The weather finally cooperated here: 60 degrees 50% humidity. I have an "HVLP" gun that operates from a normal compressor, not as efficient as the one Tim uses, but a lot better than my old full pressure gun. There is very little overspray and the gun is a real miser when it comes to paint consumption.
I'm painting in an enclosed plastic shed to keep fumes from drifting through the neighborhood, and using a modified mask that draws fresh air from outside the painting shed, and is also filtered with two dust filters and dual organic vapor cartridges.
Initially I tried forcing air up the hose using a fan, but this upset the small intake and outlet valves in the mask, so I scrapped the idea. Even though I'm sucking air through a 24 foot hose the setup works well.
The hose is a bit of a nuisance to drag around; you have to be careful not to drag it across a freshly painted surface. Two hoses, one on each side of the boat, would work better.
I wanted a nice bright color so I chose 1937 GM "Scarlet". The paint is DuPont Imron two part polyurethane. This paint has an activator that contains some pretty nasty stuff so it's extremely important to cover every square inch of one's body and when the job is done get out of the shop and stay out until the paint has set. I keep the mask on while mixing paint and during cleanup operations too.
I checked the dust filters on my mask and there was only a very small amount of red on them. This probably happened when I unplugged the breathing hose to move to the other side of the boat.
I'm pretty happy with the final job, although there are a couple of runs. My painting mentor says these can be removed once the paint has fully set.
He uses a razor blade to scrape them down level with the surrounding paint, sands with 1000 grit wet/dry paper, then 2000 grit, and finally uses an electric polisher to blend in the area. Sounds good to me, I just hope it works!
BTW, the boat is a 1973 San Juan 24.
