Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

I just got through reading a few posts about a similar issue last week, i go to put on my decals today and notice the paint seemed somewhat loose. ignoring it i put on the decal and the entire area instantly bubbled and peeled off. upon further inspection there are several spots on the boat that are starting to look similar.

I used system three yacht primer and totalboat topside paint. everything was prepped, sanded and cleaned to specs so i'm pretty stumped right now. TotalBoat said they've never had an adhesion issue and instantly refunded my money and left it at that. I'm not sure where to go from here? pressure wash it then sand it all off? it seems to also be happening with the kiwigrip on the edges. I'm totally stressed, about to mount my new motor today and have several fishing trips in the near future...

CatFishHunter, I don't have any experience with TotalBoat Paint but clearly you did not have any trouble with the SystemThree Yacht Primer as you can clearly see if has held up well!! Maybe you just had a bad can of paint?? Jeff

yes the primer is hard as nails, paint is soft like an oil based paint. it's a bummer either way. now to get it all off now or later????

I think the paint had some kind of contamination in it!! Pressure wash the paint off is probably the easiest way to get that top coat off!! Jeff

You build it to be a work boat and you have work comin up. Even though it is a pretty boat. As long as the primer is holding up and you have to sand all the paint off, can you wait till you slow down enough to re-do it?

yes thats the plan, sand the bad areas clean them up then fish the rest of the month. i'm with you jeff i think the power washer would make quick work of a bad situation.

CatFishHunter, I have only seen a top coat paint come off in sheets like that once and the painter was absolutely positive the paint had been contaminated with something. He cleaned it up, received a refund and then repainted with the same brand/color and never had a problem again with the paint. But it took three times as much labor to get it right!!! Jeff

the only thing i could think that might of contaminated anything would be pollen in the air or possibly washing my brushes out in mineral spirits between coats, but i let the paint cure then sanded and cleaned between each coat??? I've never used totalboat products and only did because of all the great reviews on Jamestown dist.I still have some left but not sure if i want to go that route.

I don't blame you, I would not do it again either!! Go Interlux, it is about the same price and a really good paint!!! Jeff

CatfishHunter wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 11:09 am the only thing i could think that might of contaminated anything would be pollen in the air or possibly washing my brushes out in mineral spirits between coats, but i let the paint cure then sanded and cleaned between each coat??? I've never used totalboat products and only did because of all the great reviews on Jamestown dist.I still have some left but not sure if i want to go that route.

I have a few wild guesses.

What did you clean the boat with after sanding the primer; specifically?

What was the final sanding grit of the primer?

Because you will be repeating that step....

everything was sanded with 180 then washed with water and wiped with acetone...

CatfishHunter wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:41 pm everything was sanded with 180 then washed with water and wiped with acetone...

Acetone..no.

Use denatured alcohol.

I don't believe acetone would be advised by any manufacturer.

Stick with more inert solvents for general cleaning or use the advised wash.

Acetone can even solve the rag you use, for example, and leave a residue.

My guess is that this is the culprit. A lot of people may argue with me and say acetone will flash, but I do NOT trust putting this solvent on AND I waited a whole day to let alcohol flash off fully. Then I tack twice; once day of paint. I had very little trouble with contamination, but it was not easy. We had to drive up the humidity to about 50% for tack cloths to not build static.

Then on our final coat, I had some dried paint in the first go; so annoying. It is gonna be in there until a repaint now!

I did some further reading and acetone leaves behind a trace 1/1000th of 1% and it is not inert.

Pretty sure the acetone or acetone in pinholes or something solved your top paint.

Cured epoxy primer is darn tough stuff.

could have been the acetone but never really had an issue with it before, but i have been rushing this last month or two to get on the water before this winters fishing season ends... I chalk it off to be a lesson learned and be sure to take my time and follow the instructions exactly when i get time to redo it, but doubt i'll be using that totalboat paint. it was very thick from the get go and didnt want to thin very well with their "special brushing thinner" I knew from the first coat something was up with the paint, as it took forever to cure. it's a shame because the color is great and very glossy.

I assisted in spraying a friends boat with awlgrip. We cleaned the boat with fresh cotton rags and the Awl-Prep Surface Cleaner and then a tack rag exactly as described in their manual. The first few coats are barely a mist, but you could tell the paint was almost beading up. We made the call to clean off the paint before it cured which was not a fun job. Many paper towels a a lot of denatured alcohol later, we wiped down the boat again this time still using the denatured. Paint job went off without a hitch that time.

Point being we did everything by the book and there was still some contamination either on our rags or in the solvent that came straight from the manufacturer. I'd try again with a different solvent, different rags, and a different batch of paint. Painting is a pretty sensitive process.

thanks guys, i will definitely use denatured alcohol from now on. and now that you mention it i was having trouble with the rags linting up the surface and had t buy some different ones during the last part of the build. it doesn't help that my build is under an outdoor carport. I'll try to get through the next few weeks of fishing and take care of this asap. I scuffed up and repainted the loose areas earlier to get me through as long as possible fingers crossed.

Sorry to hear about your paint issue, that sucks. The same thing happened to me 13 years ago.
I don’t have confidence in acetone either. I believe it could have affected your paint bond to the primer. You have gotten great advice on that.
I’m also not a fan of mineral spirits for cleaning paint brushes. After my first paint debacle, I throw the brush away after each coat.
I also would go rougher than 180 grit when you are putting 1 part type paint on top of 2 part primer. I’d use 120 grit myself, for more tooth.
The problem with 180 grit paper or a disk is it that the abrasive turns into 240 or 320 grit after a few strokes or a minute or two with a sander.
We fight this issue a lot in my woodworking plant, trying to balance stain penetration and finish quality with sanding processes.

Another wild guess is humididity. Or drying too fast.

Good luck catfish. Painting is finicky business. A paint that goes on thick is also bad cuz a high mil can also peel.

I hope mine works out.

I'm going to guess more the acetone than anything else. A good majority of the acetone sold in big box stores is recovered acetone from hazardous waste operations, or so I've been told by a couple of vendors. That stuff has more "allowable" contaminants in it then the stuff from a scientific vendor which is rated out at 99.95-99.99 and the price reflects that. 4 liters or roughly 1 gallon is ~119 versus ~16 at big box stores.

Denatured alcohol is a lot easier to reprocess with fewer contaminants.

Aripeka Angler wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:19 pm
I’m also not a fan of mineral spirits for cleaning paint brushes. After my first paint debacle, I throw the brush away after each coat.

Yikes.

I've been cleaning my brushes and thinning with mineral spirits, as directed by Jamestown Distributors with their TotalBoat topside paint. They now tell you to use the TotalBoat thinner but before they started selling that they said to use mineral spirits.

Am I in for a disaster?

VT_Jeff wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 3:01 pm

Aripeka Angler wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:19 pm
I’m also not a fan of mineral spirits for cleaning paint brushes. After my first paint debacle, I throw the brush away after each coat.

Yikes.

I've been cleaning my brushes and thinning with mineral spirits, as directed by Jamestown Distributors with their TotalBoat topside paint. They now tell you to use the TotalBoat thinner but before they started selling that they said to use mineral spirits.

Am I in for a disaster?

I followed this recommendation as well. Thinned and cleaned with mineral spirits as they recommended before they sold their own branded thinner. 3 years later every bit of the paint peeled off and I'm redoing it. total boat did refund my paint cost several years ago but it's been a pain.

CatfishHunter wrote: ↑Mon Sep 04, 2023 1:04 pm I followed this recommendation as well. Thinned and cleaned with mineral spirits as they recommended before they sold their own branded thinner. 3 years later every bit of the paint peeled off and I'm redoing it. total boat did refund my paint cost several years ago but it's been a pain.

Well that total-y sucks! I'm a few years in on my skiff and so far no signs of peeling, knock wood. I just repainted my driftboat this winter with more of their totalboat topside paint, and probably thinned it with mineral spirits, as I have the memory of a goldfish and had no recollection of this thread. Came out looking great, I'll keep my eye on it though.