System Three LPU water based long term product review

[Delfin]

To mount electronics, I built what is basically a hollow rectangular surf board and painted it with System Three water based linear polyurethane paint. As you can see in the second picture, after 7 years gloss retention is still quite good, and seems to rival solvent based paints and blows the doors off single part formulations I have used. This piece is exposed to maximum sun 365 days a years.

The material is fairly easy to work with, but more finicky than solvent based LPU paints like Awlgrip. It has to be applied in the shade and because there are no solvents other than water, you can't overwork it and still get it to level. For this piece I slopped the paint on with a foam roller, then tipped it briskly once with a foam brush and let it settle. It should be applied thick so there is sufficient body to level before it gels. Done correctly, you can't tell it isn't sprayed.

All things considered, this looks like an outstanding candidate for top side paint jobs, including decks.

WR-LPU Topcoat - System Three Resins, Inc.

 

[Scary]

This looks like a good product

In California solvent based finishes are all but done. I haven't sprayed any of the water based automotive finishes. My son in law is a car painter here in Sacramento and has had to learn to to work with these new paints. They are getting good results. there is a learning curve. All of the cross link polyurethane finishes are more challenging than the old one part solvent finishes. Cleanliness is critical, never use used rags, alcohol solvent or product reducer clean up of surface a good idea, no fingerprints on the surface before applying finish coat. On large jobs the water cleanup and the ability to use an airless with this finish is attractive. One note of interest was the problem of using a turbine style HVLP with this paint as the air from turbine would require cooling. I have a large Graco turbine HVLP and the large hose is a pain in the butt. The new fine finish airless spraying systems by Graco are excellent if you have enough volume to justify the clean up. The ability to clean up with water makes this product interesting to me as it makes clean up with an airless affordable and your not spraying a lot of solvent into the environment . I like the possibility of color sanding and buffing this product out. Also the fact that it tacks up early reduces the dirt and dust factor that is a problem with high gloss finishes. Roll and tip doesn't work for me on large surfaces, I've not been able to get spray type results and it takes at least two people. In the dusty environment of a boat yard one of the few advantages of applying gelcoat is the fact that finish is attained by by color sanding and buffing to get a high gloss finish. This is a huge part of the job. It sounds like you can apply this product color sand with 1200 and buff out to remove dirt and or sags and be done with it.

 

[Delfin]

In California solvent based finishes are all but done. I haven't sprayed any of the water based automotive finishes. My son in law is a car painter here in Sacramento and has had to learn to to work with these new paints. They are getting good results. there is a learning curve. All of the cross link polyurethane finishes are more challenging than the old one part solvent finishes. Cleanliness is critical, never use used rags, alcohol solvent or product reducer clean up of surface a good idea, no fingerprints on the surface before applying finish coat. On large jobs the water cleanup and the ability to use an airless with this finish is attractive. One note of interest was the problem of using a turbine style HVLP with this paint as the air from turbine would require cooling. I have a large Graco turbine HVLP and the large hose is a pain in the butt. The new fine finish airless spraying systems by Graco are excellent if you have enough volume to justify the clean up. The ability to clean up with water makes this product interesting to me as it makes clean up with an airless affordable and your not spraying a lot of solvent into the environment . I like the possibility of color sanding and buffing this product out. Also the fact that it tacks up early reduces the dirt and dust factor that is a problem with high gloss finishes. Roll and tip doesn't work for me on large surfaces, I've not been able to get spray type results and it takes at least two people. In the dusty environment of a boat yard one of the few advantages of applying gelcoat is the fact that finish is attained by by color sanding and buffing to get a high gloss finish. This is a huge part of the job. It sounds like you can apply this product color sand with 1200 and buff out to remove dirt and or sags and be done with it.

Interesting about the turbine HVLP issue. Makes sense it would evaporate the water pretty quickly if the air was heated. One thing I found on rolling and tipping is that you really have to slop the stuff on, then tip it and go away. And this was on a horizontal surface, which is why my thought was to recommend it for decks. For vertical surfaces I would want to spray it.