So I’m down here to help a friend with her boat project. I brought a representative sample of Great Uncle Dick’s brushes, the ones that have been painting for so long that, usually, all I need to do is whispher the magic incantation and they get to work, while I drink the beer. Not this time.
I wiped off the first attempt after maybe a foot, and added some paint thinner (as suggested, though not recomended, by the manufacturer). Yuck. It was draggy, wouldn’t level, etc, etc. Wiped it off again. Next time I added some Penetrol. Better, but not good. I had better luck today (not as hot), I added more Penetrol, and I kept the pot of paint, covered, in the refrigerator over night.
Any suggestions gladly accepted because I’m not done yet!
Replies
Ed, I would try going to one of the local paint stores, not a large chain, and see what they would do. I know that the painters I know of don't slow down much, only when the lobster are in season, or the dolphin are running.
Where are you located in this nice, cool state?
Jerry
My friend's boat is in St Augustine.
I've been painting for too many years, have used this paint in the past with excellent results - I don't think it's the paint (Kirby), it's the humidity. ;-)
More probably the heat, than the humidity. The humidity would slow the rate at which the solvent, even if it is not water, can evaporate.
If the paint happens to be a urethane or something similar, that actually has an affinity for water in it's uncured state, it could be pulling moisture from the air and "jelling". in which case it would be the humidity.
I lived and worked in Vegas for thirty years and have more experience dealing with heat than I ever wanted, but not much with humidity.
Kirby's is a pretty traditional paint. If you are ever looking for something in the paint department that you can't find locally, chances are Kirby's makes it.
Things went much better today. I kept the paint in the fridge (the gallon can, too), used Penetrol, and painted at, for me, warp speed to keep, mostly, the edge wet. I was painting three sides of a mast.
But I'll still take tips. We did stop at a 'real' hardware store as I wanted brush cleaner, a card scraper, and some other odds and ends. They barely had any brush cleaner ("All anybody uses is latex."), "Card scraper? What's that?"
Hey Ed,
Maybe you can get your girlfriend to polish your jib-boom, til it's cool enough outside for you to paint her mast?
Ray
Hopefully BobS can explain the arrangement. ;-)
How do you Floridians paint in the summer?
I'd bet they hire a contractor or wait fer winter!
I live in Florida, having been dragged down here from Conn. a few years back, actually not that bad, for 8 months of the year but for these 4 months of summer it's hard to wonder why in God's name I'm still here (100Deg/110%Hum). The few natives still left here are probably wondering the same thing.
In any case, though I don't live in St. Aug., there is a really excellent Marine supply/hardware store there. I don't remember the name offhand but it's big, likely the biggest one in St.Aug., and all the locals swear by it. Though you'll have a hard time finding a discount anywhere near it. It's near the water(of course) and off the main tourist drag a bit. Sorry I can't provide better, it's been a while since I've been up there.
Every one of the guys I've ever dealt with there knew what they were talking about and I'm sure they'll steer you straight. I'm betting it'll be "Wait until October" or so, but maybe they have a trick or two, or product or two up their sleeves.
Good Luck,
KWL
LIke you Ed, I'm a great fan of traditional alkyd paints over Easypoxy and Brightsides' plastic toy look and feel, but in your weather conditions I believe they will be a major improvement in application.
They are formulated for a wider range of conditions and to be more forgiving of technique.
“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
LOL Bob, Ms 'M' has laid in a big stock of Kirby's. As far as technique, these brushes have ~ 75 years of experience, they ought to know what they are doing ;-) .
When I got the idea to chill it (seemed an obvious thing to try) I was concerned that moisture might condense on the paint, causing no end of something. Then I remembered a product of my childhood, 'Chilled Varnish'. I don't know what it was, really, and it never was put on our boat, but I do remember seeing the can, and I swear I remember people taking it out of the fridge at the club. Anyway, I figured if that had to be chilled to work, and if there were no major problems using it, then the technique ought to work for paint.
So far, so good, but I wish I could take a little more time applying it.
Your weather negates all those decades of professional painting experience and you'll be better off with a paint formulated for use by the unskilled and hamfisted. ;)
The good news is that once it has cured, you can rub out that plastic paint with red or gray Scotchbrite lubed with paste wax to make it look almost like there is real wood beneath.“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
Sorry, but 60 years in south Florida and I have never seen 100 degree temps or 110 percent humidity -- never put any paints in the frig -- never used any fancy boat paints (just Pettit and Interlux mostly) -- and never though about painting boats with a good brush that the marina had as a big deal. Thinning with kerosene or something more specific was always assumed.
So, . . . really do not know what the big whoop here is about?
When we need your use and counsel, we shall send for you.
Boy am I confused. Pettit and Interlux make what most people would call "fancy boat paints", and thinning with kerosene is very much out of the norm and not something that someone from a less tropical clime (where the kerosene would take ages to evaporate) would think of quickly. Those are the sort of things that create a fuss in trying to adjust.
I've never seen 110% humidity either, but I do recognize hyperbole when I see it. And, when Miami had 28 days in August (29 in July) with the high temp over 90° that's plenty hot enough even if not quite 100°.
Thanks for the reply, Steve.Wrote that on the fly as SWMBO was waiting to go out; obviously missed what you correctly recognized. But then, it is currently too hot to hunt for or haunt hyperbole havens.Cheers! :-)Edit: Hope this is also read by EdHarrow, whom I unintentionally and mistakenly seemed to have offended in some way.
Edited 9/17/2007 1:56 pm ET by WoodShopGuy
Whatever could have given you that idea. Your thoughtful advice was so very helpful.
PS: Bob Smalser is an artist of the highest caliber.
Edited 9/20/2007 10:14 pm ET by EdHarrow
No need for confusion. Price them then read the instruactions on the can. Pettit and Interlux certainly are "fancy" and expensive marine paints and are best thinned with exactly what the manufacturer recommends.
Pettit makes the paint I refered to as Easypoxy and Interlux makes Brightsides. These are polyurethane-modified oil-based alkyd paints with additives designed for easy application by yacht owners under a wide range of environmental conditions.
Kirby's OTOH is an old-fashioned alkyd oil paint with no modifiers or additives similar to the Kelly Moore Tredcoat I like to use here on the West Coast. While painters have used these successfully since alkyd resin was first formulated a century ago, they are more prone to run, sag, stick and show brush marks when used in less than optimum weather. I no little experience with Florida heat, but I can tell you that in our typical 40-degree weather, alkyd paints run to beat the band. The typical roll and tip in cold weather involved very little rolling and a whole lot of tipping.“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
Yes, I use the Brightsides for my boot stripe about every year. It stands up pretty well except for the mooring ball that rubs against it when wind and current aren't cooperating. I agree that they are very easy to use paints and lay down and level very nicely, definately falling into the fancy range, except in comparison to the two-part things like Interlux Perfection which at $60 per quart, plus $20 for the necessary thinner, and which isn't an easy to use paint.
Of course, I'm in Connecticut where getting launched the spring means painting and varnishing on the colder side of the temp ranges. I was rather surprised to learn that Interlux 333 Brushing Liquid contains kerosene as a major ingredient. But it also contains naptha, so I imagine the idea is to flash off part of the thinner quickly enough to avoid sags, but let the rest stay fluid long enough for brush strokes to level.
Sounds like you have a good handle on it.
For the old-timey look on a design that benefits, Kelly Moore Tredcoat Industrial Floor Enamel (California) is a dead ringer for Kirby's, holds up as well as any alkyd paint and costs $26.00 a gallon on a commercial account. Besides the look, another advantage of old-fashioned alkyd is that it comes off easier than poly when the time comes.
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“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
What a beautiful boat!If only more unnecessarily stressed people would realize what a
great Prozac substitute . . . .
Thanks. It's what we do.
“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
I've never seen 110% humidity either.. Me either but I was once stationed in Fort Hood TEXAS..I stepped onto some sand and I sinked to my knees in something AND shortly after had dust blow in my eyes!
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