Failed Paint Job Survey

[Plymouth Sailor]

Taking a survey of those who may have had the same issue as I. Painted with oil based enamel, rolled then tipped and left substantial brush strokes even after thinning. Tried to roll over it now I have a combination of orange peel and brush strokes (painted 3/30/19).

Choices:
1. Sand down with finer and finer grit then repaint - (my choice and I believe the most effective)
2. Polish with a automobile grit polish no repaint
3. Use a windshield wiper and push paint into orange peel (as suggested by a forum member)
4. Or just leave it alone!

 

[kappykaplan]

Go sailing!

 

[Ted]

Option #1. It may have been too cold to paint. Even though the air temperature may have been warm enough to paint, the substrate temperature has to be warm also. My guess is that the nighttime temperatures are in the mid 30's. It is unlikely that the substrate would get warm enough to paint before the temperature fell again after sundown.

 

[jamieFL]

#3 will definitely not work.

If the coverage is good and sanding won't remove too much paint, a wetsanding with 1000 grit and buff will work great. You will need a professional high speed buffer to make this work and if you have never done it, it is not as easy as it looks. But, when done properly, you can get a glass smooth paint turface that will rival any sprayed on application.

If the sanding will remove too much paint, if the brush stroke/orange peel is too deep, a sanding with 220 and a fresh coat will be needed. This is probably easier than getting out the buffer but even if done perfectly, you will have orange peel.

 

[BobbyFunn]

You should sand down with 200 grit until the brush marks go away. Since you tipped on the first coat youll probably need to go all the way down.

There is no need to get progressivly finer as youll just be prolonging the inevitable sanding to base.

Then roll on as many coats as you like. If you want a mirror finish plan on at least 5 coats so you can sand about 2 off. On each coat only sand bad rolling overlap|lift on|off. If you dont mind orange peel, the 2 good roll on only coats is plenty.

from here (if you want a shine), wet sand with 350 to get rid of orange peel.

when those are gone move to 500 then 1000 then 1500

agressive compound, then polishing compound.

I made a similar mistake earlier on too. Check out pictures. This is topside on a rudder. The upper dry section of the rudder still has brush strokes and lots of orange peel. i dont care enough about the top section.

The rest of the blade is polished and most of the orange peel is polished over. There are only three coats here and a was afraid of burning through. Polishing wont remove orange peel, only shine the areas made flat with 500 and less grit. This rudder represents your choice #2 with a third coat, then polish.

The red circled area still has brush marks, the green area is reflective but has some orange peel still.

the wet part of rudder is pretty good for no tools. You can almost make out me taking the picture.

 

[TomY]

#4.

It's easy to forget as you're looking at your topsides at eye level on the hard, once the boat is floating in the water, you won't see the same level of finish on the surface. Light reflects off the water and washes out the minute details (in the same way a photographer will use a white reflector to wash out wrinkles on a face).

Think of this finish as a base coat for the future. A few seasons of dings and you'll want to coat again.

You can do a lot of extra work but keep in mind wooden boat yards applying one part paints, typically prep and paint topsides, with no other steps.

They put the paint on with a roller and brush, and they're done. After all, it's a boat.

 

[Plymouth Sailor]

Epilogue: Thanks to all that provided helpful suggestions. I decided to sand the orange peal with 220 grit sandpaper and then roll w/o tipping. In the end it came out great, just need to paint once more to cover bare spots.

 

[BobbyFunn]

Epilogue: Thanks to all that provided helpful suggestions. I decided to sand the orange peal with 220 grit sandpaper and then roll w/o tipping. In the end it came out great, just need to paint once more to cover bare spots.

Looks fantastic with excellent gloss. Is it still wet? Nice save.

Time for option 4