brush painting Awlgrip

[jim rosenthal]

Blue Note is going to need a topside paint job that the boatyard was unable to get to. I plan to do this and brush it. I don't think we have had a thread on brushing Awlgrip (over previously applied Awlgrip about twelve years old btw) so if anyone has any useful info to pass along, please do so here. I have arranged a covered slip for a month which ought to suffice unless the weather REALLY gets terrible up here.

 

[bobk]

Jim, The small foam rollers do a great job. Using them will leave you with almost no brushing to do. When you brush into corners etc., use a good natural bristle brush and finish with verticle strokes.

There used to be very good instructions in the Algrip literature. Most of your work will be in the preparation. But first, have you tried to rub out the existing paint with Finessit followed by Awlcare?

Bob

PS one other tip, add some accelerator even in warm weather and mix small batches. This will minimize airborne dirt pickup.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Duly noted. I am setting all this up as we speak. It will give me something to do and the boat will look better for the season. Plus I'll learn something. Famous last words.

any other contributions are welcome. I haven't done this before so I am keen to hear any advice available.

 

[Boatsb]

It's a two to three person job to keep the paint going on and the wet edge. Communication is critical as once the paint is mixed the timer starts, Once on the boat the timer accelerates. Do the prep and hire a pro to do the finish. That way you get the best results. It's an art not an easy to learn skill.

 

[TROUBLE]

If I remember correctly, from my last boat , Awlgrip coats have to be applied while the previous coat is still tacky. That makes tipping and rolling deck surfaces difficult because you would have to walk on wet paint. You would almost have to set up an overhead scaffold.

Art

 

[GJH]

There is a lot of discussion of this in the archives of the Hull Truth forum. A lot of DIY painters over there of smaller boats.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=site:thehulltruth.com+awlgrip+brush&form=APMCS1

 

[sandspur1966]

I couldnt agree more with Scott that it is more an art than a skill.

His advice on doing the prep, including: sanding, fairing, sanding, priming, sanding, fairing, sanding, priming and then final sanding... yourself and then hiring guy who does it every day to lay out the topcoat is great. The $$ is in the labor of the prep work and not the last few hours of either roll and tipping or spraying.

I had my flybridge and decks done this past fall with the roll and tip method using ALexseal instead of awlgrip.

The foam brushes are key and also the right brush. The preferred brush as I understand it is the "Corona Europa" which is softer than the old "eurethaner."

 

[piripucha]

I am in the process of painting my boat (YF 58) with awlgrip, which is very forgiving to work with. If you are going to paint a large area you might try some standard size foam rollers that don´t come apart with the reducer and you almost don´t have to tip it with a brush. I do not remember the brand but I bought them at Merritt Supply which I am sure they can guide you to. My recommendation, apart from surface prep. which is 90% of the work, is to make a mental plan of the painting job. Don´t do as my neighbor at the marina that painted himself to the bow and had to jump in the water ( true story!!) also be careful with the weather, a small drizzle will turn your job into a unwanted non-skid surface .Good luck.
PD: next month I will start painting the hull. I will try to post some picture in my own post.

 

[SeaWhisper]

Jim,

If you like, we can talk on the phone. Right before Thanksgiving I finished painting our top side with Awlgrip on "SeaWhisperer". All that was used for the application was a 6" sponge rollers. If your going to be out of direct sun light, this is better. You'll have a better control with solvent popping in the paint. I also found that using 35% or more of the reducer on your last coat of paint will leave your finish as smooth as glass. Also more reducer will control the solvent popping should your surface get to warm. It's all in the prep. When painting between coats you need to wait the 16 hours but no more then 24 hours or you'll be sanding between coats. My choice was to sand regaurdless with 320 - 400 between each coat. My plan this summer is to paint the bottom half of our Hatt. Tech support was helpfully at Awlgrip, the guys gave me a few pointers with using their product. I'm sure you will find others here in the fourm that have great Idea's on application!

 

[jim rosenthal]

Mike PM me with your phone number, if you don't mind.

I am going to rent a covered slip for this, I don't think I could manage it in the sunlight. I am trying to find a second guy to help me, I think that is a good idea, too, as you all said.

 

[SeaEric]

Jim has shared his plans with me and most of what he wants to paint is non-skid. Pretty simple and straight forward. The few areas that are "shiny" are small and will be quite easy to get around and coat. I think he will do fine.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

I rolled the hull of my boat in 2004... Came out great... foam rollers were the key and had almost zero use of a brush... And it still looks super...

 

[Boatsb]

Jim has shared his plans with me and most of what he wants to paint is non-skid. Pretty simple and straight forward. The few areas that are "shiny" are small and will be quite easy to get around and coat. I think he will do fine.

Are you going to help him?

 

[rsmith]

Jim has shared his plans with me and most of what he wants to paint is non-skid. Pretty simple and straight forward. The few areas that are "shiny" are small and will be quite easy to get around and coat. I think he will do fine.

Non skid is probably one of the worst areas to repaint. No one wants to grind all the old nonskid off but to get the new paint to stick it has to be done. There is virtualy no way to get the surface clean and free of imbedded oils and crap with out doing it. You'll need a 7" sander with one of those thick foam pads. If you use a 4 or 5" DA or jitterbug you just end up with those "DIY" divots. Prep is the key if you dont want potato chips of awlgrip peeling in a year.

 

[OBXTucker]

I'd wait until the pollen season is over. It's awful in Central Virginia. Md can't be much better. If anyone is painting now, it had better be yellow paint!

 

[SeaWhisper]

Non skid is probably one of the worst areas to repaint. No one wants to grind all the old nonskid off but to get the new paint to stick it has to be done. There is virtualy no way to get the surface clean and free of imbedded oils and crap with out doing it. You'll need a 7" sander with one of those thick foam pads. If you use a 4 or 5" DA or jitterbug you just end up with those "DIY" divots. Prep is the key if you dont want potato chips of awlgrip peeling in a year.

I agree with rsmith on this one!!. I ended up taking a obrital sander and 60 grit to get my old non skid off!!! But I have to mention an observation that I saw this past summer! A couple of painters back in July was working on a hatt two slips down. . What caught my attention was, they were scubbing a fresh painted deck (10 days old) with a course brush and soft scrub. What had happend was the deck was painted with the wrong white shade of color. I just couldn't walk away without asking... Don't you need to sand the non skid off the deck and start over? Their reply was, this method had the same effect as using 400 grit sand paper. So after a day of scrubing, and two days later, they rolled a new shade of white to match. It's been 8 months and the boat will be returning from the Bahama's in a couple of weeks... So what say the painters?

 

[Boatsb]

I'd wait until the pollen season is over. It's awful in Central Virginia. Md can't be much better. If anyone is painting now, it had better be yellow paint!

Fighting lady yellow always looks good on a SF.

 

[SeaWhisper]

Mike PM me with your phone number, if you don't mind.

I am going to rent a covered slip for this, I don't think I could manage it in the sunlight. I am trying to find a second guy to help me, I think that is a good idea, too, as you all said.

Bump!! PM sent.

 

[rsmith]

Fighting lady yellow always looks good on a SF.

NOOOOOOOOOOO bad luck like Bananas!!!!!

 

[sandspur1966]

I had non skid done three boats ago by a lauderdale crew from Grenada. They used a heavy grit compund and a buffing machine followed by an etching solution like "liquid sand."

I have to say I was skeptical but they had done good work for me in the past and it lasted years until I sold the boat and have no idea how long after that.

His name was Andy Mitchell and I wish he was still working, I heard he went back to the Grenadines and opened a restaurant... nice kid.