TOPIC: Favorite Paint For Roll & Tip?

Hi All,

I'm trying to hone in on a paint for my '62 lake n sea restoration. I used Kirby's alkyd enamel on the bottom and trim of my mahogany wagemaker. (videos posted on youtube under wagemaker). The Kirby's has held up for over 3 years now in the Chesapeake Bay brackish water, landing on the beach and towing to a few shows however I have seen comments that it and other enamels will loose gloss over time and look chalky.

I've read a lot on the forum about rustoleum, another enamel but with fewer color selections, and of course the big names; awlgrip, pettit, alexseal, total boat wet edge, etc. available in 1 and 2 part formulas.

In your experience, what brand is easy to apply, roll and tip, offers the best gloss retention and abrasion resistance?

I don't necessarily want to go cheap just to see it fail in a couple of years.

So with proper bodywork, faring with an epoxy based paring compound, primer, etc. What are you using and what is holding up over time?

Original color was a greener sea foam gel coat but we are not certain that will be the final color selection.

Thanks,
Eric

i used a gray epoxy primer. don't remember the brand. and bougt Petit Eaypoxy polyurethane malibu blue and blue ice paint. boat was painted by Maaco car painters. 3 coats and baked in an oven. looks like the day it was painted 12 years ago. boat is always garaged when not in use and never left more than 2 days at a time in the water.

I'm old school. I use Z-Spar 99 on the topsides. Holds up really well.

I've had very good luck with the Rustoleum brand. It does come in the basic colors but with those you can mix up a rainbow since they come in gallons, quarts and pints. For the roll and tip I use just a smidgen of thinner and hardner. This is just for the hull. For the topsides I spray thinned and hardner and then sand with 2000 grit and polish with McQuires ultimate polish. These two pictures are of two 1960 Shell Lake Rockets both with Rustoleum. The "blue" one was a mix of mostly white, a little dark blue and some of the green. You can just keep adding a few drips at a time until you get the color you want. The yellow Rocket I wanted to get close to factory so I just reduced the basic yellow with lots of white which came out a brighter yellow. Again with hardner. The chemical hardner will thin a little also so keep that in mind. Spraying will need at least five coats since you will be sanding and polishing...you don't want to rub through to the primer. Don't ask how I know. A 15' boat will take approx two quarts thinned. This will leave enough for touch up when needed. Only mix the hardner into the paint that you are going to use within the pot life because it will not store. Turns to thick jelly.

vuyosevich wrote: i used a gray epoxy primer. don't remember the brand. and bougt Petit Eaypoxy polyurethane malibu blue and blue ice paint. boat was painted by Maaco car painters. 3 coats and baked in an oven. looks like the day it was painted 12 years ago. boat is always garaged when not in use and never left more than 2 days at a time in the water.

Ron I used 2K high build epoxy primer. Stuff goes on great and dries for sanding within an hour.

Thank you for the feedback so far. I'll probably need to do some mixing to get that greener version of the seafoam from the original gelcoat color.