After 12 years of doing the best I could with Z-Spar BRS 100 two-part
polyurethane paint, I have bought some Awlgrip to try out as comparison.  I
am wondering if any of you DIY types have tips for using it with a roller
and brush.

My biggest concern when using the BRS product was the extremely short period
available to tip off the rolled on paint.  If a mistake of any kind was
discovered after about a minute or so, it was there to stay.  Any attempt to
go back and correct was bound to cause more problems.  I just never found a
brushing thinner that worked with BRS.

I have started out slowly with Awlgrip by painting my boat boom.  Mixing the
brushing thinner at the recommended 25-35 % yielded a mixture that once
rolled on would produce many sags where the brush was used to tip off.  I
was amazed at how long I could continue to go back over and over the sags
and adjacent areas to fix the sags.  I used the recommended short knap
roller cover and a natural bristle brush.  I came away with a sag or two for
this first coat and figured the brushing thinner was way too much at 25-35%.

For my next coat, after sanding the first one mostly off in getting the boom
smooth again, I used VERY little brushing thinner and a very thin foam
roller cover rather than the US Paint recommended short knap roller cover.
The second coat went on pretty well, and I am pleased with the result.
However, I found that I can pretty much get away WITHOUT the need to tip off
the rolled on paint.  I took some of the excess paint from this second
coating out to the boat and applied it to a previously prepared area of the
side of the deckhouse.  Again, wherever I tried to tip off, I got a sag.  So
I just applied the paint as thinly as I could with the roller by dropping a
tablespoon's worth into the roller pan and with just a drop or two of
brushing thinner in the pan to keep it flowing onto the roller.  After
several hours now, it looks about as good as I could do with the Z-Spar
product on my best day - and no tipping off.

I'm wondering if this experience is similar to what the rest of you
do-it-yourselfers have experienced with this paint.  I hope to do the entire
hull with this product some time, and I want to be really comfortable with
its use before I go off on that tangent.  Nice thing about it is that the
Awlgrip "Snow White" color very nicely matches the "Gloss White" Z-Spar I
have been using.

Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42-295)
Southport, FL

-----Original Message-----
Rich Gano
Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2002 3:28 PM
To: Trawler World
Subject: TWL: Awlgrip paint - roll and tip method

Reply,

My wife and I painted Skooch top to bottom last summer. I started using the
roll and tip with Interlux two part Urethane. I found it worked well but was
too hard to do on the whole boat. I'd still be up there. I bought a
compressor and good spray gun and got decent results for a Boatyard job. the
other major advantage for me was that I could pick a weather window of 3-4
hours to put on a coat. With brush and tip I would have to have much more
time. I do not know where to stop and start when you get outside the weather
windows doing a whole hull.

The two part poly-urethanes need to dry before dew or rain get on them.

The tip part is the part you may be having trouble with. They don't mean to
brush it at all. Roll it on thinly, then just faintly use the very even tip
of a very good badger brush. The brush should never carry paint and you only
use the very tippy end. It also means a badger brush as large as you can
hold for 50 hours with the very tip of the brush absolutely level all the
way across. No little bristles hanging. Try that on a ladder or scaffold up
on the bow of the Grand Banks. They recommend one person roll while the
other tips. SO two are up there.

I tried a few paints and I have used Imron is a past life. The Interlux
flowed very well for me and was more readily available. I would try it over
Awlgrip as Awlgrip has always been difficult to spray and is used mostly by
those pros that spray it every day. Its great paint for Pros in a enclosed
paint room. The Interlux is formulated for us DIY-ers and is much more
forgiving. Might be worth $50 for a quart to try. You want to pick the one
that is the easiest 2 part/poly to use. It will be slightly less glossy due
to its ability to not sag. But you'll never notice unless you are going to
get a spray booth and do it as a pro. In two years they will both be the
same gloss anyway. Paints like that, the glossy have more gloss to loose.

BTW I did not count the hours this took the Admiral and I, neither of us are
good at record keeping. But we estimate 250 man hours for the hull, super
structure and fly bridge. Sand/fill/sand, primer/sand, topcoat/sand,
topcoat.

Skooch Hatteras 42 LRC
Worton Creek