How many coats and/or how much paint did you use on the bottom ?
1 coat primer, 2 coats silver then 2 coats blue. I think 1 quart of blue and 1 quart of primer would have been sufficent to do the whole boat.
The bottom is much more contoured than the top.
That is not true. In addition to the top haveing much more extreme contour, it is also more concaved. Rolling over a convexed section is easy. Using a touch up brush on a convexed section makes the paint go on very thick, which means very slow drying times.
I'm no expert at all, but using a primer that can be thinned with water on a boat doesn't sound too good.
Meh, I'll let you know how it turns out. I used primer on the bottom. No primer on the top. If the paint stays on one and not the other, we'll know.
1. Has anyone tried to add metal flake and apply it in this way with the enamel cut with mineral spirits? Results?
The guy at the automotive paint store said it wouldn't work. The metal flake wouldn't bond correctly with the rustolium. I also asked about prices. If you're going to spend the $$ to get metal flake to put into the rustolium, just buy the automotive paint with the metal flake in it. Automotive paint has hardeners, and comes in thousands and thousands of colors. Spend the few extra dollars and get automotive paint. (ex. Adding pearl to rustolium would costs $15 + can of rustolium $8 = $25, Blue pearl automotive paint was $25-$30 a can.)
3. What type of clearcoat is best with this type of paint for gloss and durability purposes?
You do not use clear coat. The paint does not require a clear coat. In addition, without a clear coat there and easy access to rollers and paint... if you do scratch it... touch it up, sand smooth.
Wow was I skepitcal about painting with Rustoleum, but I will say the car in that link looks pretty good! I'm not about to sell my spray guns, however....
Be skeptical. My pictures look as good as that guys. My silver on the bottom was blinding when the ski was outside, upside down in the sun. However, it is not as smooth as a car. Pictures are deceiving. I did try to sand the bottom with 2000 grit, but it actually took away the shine (but boy, that area I sanded with 2000 SMOOOOOOTH!!! but not shiny.). The roller does not go on smooth at all, and the sand paper was taking off the metalics in the aluminum paint. I'm hoping to have better luck with the top, it has no primer, but so far it's loosing shine with the sand paper.
Personally, I think the entire boat could be done with one quart of automotive paint. I'll eventually do a boat with automotive and can compare costs, but at this time, it seems like automotive wouldn't have been much more expensive, have been more duarable, with a better color selection and the option of peal or metal flake for not much more money. I haven't priced it out, but I would venture to say automotive is the best option.
I think the rustolium job could be done with 1 can of paint, defentily with one can of paint and one of primer. That's $17, + $10-$20 in rollers (they clog up and can only be used 2-3 times, more if you pushed it), $3 for 100 grit to sand the hull, $3 for 600 grit b/t coats, $3 for 2000 grit to finish. $10 for a gallon of mineral spirits. Personally, I also bought a can of aluminum and a can of black to do some other things, but if you didn't want to do that, then you could have saved that $$. I think everything I have was $50-$70. Like I said, $18 of that was having multipile colors, and possibly another $8 going to an unecessary primer.
NOTE: we're off track. I wasn't asking about rolling paint. I was asking about spraying the paint. I think I might thin the paint 5-10%. 50% is pretty damn runny. I don't know how that guy rolled on 50/50 paint. It's like wiping water on it. It was so runny, it ran under the tape.
