Richard Woods Flica 34' plywood/epoxy Build

Hey guys do i need to roll and tip primer and bottom paint or is rolling just fine?

 

Rolling is good.

A few important tips...

1. The roller frame at 9" is too wide and will be trouble. 6" is good, 7" max.. the 9" will not roll even and will walk...a boat is not flat and just pretend the roller is 3' long and you'll get the concept/problem...I was surprised and have a $40 box of 9" covers here I can only use cutdown.

2. Roller cover 3mm to 3/16" is best. Thicker will unload too much and give you nightmare amounts of sag/run.

3. Never paint side to side for a final pass. Always up and down. Sideways or horizontal WILL sag.

4. Plan wet edge or dry edge intersections for topcoats. You can't go over marine paints after about 4-5 minutes; they don't cooperate with retouches well. Try to make it perfect the first time. Holidays or paint voids are signs of amateur work.

5. Remember, the primer coat needs to prepare for the topcoat color scheme. A darker primer will make it necessary for many topcoats. A lighter primer will also bleed. The primer coat should be sanded after a couple. For the topsides, 180 grit or to manufacturer spec. For the bottom, 120 should be okay as long as you don't cut through. For expert paintwork, more primer coats are better. 3 no sand coats, and 180 or 220 sanding and a final coat for color is really usually exceptionally good primer prep. For the bottom, on an epoxy boat, a couple is fine. Bottom paints are never going to last as long as two part topcoats.

6. Always run the roller frame the right way! There is a right way and a wrong way. The right way is for the roller frame outside edge to be towards the already painted surface and the frame edge to be toward the unpainted area. Why? A paint roller applies more pressure on the frame end and thus unloads or leaves more ridges under that side. It is nearly impossible to get a nice finish if the roller is used backwards.