by DanaDCole on Sun Jan 04, 2015 11:41 am
In response to a comment in Shudoman's post, "I hate painting." I actually enjoy it, especially when using Interlux Brightsides and finding out I can make it look almost like a sprayed finish using a roller and tipping off. I could never quite get rid of the lap lines, though--the problem was the paint dries a little too fast. The lap lines are almost invisible on my kayak and Skerry, but I think they would be all too obvious on the sides of a PocketShip.
So, I decided to try spraying. Rockler had a sale on the Graco TrueCoat Pro II, so I took a chance and ordered one. I have almost no experience with spray painting, but I did some practicing on scraps, and then went ahead and used it to repaint the hull on my Skerry. I could not believe the results! I have no spray booth--just a garage. I made sure there was very little dust in the air and no bugs flying around (so this has to be done in the colder months). I extremely happy with how well it came out--looked like a car finish.
Well, with one small exception that is, and due only to my inexperience. I was getting ready to paint the last section, near the stern on the upper panel (you paint from high to low, but the hull was upside down). I had just filled the sprayer reservoir and I decided I might get a better pattern with a little increase in pressure. So I raised it a couple notches and it seemed to work fine while I was spraying. As the paint started to dry, I noticed two or three small sags--oh no! What I had not thought of was that the increase in pressure also increased the paint flow--so I was getting it on too thick. As it turned out though, the sags were are close to the rub rail and are small and very hard to see. Since I was almost out of paint I decided to leave them as is rather than sand and re-paint. Now that the boat is right-side-up the sags are hard to find and almost impossible to see--so I'm OK with them. Lesson learned, always use the lowest pressure you can (just like it says in the instruction manual). With Interlux Brightsides, the pressure setting to use is number one with this sprayer.
I don't believe this forum is the place to advertise products, but as I say I was very impressed with the Graco. I'm sure there are other brands that work just as well. Airless paint spraying technology has come a long, long way since my old Wagner I bought back in the '70s. I'd use it for the outside of a house, but that's about it. (And it's way, way noisier than the Graco.)