Mixing oil paint and polyester resin to create a gelcoat like surface.

[sdowney717]

One of the marina workers was talking to one of the boat painters about paint.
The boat painter says mix in pint of polyester resin into oil paint, add the appropriate amount of hardener and the resulting paint turns out like hard gel coat that settles down smoothly.

Anyone tried this before?

 

[psneeld]

Never even heard of it.

Can't say it will or won't work...but most paint types haven't been too compatible with different chemistry in my experience.

 

[DavidM]

Interlux among others makes one part polyurethane paint- Brightside or two part- Perfection for this purpose.

As psneeld notes polyester is an entirely different chemistry base than paint.

I wouldn't take the chance.

David

 

[DHeckrotte]

Try it on something you're willing to discard. Googling won't give you much beyond folks mixing oil paint into polyester to tint the cured resin: https://davidneat.wordpress.com/tag/mixing-polyester-resin/ Thus, it might be OK for artistic purposes.

 

[sdowney717]

I would try it, but don't have any resin. The marina guy is a friend and I trust what he said about what this boat painter said, but I do not know this boat painter guy. It does sound like an interesting experiment if anyone has some time and product to test a little and see what happens. Gus knows boats and the painter has been painting boats a long time, so it was like a painter's secret mix getting shared, FWIW. The story was it turns paint into the equivalence of gelcoat.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

It might work.

But it makes no sense to me. Polyester resin kicks off. And once it starts to, it stops flowing out fast.

Plus by diluting the paint you vastly dilute the UV protection.

 

[Lepke]

For a harder, shiny surface with oil paint, I use a quart of varnish added to a gallon of paint.

 

[Brooksie]

For a harder, shiny surface with oil paint, I use a quart of varnish added to a gallon of paint.

This does work, I have done it, it makes a nice, strong finish. Polyurathane, not spar, varnish. Polyester resin & paint, I wouldn't try it.

 

[Nomad Willy]

If it did turn out to be like hard gel coat it would probably be hard and inflexable.

17 Why do you want to do this? Why hasn't it been declared? They put X, Y and Z in polyester coatings to achieve certain properties. If you put one quart of poly in a gallon of oil based paint even if they are 100% compatable you'll only get 20% of the qualities of that polyester coating. If that's what you want and like then get the real deal ...... polyester paint. If it's too expensive get something else.

If you're just looking for marine paint that's less expensive discover the Ingredients of the marine paint and find house paint w the same ingredients as the marine paint. Just saving money though. Two quarts of Brightside is about $120 so perhaps this is worth doing if you've got enough painting to do. Not me. I'm just going to use Brightside.

 

[cool beans]

Sorry, sounds like something you would read on the internet that "everyone knows" but nobody has tried. I just can't imagine any ratio of oil based paint to resin that would not leave you with some kind of sticky mess when the resin doesn't fully cure or the oil based paint can't fully air dry.

I wonder if in the game of telephone, this was originally about adding tint to your resin? That I have done, and it does look like paint. . .

Having painted cars and refinished furniture, I'm leery of just mixing stuff together else you might end up with a panel of semi cured snot

 

[cool beans]

If you're just looking for marine paint that's less expensive discover the Ingredients of the marine paint and find house paint w the same ingredients as the marine paint. Just saving money though. Two quarts of Brightside is about $120 so perhaps this is worth doing if you've got enough painting to do. Not me. I'm just going to use Brightside.

Not to get to far off topic but my dock neighbor is an old salt who restores small craft. He was telling me about using outdoor deck and porch epoxy paint from Lowes. Buys in bulk when it goes on sale. He's got a couple years on a Cal 29 that looks bristol. White hull, and they custom tinted the paint for his non-skid to some slate blue color. Just my 2 cents, remember what you paid for it

 

[sdowney717]

I do use acrylic latex gloss house paints on the lower boat hull. Last paint job i used Behr.
I found mixing in red RV antifreeze a fair amount even a cup in a quart thins the paint and lets it settle down smoothly with a foam brush. And the red color does not change the white color. It slows the skinning over so that it flows out better.

This winter I have been painting around the front windows.
I used Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 primer and Gloss White Rustoleum Topside paint.
I really like the Zinsser primer, dries fast, can build up a thickness and then sand smooth. Most of my sanding I did by hand and did it wet.

I thinned the Topside paint with paint thinner much more than 10%, more like 30% and rolled on 5 coats with a smooth foam roller. It looks ok to me. Still not as smooth as the thinned acrylic latex gloss paint on the lower hull which from just inches away you can see no brush marks.

I may try thinning the Zinsser primer with the red RV antifreeze and see if it lays down smoother.

 

[Pau Hana]

How do y'all figure out what snake oil to add to paint? I'm no chemist, and know that many hours and experiments/testing go into a retail paint product...

 

[sdowney717]

How do y'all figure out what snake oil to add to paint? I'm no chemist, and know that many hours and experiments/testing go into a retail paint product...

I have read on other painting forums, that EPA regulators forced paint companies to lower VOC contents of paints which makes them not flow and smooth out as well, that includes acrylic latex paints. So adding in stuff can help. Specifically was mentioned the RV antifreeze which is polypropylene glycol, basically a type of alcohol, and yeah it does help smooth the paint in my experience. Or you buy more costly floetrol or penetrol
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Flood-Floetrol-1-qt-Clear-Latex-Paint-Additive-FLD6-04/100198078

 

[Tony B]

This is called Voo-Doo chemistry. There is a lot more chemistry that goes into a product than just a mixing bowl. My first question is, do you really think that this yard guy knows more than all the chemists and engineers in the petro chem industry?

My next question is, do you think that this kind of stuff is unknown to the paint industry and he alone has this secret.?

Do you really want to risk the integrity of the paint job on your boat?

At the molecular, there may be lots of incompatibilities that take a while to show up. For instance, the paint may look great for the first year or so and then it become slightly foggy and off color as the incompatible products slowly migrate away from each other. At this point, you will probably be blaming your cleaning agent or some other reason.
I acnt say that his idea won't work, but i surely wouldnt do it to my boat.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Not to get to far off topic but my dock neighbor is an old salt who restores small craft. He was telling me about using outdoor deck and porch epoxy paint from Lowes. Buys in bulk when it goes on sale. He's got a couple years on a Cal 29 that looks bristol. White hull, and they custom tinted the paint for his non-skid to some slate blue color. Just my 2 cents, remember what you paid for it

Haha cb,
I paint several places on my boat w house paint. The board that is the base of my "radar arch" is fir and varnished lightly at first. Recoat time came and I used Benjamin Moore latex house paint. After several years it looks great and the white color works better. The inside of the cockpit is also house paint tinted to match the Brightside on the rest of the boat. Works fine. But the same house paint was very undesirable on the deck. Got dirty fast and wouldn't clean up well. Need more gloss there. I also use floor and patio latex paint for the plywood decks/sole inside the cabin. It works really well and wears like it should as a deck paint.

That's about it though ... the rest of the boat is Brightside, oil, and oil based varnish (McClosky's). But in places the house paint works well. Never have mixed different types of paint. If I was inclined I'd ask my favorite paint experts at my favorite paint store. Over time I've found they really do know paint.

 

[Tony B]

I have read on other painting forums, that EPA regulators forced paint companies to lower VOC contents of paints which makes them not flow and smooth out .........[/url]

This is true. In most of these cases, the paint product tells you on their label, not to add thinner. That's because if the manufacturer told you to add thinner, he would be telling you how to dodge the law. So, if you call tech support they will tell u the proper thinner to use to solve your problem.