We're having a stretch of warm weather for Wisconsin, so I'm planning on getting the sides on my weekender. I want to prep the inside for varnish (or poly) and paint. My question is how much "tooth" do I need to give the epoxy. I had some bubbles and sanded them out, and am using 100 grit sandpaper to prep the epoxy. Even with that grit, tiny "shiny" areas show up. Do I need to eliminate every single glossy area no matter how small? If so, any tricks to doing it?
Dave
Not 100% sure Dave. I didn't. I just lightly sanded the surfave, then washed it down with soapy water, rinsed clean and painted.
Dave, you need to sand all the shiny spots to give the varnish something to grip on to. Warren aka Zignman ps I'm a signpainter. lots of experiance with this. 8)
Ditto Warren's advise. For most full body paints (single part alkyds, acrylics and some polyurethanes) 100 to 150 grit is enough for primer or additional coats of epoxy. 100 if you have lots of smoothing to do, 150 if you don't.
For clear coats, you need to be much finer, 220 or better. I will very rarely go over 320, because you can't see the scratches after that in most finishes. Clear coats will show scratches from sanding so you need the finer grits. Don't machine sand with these finer grits either, you'll see patterns and "swirl" marks, left by the machine, under clear finishes.
Thanks, guys. The shiny spots are TINY.. the bulk of the epoxy has been dulled. These are the areas where a tiny bubble might have been or a surface imperfection. The bulk of the surface is available for varnish or paint to "grab".
Dave, he is right about the 100 grit, too rough. If you have the patience, sand with 220 grit before varnishing. 320 grit is all you need in between coats, and if you are varnishing outside you need a minium of 6 coats and should do 9 coats! UV rays kill all things. I use a lite brass wool as the varnishing gets closer to 6 coats. Warren
I've found out that epoxy looks great when aplied over my white latex paint. Its a nice smooth shiny sealed surface. I'm contemplating sealing the entire inside cabin this way but am not sure. I mean I already put 2 coats of Kilz premium primer and 2 coats of lowes severe weather white latex paint.Â
(03-18-2010, 05:37 PM)warren percell link Wrote: [ -> ]you need a minium of 6 coats and should do 9 coats! UV rays kill all things.Warren
9 coats,OMG :o
I've gone over my varnishing routine a few times here, but in a nut shell you need to lay down several bulk coats to build up film thickness, then you lay down several finish coats. On a show winning varnish job you may have 20 or more coats. On a recently refinished mahogany powerboat transom I sprayed 12 coats over the repaired base material. This guy wanted it like glass, so I probably sanded half of these away.
The clear coating can be repaired if you have sufficient film thickness. This is where the novice usually fails, not enough film thickness. There's a good bit of sanding and smoothing going on, which removes material thickness, then UV has it's way with it, further removing film thickness. You have to have enough material to prevent wood damage, so 9 coats isn't really much at all.
Mike, coating latex? with epoxy? what for? They are different stuff, I would sand and paint over epoxy but never put epoxy over latex. They will move at different rates as the temp changes and gotta crack the epoxy eventually. Never done this so I can't really swear to this, it seem strange to even put latex on a boat. ???