green 3M scotch pad, then rolled on a coat of Pettit's 6149 White Undercoater over everything I was going to topcoat (with the exception of the splashwell, that's another story):

When dry, I smoothed the 6149 with 220 sandpaper and a scotch pad, then started rolling on the 3 coats of Easypoxy thinned with Pettit's Brushing Thinner 120/T-10, but using this "Woodonglass formula", which he modified with the addition of Valspar hardener, (I mixed small amounts, you have to use it up within 8 hours):

8 oz. Easypoxy Enamel
1/2 oz. Valspar hardener
1 oz. Pettit Brushing Thinner 120/T-10

I used the roll & roll method.

My next post will have some photos of the wear & tear scratches from a season of use.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Pettit Easypoxy - durability & report after a season of use

Here are pics of a couple scratches. The first two are the most serious and happened when my son ran into the dock. First is overall and second is a close-up.

This one is from a metal dock when the boat was being held for loading on the trailer and someone?s wake came in and it scraped against the dock:

You can see from the close-ups that the topcoat seems to be the weak link in the layers. The first one is gouged down to some original gray primer (& even aluminum) that was on the boat when I got it, but that?s not too surprising, it hit a wooden post with a steel screw-eye in it.

On the second close-up, a less severe scrape, it only removed the topcoat down to the 6149 undercoater. That stuff seems pretty tough. But part of the scratch only marred the topcoat.

Overall, I?m pleased with how the Easypoxy held up and it turned out to be tougher than I expected, those being the two major dings. I know there will be many more, and if I ever repainted, I would probably go with a two part epoxy, mostly out of curiosity to compare the two. I don?t see that happening though! So you can draw your own conclusions and add your thoughts if you like!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Pettit Easypoxy - durability & report after a season of use

My comments. Touch ups will be Easy. Quick hand sanding to feather the area. Foam brush to apply two 3 coats of paint and you'll never know it happened.!!!!

 

[lakelover]

Re: Pettit Easypoxy - durability & report after a season of use

Thanks for the suggestion...I did a couple "tool bite" fixes that way on the topside before it even hit the water this spring. Was in a hurry and used a photo retouching brush though, not perfect but you couldn't see it unless you were looking for it. I may wait a year or two so I can do a bunch at once! I think I made it through the season quite well.