glassdave

actually i do a combination of wet sanding and dry sanding. i lay out all my base coats (graphics included) than clear coat (3 and a half coats of 2021). than i sand that down and buff. i use 3M's 1200 to break the surface and i also use a tracer coat to see what has been sanded. basically the tracer coat is a dusting of black base coat. it works great when doing this as a wet system. thats the great part about this sandpaper you can do it either way. wet seems to conserve paper a bit more. i do all the heavy stuff with 1200 than touch up with 3000 trizak. from there its a breeze to buff, just takes a light wheeling. i have to say that i am a big believer in buying the highest quality products i can get. sure you can do it for less money but you will not get the quality . . .period . . . all there is to it. besides cheaper products triple the amount of labor you have to put in for a fraction of the results.

wally there are instances where you would sand between coats but they involve a much more technicle paint job with multiple layouts and fades.

grafikworx- harold what is your final method for sanding clear coat. i sometimes think i am the only one in the world to use a tracercoat on clear but it works for me. just curious because you guys set the bench mark to strive for, thanks.

pics of my hose set on "mist" and a pic of the side being sanded through the tracer coat.

glassdave

these 3 boxes of sandpaper were about $235.00 . .. well worth it. . . . . i can not imagine trying to do a job like this with conventional wetsanding methods.


see results in post 488

glassdave

NOOOOO!!!!! . . . . . . well . . ok . . . . i have some touch up paint left over

Sean H

I hope you have a lot, you have never seen me dock a boat...

glassdave

. . .uhhh . . . . .sweet . . . job security




see if offshoredrillin has that protective film in half inch

ernie davis

Always aim for the cheapest boat if you're going to miss....

glassdave

i dont think ya wanna scratch this finish



my shop rape. . . i mean rate . . is double for repairs




this is the right front sponson

Wally

So Dave, you dont sand the paint? just the clear? is that what i'm understanding? So theres no prep of any sorts for the clear? Just spray on a few layers then sand that and polish?

ernie davis

Nice shot of a mirror....but where's the boat?

glassdave

pretty much Wally. the base coat is very thin and the surface is very sensitive. all you need to do is tack it off an than go to clear. these base colors dry fast with a flat satin like appearance and consequently are very good for multiple color stripes and layouts. you can dumb a base on like this blue and be putting on a stripe or something within about a half hour or so. basecoat/clearcoat is the only way to go. all i ever use is PPG's DBC base and 2021 clear. when you get into some of the bigger jobs with large fades it sometimes becomes necessary to literally paint the boat twice. you may have to do the entire fade and clear that. re-sand the whole boat and than do the remainder of the layout than clear again. this is common with some of the mega paintjobs from the big guys and also why they can cost in the 30/40K range. its quite a juggling match figuring out the scheduling of all the colors sometimes