Simple question, I am getting ready to paint a ADK guideboat exterior with Interlux topsides, planning on leaving the stems and gunwales bright. My thought is to varnish those first then tape a line and paint the rest, My question is can I leave the same tape edge on there for the whole priming and painting process or do I want to remove it while each coat is still a little green and soft. I am using 3m fineline tape if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance for the help.
hi w.mass,
i typically leave the tape in place except for the last coat where i pull it off while it is a bit green (as you descibed).
that said, i typically work fast so that tape will not be there for more than a couple days. the marine enamels i use are the one-part brightsides....they actually take a couple weeks to be fully baked/ultimately hard.
so i see nothing wrong with your strategy. my only other comment, however, is i don't typically use a primer, but just do a good job sanding.
if i were to use a primer, i would update my taping approach becuase you need to be able to sand the primer and you can't sand it with tape in place without damaging the edge of the tape. you do not want primer in anyway exposed to water. so if i was going to prime, i would create a tapeline a bit inward from my final location of paint. do my primer, sand it, pull the tape off and then put the tape line down for the paint ensuring now that all primed surfaces are covered with paint and with a nice, new clean tape line for just the paint.
h
I second hspira's comments about primers. I've fount that Brightsides polyurethane wotks very well on top od sanded epoxy resin. I've has problemds with PreKote and none directly on sanded resin. Had a bilge pump failure on a moored boat and absolutely no issues with Brightsides bubbling after 2+ weeks of saltwater immersion.
Cheers,
Dick
Thanks for the help. I don't want to open a can of worms here but I am not using resin, the paint will be on bare wood do you both still recommend no primer? Thanks