Surf Bort Repair Thread

Need serious help with spray painting a board. Long story short I did all prep work, removed all wax, sanded it all down, and painted it with a matte blue. The matte blue stuck well and I gave it two days to dry.

Tonight I went out to put on a clear matte coat to seal it and all hell breaks loose. In 6-8 areas the paint bubbled up and got all crinkley on me. I touched it and my blue paint wiped right off. I'm gonna wait for it to dry and sand down the jacked up areas. But, how should I proceed?

See attached pics of spray paint and where it got jacked up. All advice is welcome.

 

Board is an old hotline beater my dad found me. I've spent like 6-8 hours fixing dings a million little dings and sanding. I just want it to turn out. HELP.

 

Rattle cans are almost always petrol distillate solvent based paint- the solvent is meant to bite into older cured paint and plastic surfaces. You can shoot clear over them but better do it very light and several (very light) coats letting cure each time but the paint does not benefit much from the clear. If your paint job came up don't try to sand it all the way off as it will load up paper immediately rendering it useless. Use some paint stripper to get the bulk off then start from scratch. Scotch brite pads, garden hose and gloves will get it all off. Then maybe sand 220 grit until dust forms. Lots of work to be sure. Better to just lightly sand higher bumps off crinkly areas and slap some white die cut decals over your funky spots after cured and ride her hard IMHO.

 

* that's where my problem was. I was way to generous on the clear coat. Didn't realize it would be so bad. I'm gonna sand those areas down. Do you think I could just go over the sanded parts again with just the blue matte? Or will I really need to strip it all? I'd like to take the path of least resistance, if possible.

Thanks for the words.

 

If it where me, I'd sand down the bubbled up areas and hit it again with the blue.

The damage is done, now... and garbanzo is right... there's probably a solvent in the clear coat spray. I always make sure I use a matt acrylic, which is much less likely to react with the paint.

Acrylic... always acrylic.

 

Thanks LB.

I actually haven't done anything yet. Waiting for some spare time this weekend. I'm gonna get a thing of acetone and 200+ grit sand paper and take it all off. I realize that I definitely shouldn't have used enamel -_- mad at myself for that but I'm learning. Gonna get acrylic and do it the right way.

Does anyone think I could get away without a clear coat? Or should I just do it very very lightly? I'll go insane if i end up jacking it up again.

I've spent hours fixing dings, sanding and prep work. I just want this baby to turn out right.

 

An acrylic top coat will eventually wear off, and so will the paint. Every little rub area and scrape will eventually show old board underneath.

A more permanent fix for a paint job is a coat of gloss resin. But that adds weight, and no strength. It only has cosmetic and waterproofing advantages.

 

As much as I would like to do that I don't think this will be worth it. If it was a really nice board I would consider it, but it's just a junker that I'm fixing up to look somewhat okay.

 

Make sure you mix the resin properly and according to the directions. Don't wanna have soft goey resin or have it dry to fast. Also, be sure to sand really good. If they're small dings, you probably don't even need a power sander. You could use sandpaper in varying degrees of coarseness. I wanna surf that WRV when you get her seaworthy again. That bort kicks ass.

 

What model McTavish is it? I have an early 90's, day-glo, orange, poly Carver that my son and I have brought back to life twice.

 

Still suite!
My board was originally purchased in New Zealand by a rich relative who wanted to learn to surf while globe trotting. After surfing it into a reef, then moving back to Syracuse, NY, she left it in a storage shed for close to twenty years where my brother found it and sold it to me for $40.
It was our first surf boart repair and it went well! My son was surfing it in a head plus hurricane swell, fell off a steep lip and landed on his back on the upside down board tearing two fins out plugs and all...slicing his back in the process.
We then replaced the plugs and she is back in the quiver in heavy rotation.

 

So the acetone, 250 grit sandpaper and 4 hours of manual labor removed all of my enamel spray paint. Note to self, always use acrylic in the future. Just started laying down the fresh coat. Should have a new board by the end of the weekend!