Paint questions...

[wildmaninal]

I'm painting the interior of a 14ft aluminum boat. Couldn't tell ya the brand boat, all I know is that it is an old deep V and that I might half to register it as a home made.

I got all the old paint off right down to the aluminum.

Anyhow decided to paint the interior a smoke grey, I only put 1 coat of automobile primer and 1 coat of rustoleum smoke grey followed by a little clear coat in spots (applied in 1 and a 1/2 strip only) so far.

The problem is I clear coated the side caps and rub rails and some of the clear coat (not all) is not drying like it should, it is leaving a checkered pattern. The paint had plenty of time to dry before I applied the clear coat.

Is this some kind of contaminant that made it on to the paint's surface before I applied the clear coat?

Or what? I thought I had all the dust and all wiped/cleaned off. Now I'm affraid to apply the clear coat because I'm thinking it'll mess up the paint job.

Also how many coats should I be applying? I wanna make this paint last a while.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: Paint questions...

could have been that you used a clear coat that wasn't compatible with the color you applied. NOt sure what you used, but most auto clear coats contain fairly aggressive solvents and will pull color that's not made to stand up to it. It is a good practice if you don't know which to mix and match, to use the clear from the same paint line and manufacturer as the color - ie if you use dupont / nason basecoat, use dupont / nason clear coat. same goes with primers, etc... Hope this is helpful...

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Paint questions...

You said it was automotive primer, but was it designed for aluminum?

Which Rustoleum did you use?

Which clear did you use?

Like wca said, many products aren't compatible.

Some types of Rustoleum can take weeks to dry.

 

[gcboat]

Re: Paint questions...

Yup,
wca hit the nail on the head. Most- if not all - clear coats have a very agressive amount of xylene ( among other nasty stuff )which will 'checker' or 'alligator' most single pack finishes.
Just sand off what you've done and repaint with your original color - this time leave the clear coat off. You'll be just fine.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Paint questions...

could have been that you used a clear coat that wasn't compatible with the color you applied. NOt sure what you used, but most auto clear coats contain fairly aggressive solvents and will pull color that's not made to stand up to it. It is a good practice if you don't know which to mix and match, to use the clear from the same paint line and manufacturer as the color - ie if you use dupont / nason basecoat, use dupont / nason clear coat. same goes with primers, etc... Hope this is helpful...

Good point, I am not a painter by any means, I did think about that at one point but I wasn't for sure. I even have this happen when I paint my homemade lures but it doesn't happen all the time.

You said it was automotive primer, but was it designed for aluminum?

Which Rustoleum did you use?

Which clear did you use?

Like wca said, many products aren't compatible.

Some types of Rustoleum can take weeks to dry.

Here is what I started out with, I forgot that I swapped to a different brand and different shade of gray paint.

I started off with

1. Rustoleum automobile primer
2. Rustoleum painter's touch gloss crystal clear
3. Krylon gloss classic Gray indoor/outdoor

Then I swapped to

Rustoleum gloss protective enamel smoke gray because I couldn't find anymore krylon gloss classic gray. I only painted the side wall caps with the krylon and some of the bow which is going to be covered anyway by a casting deck.

Yup,
wca hit the nail on the head. Most- if not all - clear coats have a very agressive amount of xylene ( among other nasty stuff )which will 'checker' or 'alligator' most single pack finishes.
Just sand off what you've done and repaint with your original color - this time leave the clear coat off. You'll be just fine.

I might just leave it like it is, it is just a couple of small patches that checkered when I clear coated over the krylon, you can't hardly see it unless you look real hard. What is strange is that it is only those 2 or 3 little spots out of all the other side cap that I clear coated. If I was more out to sell the boat I might fix it which I might sell it later on down the road but I would like to keep it for a while.

Here is a before and after

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: Paint questions...

It looks really good form here !!! hahah no it really dont look bad at all !! John

 

[wca_tim]

Re: Paint questions...

not bad for a rattlecan job! btw, I'm no painter, I've just got a lot of experience on how not to do things...

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Paint questions...

Thanks guys. I'm working on painting the medium blue on the motor also, got to get up the money for the gloss black and gloss white to do the other parts of the cowling.

Got some of the framing up for the casting deck as well yesterday.