Spray can vs. spray gun

[WeeHooker]

There is a process and learned skill in painting regardless of if your using a rattle can or spray gun. Myself, I use rattle cans for most jobs as it's economical and timesaving. I also like that I can do quick touch up's down the line without mixing paint. FWIW, I repainted the inside of this 85' grumman fisherman 2 years back. It took 6 cans to get a uniform finish and is holding up well. BTW, As long as we are talking paint, that's DeckOver Deck restorer on the floors and bow platform/hatch. The wood was solid but weathered so I sealed them up with a rolled on finish of this thick coating. It left a semi rough finish that is not slippery at all.

 

[LaqueRatt]

This was before wet sanding. I have better pics, but seem to have misplaced them. 7 coats of Black Rustoleum. Since I rolled it, there was zero waste and I used less than two quarts.

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

I used rustoleum to paint my boat. I used lacquer thinner and a hardener shot out of a cheap hvlp. It worked fine but I ruined my garage. I hung plastic and covered everything, looked like Dexter's kill lab, lol. The overspray mist whatever crept in everywhere and out the crevices between the garage door sections. Did I mention the hardener I used? Made it impossible to clean off. 6 years later the boat still looks decent, little dock rash. But it's a blood and guts fishing boat. I'll never spray in my garage again.

 

[thill]

This was before wet sanding. I have better pics, but seem to have misplaced them. 7 coats of Black Rustoleum. Since I rolled it, there was zero waste and I used less than two quarts.

That looks great! Look at that shine.

2 quarts of Rustoleum is really cheap for painting a car. The only thing I would say is that MAYBE spraying would have saved you a lot of time cutting and buffing, but your results look awesome.

Thanks for digging up and posting the pics. That is so cool.

 

[thill]

There is a process and learned skill in painting regardless of if your using a rattle can or spray gun. Myself, I use rattle cans for most jobs as it's economical and timesaving. I also like that I can do quick touch up's down the line without mixing paint. FWIW, I repainted the inside of this 85' grumman fisherman 2 years back. It took 6 cans to get a uniform finish and is holding up well. BTW, As long as we are talking paint, that's DeckOver Deck restorer on the floors and bow platform/hatch. The wood was solid but weathered so I sealed them up with a rolled on finish of this thick coating. It left a semi rough finish that is not slippery at all.

Thanks for sharing that. I just found the product. It's Behr Advanced Deckover Smooth or Textured coating. Here is the link to the product: BEHR ADVANCED DeckOver® Waterproofing Coatings for Wood and Concrete | Behr

I see a silver-gray color that would suit many aluminum boats. I will seriously consider using this product over the next floor replacement I do. That would be faster than the paint and sand system I currently use, and it's currently $44.98/gal, which is reasonable for the time and effort it would save me. And it should offer good waterproofing protection of the deck, besides anything else done.

This might be a good alternative to using vinyl flooring in places where it can't get wrapped around, due to access.

How much did it take to do the inside of your boat?

Thanks again for sharing.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Spraying in your garage sucks! I've tried everything including an earth ground to the car frame and STILL I get over spray everywhere AND the dust settles in the paint. Every damned time. If you're going to paint vehicles at home get you an electric buffing DA, a bunch of compounds and resign yourself to many hours of labor. It is very rewarding though because you can obtain absolutely perfect results if you work at it. No body shop can equal what you can do at home, because they leave the orange peel behind. On a two stage paint job you gotta actually cut and rub it twice. Once for the base coat and once for the clear. This is why I prefer single stage paint. It's also so simple it's ridiculous to repair a Rustoleum/lacquer paint job. You scratch your two stage paint job, it's back to the body shop and break out another thousand!

BTW I did a lot of spraying on the 71 SS. All the high build primer got sprayed on, because I didn't care about dust or over spray. I did it outside when the weather cooperated. If you figure in cleaning up the gun and all the tedious crap involved with spraying though it doesn't really save much time over rolling. I could roll a coat on the Camaro in about an hour. Believe it or not rolling lays down a much smoother coat than a gun. You can't avoid avoid a little bit of ripple with a gun. With a roller there is absolutely none of that and all it takes is a wet sand and a buff to turn it into liquid glass.

We're talking boats here though. I don't think such a high level of detail is warranted. Most boats will be jaw droppers with a fresh coat of paint, minimal prep, and no compounding.

Attaching a few pics of a rattle can job that people could not believe I did myself for like 20 bucks. 13 coats of hand rubbed lacquer.

 

[thill]

Hmmm... That gives some food for thought.

Yes, that would be over the top on an aluminum boat, but it sure looks good on your stuff.

Since spraying the Rustoleum is so easy to touch up, that is valuable as time goes by.