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Struggling to get EZ-Poxy to flatten (old can?)
I could not contain my curiosity and build optimism in late April and cracked open my quart of EZ-Poxy like a fool to do color matching with potential deck fabrics. I used an ounce or two and put the lid back on. It's September, and I'm finally painting, but I fear that my paint lost some solvents over the intervening months. I'm using 5-10 wt% Pettit brushing thinner and 6% Pettit performance enhancer (tried 0% on the first coat). Sanding between coats with 220 on random orbital followed by 320 until strokes disappear. Every single coat has lap marks, streaks from every brush stroke, and even spots that look like holidays but I think are spots (regions) I brushed exceptionally late (leaving micro-scale texture on top of brush strokes). I've put 4 coats on (have sanded off equivalent of two, I'm sure), and the can is almost empty. Is a new can (with all the original solvents) likely to fix my woes? I've used thick foam rollers of two kinds and thin Wooster foam rollers with 4" Jen foam brushes for tipping.
6 replies:
RE: Struggling to get EZ-Poxy to flatten (old can?)
Using separate posts in part because posts from my phone lose paragraphs - apologies.
I am not dilly dallying as I roll and tip, to be clear. There were certainly multiple patches rolled and tipped within 30 seconds (all within 90 seconds if not 60 seconds), yet I see lap marks for all. I am just mixing thinner and performance enhancer, pouring into my tray through a paint filter, and painting. No need to give thinner time to work after mixing and before painting, right?
RE: Struggling to get EZ-Poxy to flatten (old can?)
I talked with a guy at Pettit tech support. He didn't think the paint was likely to have gone bad in the can but suggested bumping the thinner concentration up to 15% and possibly going without the performance enhancer at relatively cool application temps of 65 F - 75 F. I know the performance enhancer is supposed to accelerate drying, so that kind of makes sense, but I don't have high hopes for that option given that my 1st coat looked similar without it.
I'll report back once coat #5 (!) goes on.
RE: Struggling to get EZ-Poxy to flatten (old can?)
I rolled/tipped coat 5 (!) at ambient conditions of 70F/70% and a slight breeze (gusting to 10 mph?) about an hour ago as Pettit recommended (nearly 15 wt% thinner; used 4 wt% perf enhancer). The paint was so thin it soaked into the thin-nap roller like crazy and flew off on a few occasions (I need to get my wide tipping brush out of my roller tray so I can roll it ~dry).
The results are dramatically better but still not perfect. The lap marks are almost all gone if not all gone. The brush marks were comparable after applying but have flattened out considerably in the 60-90 mins since the paint went on (but are still visible for sure). I expect them to be faint enough to be borderline acceptable by the time the paint dries fully.
I am a finish perfectionist, though, and I think I'll sand this back a bit and try one more without performance enhancer (as Pettit recommended).
I suspect that I'm not tipping off as fast as I think I am. I think I'll video myself putting on the next coat to see for sure (I get lost in the moment with extreme focus, I suppose). I think I will tape off the side panels so I can limit my painting to the bottom panels and limit my working width to 8-12 inches or so (I've been doing more like 11"-18", probably). This will allow me to tip out faster since I won't need to hop from side to side, and I'm hoping this will let the paint self-level a bit more effectively.
Is it unrealistic to expect a carefully brushed-on EZ-Poxy paint job to have few or no visible brush marks?
RE: Struggling to get EZ-Poxy to flatten (old can?)
SB,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I wanted to use Toplac Plus since they claim you don't need to tip (or sand between coats, IIRC), but they were not yet producing Boston Whaler Blue. I went with EZ-Poxy because it was as close as I could get to "aqua" (my artistic director's emphatic choice). Sanding back to epoxy and starting over ain't happenin' (if that's what would be required to switch over to Toplac). I'll try to put it on in tiny strips to keep a wet edge as mentioned, I guess, but that might be a huge pain to do the rest of my Kaholo that way (bottom, then sides+ rails). Maybe I'll just sand it smooth and buff it out to a not-so-high gloss and move on with life.
To be clear, I have no experience painting and might be making mistakes I'm not aware of, but this has been a pretty frustrating experience. Maybe I'll call CLC tomorrow as a sort of Hail Mary before putting my last...last...coat on.
RE: Struggling to get EZ-Poxy to flatten (old can?)
SB,
Great to know I can use Toplac on a base of EZ-Poxy. I faired/sanded out effectively all of the imperfections prior to painting, so should be no need to fill anything. Given that i've got close to $200 invested in EZ-Poxy (on my 2nd quart now) and related products, I'm really hoping I can make it work. If not, though, I'll sand back a bit and finish off with Toplac as you suggested (Boston Whaler Blue appears to be available locally now). I will certainly try Toplac before I paint another boat with EZ-Poxy!
RE: Struggling to get EZ-Poxy to flatten (old can?)
» Submitted by HerbieRidesAgain - Mon, 9/9/24 » 3:24 PM
3 of the 4 coats went on at 75-78 F with humidity of 50-60% (which I figured was on the hot side and might be causing fast drying), but I put the last coat on at 65 F / 75% humidity. Winds of 5 mph or less for all. They look exactly the same.