I want to share with everyone what I have learned (painfully) in painting the 3 coats of Perfection paint. I suspect if I knew then, what I know now I could have gotten this job done in 2 coats with a whole lot less work.

1. Surface prep is critical, if the surface isn't perfect it will show through.
2. Paint it flat if you can and the best results were when the shop was about 70 degrees.
3. You can roll the paint almost as much as you want to get an even coating.
4. Use the very best most expensive stiff brush you can get your hands on.
5. Have some lacquer thinner or acetone ready to occasionally dip the brush into and then wipe it clean and dry after a few minutes of use.
6. THIS IS HUGE, only tip an area once. Do not go back and cover an area you already tipped (only bad things happen when you do this).
7. When tipping, start with the brush in the area where you started rolling and tip toward the last rolled area and keep the brush down until it is out of the rolled paint and onto bare hull. Tip in only one direction.

I think if you do these things you can really minimize the sanding between coats. The finish has to be extremely flat before you put the next coat on, or you just make the surface more and more uneven as you add coats of paint. This is the pickiest paint I have ever worked with, even more than the stuff I put on the mast. But the results when you sort this all out are pretty good. The 3rd coat I just put on will only need to be buffed out now and then This End up will be the talk of the beach cat world.

There are images and more information in my album in Technical Tips and This End Up under the hull repair and improvements.

dg

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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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My final coat was not sanded, buffed or altered in any way. It's good enough.

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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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So with all the trials and tribulations, is there another product that would be easier to use while sacrificing a bit of the final outcome?

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Tim
Collierville (Memphis), TN
Supercat 15--sold :(
Hobie monocat--given
Vanguard 15--traded for...
Nacra 4.5--sold
Nacra 5.7
Hobie 14–sold to make room for...
Supercat 17–sold
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tnell, I think the option is gel coat. It is much thicker, and will hold up to some abuse; just sand and buff to a gloss. Gel coat is not as hard, may have adhesion issues on an existing surface and epoxy repairs, and requires annual maintenance, and certainly doesn't achieve the same gloss as Perfection. For a beach cat, gel coat is more forgiving of the abuse, and can be sanded and buffed to a good finish. I'll wait to see how the buffing goes with dmgbear55. I did not try to improve on the high gloss of the final coat.

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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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The option I was fully prepared to do was simply spray an automotive finish over an epoxy primer. It would have been a thinner coating, but just as hard when using a two part urethane. You have to have the spray equipment and have your act together to pull that off, or you will be doing the sanding thing too.

There are other products very similar to Perfection, I would expect the same issues with them.

But seriously had I started with the very stiff high quality brush and followed the 7 points I listed I think I could have gotten the same results in two coats without all the sanding in between. The problem with the lower quality brushes I used and one was billed as a tipping brush was that they left brush marks that I didn't like. When I went to the $18 Purdy stiff bristle brush the final finish was nearly perfect. The reason I am going to buff it is because I can and then it will be similar to an automotive finish in quality. I knew this stuff was finicky, I just didn't know how to finesse it when I started.

For a less hard and simpler finish the single part marine finishes are pretty good too, also far less expensive. That is what my boat had before and it did pretty well. Had I not let my boys sail the boat and scratch it up pretty good I think I could have rubbed it out and made it look ok.

dg

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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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i was an apartment painter in college (after painting 1000's of weapons in the navy)
all pro painters (i knew) use Purdy's
i have a few currently and outperform (and last) all others i have ever used