by tonyj » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:30 pm
I'm getting to this conversation late!
Your tear paint job looks great! Don't sweat all those imperfections yet because you can do some color sanding, compounding and polishing and get the surface smooth as a baby's butt and shiny as the top of my head! I painted the hull of a 26' fiberglass sailboat with Briteside using a short nap roller (not foam) and used cheap foam brushes to tip and smooth. Like you said gliding the foam lightly over the surface to lay down the bubbles and strokemarks. With a very light touch, you can feel and hear the difference as the brush goes over the surface as the paint tacks up. I got a better finish than if I had tried to learn to spray, and everyone was sure someone had sprayed it. Several thin coats using the brush thinner to get the paint to almost water consistancy--well, not quite, but very thin. And it polished out great. You could still feel some of the nibs and bits of dust, but from two feet, you only saw reflection. You can achieve that, too. By the way, I did all that paint work outside with no protection. Unfortunately, my boat never saw the water again while I owned it, and four years later that finish was still beautiful.
If you have to sand and repaint one more time to satisfy yourself, do it. The work will be worth it. If not, I guarantee no one will ever notice the "flaws" you see. They'll just keep saying "You painted that with a brush?"
Still graced with two eyes and ten fingers (due in no small part to luck!).
Just when you think a problem is solved, an uglier result replaces it.
tony