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I'm having some serious problems with my paint and I'm pretty sure it must be due to operator error, but I don't know what it is. The problem I'm having is with the Valspar Severe Weather paint which I laid on top of several coats of Kilz II. When I go to wet sant, it comes up way too easily in balls or clumps on the paper. Once that starts I can get a section of it and peel it right up. Now this isn't happening everywhere, just sections as I go wet sanding around. (I'm doing the hull) I paid attention to all the details on the can in terms of weather conditions, temperature and preparation of the surface. After wet sanding the primer for the final time, I went over it with wet rags several times until a white rag came up clean; showing no color as I had added pigment to the primer. I wiped her down with a dry cloth, set about with other tasks for about a half hour and commenced to paint with a roller. I am working outside and I think it would be dry enough in that amount of time. I painted in the middle of the day with a cover over her for shade and left it for about four or five hours before I had to cover her for the night, and this may be where the problem is. Though we didn't have any rain for the next several days, we did have a lot of fog and everything is affected by that. However, my cover does go all the way to the ground and precious little moisture could have gotten up under there. I think I'm caught in a bit of a dilemna here. I think I need to cover her up at night because if I just leave the shade cover up overnight, the moisture of the night, especially fog will most certainly deposit moisture on the surface by morning. The other problem is that by covering her up tight condensation must be forming on at least parts of the surface. After a week, I went to sand and it was coming up bad. I thought that perhaps it needed more drying time and every day that was dry I pulled the cover back to let her get plenty of air. After another week, it's still coming up, the starboard side and the front part of the keel being the worst. My game plan is to continue with the process until all the stuff that "wants"to come up is removed. Much of it is sanding just fine. Once I have that done, I should go back and spot paint those areas a coupe to three times, sand that down to match the surrounding areas and put one one more final coat. Before I put on any more paint though, I really need to figure out what my problem is. Needless to say, I'm a bit irritated about this and am close to sponsoring the first Burning Boat Festival!

Tom Don't burn the boat. Help is on the way. crap like this is what the moning chair is for. I don't know the answer but I am sure you will have to take off all the loose paint that didn't bond so go ahead with that, someone on the board will know the answer. worse things have happened, I just can't remember what they were. Hang with it you are almost there. good luck Bud :wink:

yeah - don't burn the boat. Whatever the problem - it is fixable. If not - it nigh'on time for Bud's fruit cake recipe...at which time you will not remember this thread....


a.

Tom did you have the top coat tinted at the store? the tinting process really retards the drying of paint. I used some brown on the spars the first year and on an old piece of club it is still not fully dry. If using tinted paint allow much more time between coats and make them thin coats. try to get your tarp to stand off the structure over night so you get some air flow, don't worry too much about the fog. I used the Olympic latex satin on the hull with very good result. 6 years on the initial coats and in the salt water.

About now, if I were still a drinkin' man, I'd be hittin' the Cuervo.

I think you may have oversanded you primer, and/or left it too long before painting. Anime blush could be suspect, but with what you described, the primer wouldn't have stuck. Living in the Utah desert, humidity is not something I'm used to dealing with

Here's what I would do (did), but see what others have to say first, like Barry or Paul.
1 - Sand off all the paint that will come off.
2 - Scrub the affected areas down with soapy water.
3 - Rinse and wipe down the boat.
4 - Sand the S&*t out of the boat with 60 grit (80 grit will do in a pinch)
5 - Wipe the boat down with a lint-free cloth, or blow it clean with compressed air.
6 - IMMEDIATELY paint the boat.

Since the primer is cured, there is no possibility for chemical adhesion. Your window of opportunity for mechanical adhesion is about 8 hours, maybe less. Sanding with too fine a paper leaves little for the new paint to stick to.

Burning the boat gives some warmth, but little gratification. Kicking the paint's a$$ will give you satisfaction for years to come.

Keep movin forward.

Was the Kilz the latex or oil base?

And Pop, it IS time to repost your fruit cake receipe. hock: The pain of last seasons fruit cake has dissapted.

Tom,

Not to fear, I had this exact problem.

When I painted my catamaran I had sanded the primer down using 320grit and then painted it right away. I had wiped the hulls down and used a tack cloth to ensure a nice clean smooth surface prior to painting and low and behold the paint peeled right off. I could peel it off in large strips, leave a completely clean smooth primed surface below. Oh, how I moaned. I thought of burning the boat down as well. It would have been easier than the pain I was experienceing. All my hard work to make my boat just the way I wanted, and here I was so close to completion and now this. WHY?????? WHY?????????? WHYYYYYYY????????

Did anyone see the episode of the Simpsons where homer tries to build the brick BBQ in the back yard and fails. Yup that was me!!!

<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/users/fletcher90/video_player?id=ciNmxGH_5bINuTc" target="_blank">Homers BBQ Project</a>

I didn't understand it. It was crazy I thought. Of course it was about 35 celsius that day and I was painting the boat right there in the sun and thought that the fast drying time may have had some effect on my paint job.

I soon realized that is was the lousy paint I used. It was Behr Outdoor latex enamel. I used a a solvent based primer and then a latex enamel which in theory should have been ok because a solvent based primer should cure by the solvent evaporating. Anyway, I believe it was a combination of the primed surface being to smooth (If there is such a thing) and the enamel. Enamel I find in general does not adhere as well as other paints. But hey, after sanding it all down again and re-painting it in a cooler environment and letting it cure for the past several years the paint has held up very well.

Enamels typically take a week or longer to cure properly and only get better with time. I re-painted my boat for the first time this past summer and when I sanded it it didn't gumm up the sand paper or ball up (very much - typical of enamel) and I recoated it the same day. I took it sailing about a week later and it hasn't shown any signs of peeling or poor adhesion. It simply takes longer to cure for some reason and once it does it seems to hold up well.

Keep moving foreward. You will get through this. Or light it on fire and dance around it in the light of the moon......It's your choice really. :lol

Wow....sounds like I'm not alone in this nightmare! I used a color additive that I put in myself from a tube. I have the empty tube if I need further info on it. The Kilz was a latex as is the Severe Weather. I don't think it's a problem of compatibility. I guess I'll follow Brit's advice and proceed to remove that which will come up and keep moving forward.

I had sanded the primer with a 120 grit on the final coat before the topcoat. Can it be a problem of a "lack of tooth????" I suspect not! I think that when I do put paint on again I will keep just the cover over without closing it up and allow it to get air; even if it is foggy. My guess is that the first 24 to 48 hours are very important and my problems come form there. I did notice the other day when I worked on her that when I removed the covers, the area up at the bow was definitely moist to the touch. This has to be condensation forming overnight. Perhaps when I do cover it up, I should do so later in the evening when she's had a chance to cool down from the day's heat/warmth.

Thanks for all the encouragement. I think you all know the sinking feeling you get in the gut when this kind of thing bites you. Hopefully we'll have enough dry weather and I can find the time to finish sanding over this long weekend.

As evidence that I've not lost it completely and retain a sense of humor, here's picture of my paint salesman giving me advice:

You can't sand that latex enamel for several months - it just won't be hard. For the first 6 months after painting my boat, the paint below the waterling would change color every time I took her out.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've noticed the change in color too and I was surprised that after two weeks it was still doing that as I sprayed with water and it ran down the sides as I worked. I knew it took a long time to fully cure, but I thought it would cure enough for sanding within a week as the instructions on the can says:" Do not wash for 7 days."It sounds to me that if I went ahead and spot painted a couple of coats over the areas I've sanded back to the primer, I could then go ahead and simply roll out one more layer over everything, it would be good. Everything would have three thin coats on it. Just let it set for a long time. My plan could be to do that, flip her back over and continue to work through the winter and get back to the hull in the spring with 150 grit sandpaper and one more coat. I could live with that. Does this sound like a good plan???