The AWLGRIP Knowledge challenge

it bubbles all the way down to the gel?,, even the high build bubbles?

 

Interestingly, Marlin Blue was a color the Awlgrip tech rep said would be okay regardless.

 

hahaheheehhe

 

No the bumps are below the high build. The high build is just fine; it's not coming loose at all. But the high build isn't enough to insulate the gelcoat below from that hot blue paint on top, so it bubbles up. Looks fine when it cool or the sun is down. That's why I think painting a dark color is a crap shoot; most owners will not know what resin was used to build their boat. I would have thought Prindle used primo resin. I would be wrong

Jimbo

 

Jimbo:

Your post #398 is the one that really gives me pause. It is one thing (an admittedly expensive thing at that) to take a chance on having the paint bubble up in a way that doesn't look good. It is quite another thing for the result to be structural problems. The last thing I would want to do is compromise a boat that has otherwise been built to take a beating in the open ocean. I take it there is no way to find out in advance what kind of resin was used? I don't think I'll have any luck from historical records, so what I'm thinking about is if there is any way to test the hull in advance.

Thanks!

 

MD. what color is your glass and resin?
Jimbo,,, ive been painting hinckly blue,, morriss green,,and a BUNCH of other dark colors on old,,OLD boats for years,, and most of these boats "belong" to the "warm regions" and have only had 1 come back because of blisters,,,but after the "hinckley dudes" and a bunch of other "freaks" went through it,, they decided it was a problem with the gel, and how IT was applied. Have you looked into the "gel" being f#k'd ,, ( maybe they had me shoot it after my meds. hehe)

 

Well now I'm going to show my ignorance . . .

The boat is currently white. Does that mean the glass and the resin are white? Or could they be different?

I haven't bought the boat yet (in fact, haven't seen it in person yet) so that is about the best information I have. She was built in 1969 (unclear who laid up the hull -- perhaps Aquafibre or Winfield in the U.K., although she might have been laid up in Finland). She was designed by Sparkman and Stephens.

 

hehe,,,,no it dont matter what color the boat is,,, your resin should either be clear,yellow,green,, them are the "usual" colors.to see the resin you'll need to look in the bilge or somewhere where the glass isnt painted.
but,,,, by the age of it,, ( and im not even close to certain) its probably poly resin.

 

"consider yourself lucky, as you did nothing to be blessed with such a resin and gelcoat; it came with your boat. This speaks well of the build quality of your boat as using cheap resin is one easy place to save $$$ in production. "


I don't consider myself lucky because I got a good finish. I got a good finish because I worked my hass off. I sanded all the gel off!! faired the hull with epoxy filler and long boarded the entire hull then rolled 3 coats of primer and long boarded each prime coat with 220. washed the boat with MEK then water then alcohol. Then I started to paint The prep that I just described took 3 months of week-end work from 5 am until 5 pm. I make my own luck!
I don't buy that bull about heat The difference between the heat of a blue boat's hull and a white boat's hull would not be enough to do the damage you guys are explaining. Try water under the gel coat expanding, Try air under the gel coat expanding. Try de-lamination of a bad layup. I have seen resin crystallize and leave air spaces. All this happens to a white hull, but if it's a little chalky you never see it.
It comes down to hard work. After all that prep I rolled and tipped 7 coats of Awl Grip. Sanding with 320 between each coat.

You all know that fiberglass is not water proof. My boat was under water. I waited two years after I salvaged her, did the structural repairs and sanded her past the gel coat before I did a final finish. Maybe this helped dry the hull like you repair blisters. I don't know, but I do know that I got the finish I wanted.

 

nobody has "good luck" with awl grip.its not a paint where if you did something wrong,, you could be lucky and it'll be alright.

 

Jer,

I paint for money, not fun. The work you did was worth several tens of thousands of dollars, easily. My whole boat cost me $3300 back in '89. It might just squeak out $2000 on the used market today (if it had nicer paint without all those little bumps ). Your beautiful boat is probably worth putting that kind of work/money into. Mine certainly is not.

Doing that work on my little catamaran is probably worth 5 grand, easy. I could find a much nicer boat for half what it would cost to strip my gelcoat and re-fair both hulls. I suppose I could do it for 'fun' but grinding and re-fairing is not my idea of fun; it's what I do for money and doing it for free ain't no fun at all

If a little boat like mine required re-fairing for some reason, most people (like myself) would consider it scrap; it's just not worth the labor. Many boat owners would come to the same conclusion about their boats if it came to that choice.

But it's not as bad as that; my boat does not really need the gelcoat stripped and re-faired. I just can't paint it a dark color. Are you getting the picture?

Jimbo

 

i get it,,,hehe,,, you got 2 row boats with a 2x4 across em,,,hahaha

 

Do you see what it says under that stupid picture of me. I learned a long time ago that when you take a hobby and try to make money from it it becomes WORK. This is my therapy from spending 56 hours a week driving a computer. It is also a frustrating hobby when you try to restore a 38 footer with no money. I only work on other people's boats for barter, never money. I feel sorry for guys like you who have to WORK on boats. I don't consider what I do "work".

 

Generalized Awlgrip Queries

Hey Folks, Just thought I would infuse some paint related subject matter to the forum.
Does anyone know how long mixed awlgrip will last in the fridge? I had about a pint left over from my last spray, so I put it in a plastic mixing cup and covered it with plastic wrap, forcing the wrap down into the cup expelling the air and making contact with the paint surface.
And what is the re-activation sequence, do you need to warm the paint up before it goes back into the pot? add anything? And will it perform like fresh paint?
How bout the latest round of price increases? Does that fluctuate regionally? I think I'm getting great pricing for a small user, but WOW!!!

Paint, Paint, Paint

 

Grady,
You won't get much 'extra time' in a fridge; gotta be a freezer to help at all. No need to add anything; it will get hard, don't worry. But you MUST let it warm to room temp before you remove the cover or it will get full of water from condensation.

I think it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway; I would advise against using this paint on anything you care about/have invested a lot of time into. It will be fine for a lawn mower or trailer wheels, but not the side or top of your boat. It will not handle well and cure details are a bit unpredictable. It may lose gloss. It may solvent pop miserably. Or it may work just fine.

Jimbo