Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Float painting strategy

As it seems with every new activity/task associated with this build, I am finding that my painting strategy is changing day to day as I take my little steps forward.   

Here is what I have done so far.
1) Purchased enough Endura EP-FD primer and EX-2C topcoat to paint the floats.  It is the toxic stinky stuff, and my intention is to roll and tip at this point.  I have purchased no high build primer.  I want to acheive that optically smooth surface without the use of a high build primer.
2) I am currently applying a series of skim coats of epoxy resin to the hulls. My intention  here is to fill the pin holes and smooth out the scratches from the 60 grit sanding.  Interestingly, I had no luck coating the resin with roll and tip techniques.  My laminating resin simply flowed/turned into an orange peel texture.  I found that applying the resin with the roller and then squeeging the excess resin off works very well. 



Here is the starboard float with 2 skim coats applied.  Next step (already started) is to sand with 120-150 grit sandpaper and recoat.  Then sand with 220 grit.  Then apply the endura primer.  At this point I am blessing my random orbital sander which is very useful on the relatively flat sections of the float hull.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Toxic is the WORD to use when using Endura. Open the doors. Or get your self a self contained breathing apparatus

Tom

Andrew said...

Grant -- Like how your project is looking. What volumes and technique did you use with the quickfair since its work time is so short. And, why are you avoiding sanding/build primer? Andrew.

GK said...

Hi Tom,
At the moment I planning to open the doors, use a half face respirator and pull in fresh air from the outside with an air blower that has a rating of 650 CFM. This fresh air should really help dilute the toxic material. Since I am not planning to spray the Endura primer and paint I think I will be OK. However, if I find the quality of the painted surface poor, I may have to spray and this will really change my plans. ie spend more money.
Grant

GK said...

Hi Andrew,
I mix everything by weight and I can tell you that I would never mix more than a half pound of quickfair, usually less. If I could tell the quickfair was thickening I would generally have a spot where I could apply the material in a quick bulk manner so as to not to waste it.

I guess I am that type of builder that is trying to keep the hulls as light as possible. It seems to me that I have applied enough putty already and the hulls seems fair. I can report that using skim coats of epoxy resin (no additive) are turning the soft faired hull into the optically smooth hard eggshell, pictures can't really show it, but it is quite the transformation. I am sanding the resin down with finer grit using the random orbital. The odd imperfection that I find I fill with quickfair. The sander makes the effort easier in one way, but with the float up in the air sanding sideways and upside down along the keel makes it more difficult in another.
Grant