Hey Guys, I have a two part question or concern. But first a little back ground info.
About 3 years ago I completely went through my little grady (24' offshore w/IO), and decided to recondition the topsides with awlcraft 2000 for a couple of reasons. First was ease of application and second was the touch up factor. When I first made up my mind to take on this daunting task, I looked to all the normal resources for info and real life experience. I ended hooking up with an craftsmen formerly from Maine and had worked for Hinkley for a number of years. I considered his experience and his willingness to share quite the bit of good fortune.
First, The use of clear is not recommended on lighter colors. I used oyster white (kinda creamy), but wanted to use clear for the ability to sand and buff the life back into the finish 4 or 5 years down the road. So I did and all went really well, exceded my expectations by miles. The question is how are most applicators putting on the clear, I appllied them as coats 4 and 5 all in one long shoot. But that's a long shoot and a heavy coat. I fear sags and runs. After finishing the project, I ran into a boat repair guy who says he finishes the color lets cure then wet sand w/3500 and then makes a second shoot of the clear. Has anyone done or heard of this technique? My Hinkley guy after many decades in the spray booth had never heard of such a thing.
Second, has anyone wet sanded awlcraft and buffed. I am aware of all the products like perfect-it and the foam wheel, but doing this seems to have me second guessing myself. If you have done this please reply with methods and results.
Sorry for the long post but thought more would be better than less when it comes to info.
WHile it does make for a long shoot, using the clear as the last couple of coats is the standard practice. As long as you allow sufficient tack time between coats the build shouldn't cause any abnormal sagging. Pausing and light sanding between color and clear might be justified if you saw dust or other imperfections you wanted to fix first but then you would (or should!) have to retape, paper and wipe down which would be a lot more work.
2000 can be wet sanded and buffed back but it depends on what you are trying to do. If it is just to get the shine back, try a light compound like Perfect-It, followed by Finesse-It, then a wax/polish to seal it back up. That will remove far less material. You will have to keep waxing periodically from that point onward though! Once you remove the outer layer of paint it exposes pigment and has to be kept sealed or it will trap and hold dirt, dust and especially exhaust soot!
Clear topcoats are much better than they were just a few years ago and many can be used on the lighter colors now with very little yellowing. One way you could add several years of life back to your existing paintjob would be to compound it back to bright color and clear over that. You wouldn't need to start the was routine for several years by doing that.
the only question I have is why would you want to re-do it?
spray or roll n tip awlgrip lasts 4-8 years nice n glossy if you just shammy it ... re coat it if you need shine but don't try to clear awlgrip that has been fixed or had clear before you will get a calico cat .. of many colors.
Thanks Bill and Quest, This is what I'm trying to achieve. My boat looks great, save for the two chafe marks in the exact shape of the fenders that resides there while at the dock. Just thought at some point I may want to freshen up the gloss. I was thinking that a weekend spent buffing for restoration sake would be time will spent.
This is just research for a future endeavor, I would like to know as much as possible about the proprieties of the product I used and what is able to done to maintain the finish as long as possible.
I am very happy with the quality of the reflection as well as the finishes overall durability. I would be happier if folks with alot more day to day experience with the product where able to tell me about its limitations and characteristics.
I have found that you paint it and take care of it..
non-skid areas that you walk on and then only use soft hand mit's.. you can 'fix' awlgrip some and finnees it and I can find it.. so can you.. now that you have a base just make it better.. the 2 part drys in a shell and you take the finish off by buffing or waxing even.
my hats off to you going at it though and painting your own rig.
I guy in Annapolis told me his trick with clear. Shoot your color in the first coat , then half color and half clear then clear. I am not as good as he was , burt the boat I saw looked perfect. I still struggle with a little orange peel. But I did do My fighting chair this way and it came out great.
JW
Hey Quest and Banshee, thanks for the responses. I'm real happy with my finish, I have a great little system for spraying it's not all that simple. But what I found is that you have to do your homework. And adapt the info to a system that works for you with you equipment (compressor, gun, hoses, filters and water separators etc...) as well as your environment (spray booth, climate, light conditions etc...). combine that with your level of experience and with a little luck and loads of hard labor you'll come away with a great finish.
The advice (which I followed) from my man Jim (my Hinkley guy) was to mix what was left over from my last color coat (#3) with enough clear to shoot what your shooting (#4) let flash then finish up with full clear coat (#5).
Nice looking paint job! Definitely would get some cloth covers for those fenders though. You never see a megayacht without them. You will have to clean them occasionally but they're a lot better on painted finishes.
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