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Men:

Well - got some paint on the desk this weekend. Overall, i will give this paint job a B-...but, considering this was the first time i've even sprayed paint like this, the curve would arguably improve my score. I sprayed Interlux Perfection. I followed the directions and got a decent result. There are a few dust nits here and there...and one spot did have a noticeable run. I'm hoping these can be sanded and buffed out without repainting the whole desk. I had in my mind that i would somehow replicate the piant job on the rybovich at my marina. I found plenty of small imperfections when looking carefully with a 500 watt painters light...then my wife walked in and stood there 5 feet away and said "jeeze hon - it loks great". Sure enough...from 5 feet away, you can barely see an problems.

The spray gun is tricky. Getting the correct amount of solvent in the paint is still a bit of a mystery...too little and you get orange peel, too much anc coverage is not good and the paint runs. I will need to repaint the doors on the desk as i apparently missed some spots when repainting the second coat. Since a door is flat, i will roll and tip them.

Woud like opinions on a rubrail. I was thinking of using the smallest white PVC rubrail with stainless steel cap that i could find...i want to try to keep things in proportion...wife says to leave it as-is...which is not an option as you can see in the picture below...i need to cover the slight gap between the desk top and sides. Think i could use solid stainless cap without the semi-rigid PVC? Any other ideas?

Also - have put some tape on the transom to figure out how to paint the boot stripe and bottom paint. Will use dark green or blue gloss for the strip and a lighter flat green or blue to mimic bottom paint.

...andyway - thanks for all your thoughts and advice on the painting. It really is a trick and i'm not good at it - but it was fun trying...and from 5 feet away, everyone's advice was plenty good to impress my wife...so thanks.

Joe

Great job Joe, I still say keep going and build the whole boat!

My vote with FL Yellow is for pale green a/foul and dark green boot top.

For the rubrail I vote just the stainless, no PVC. Then you are going to have to deal with the corner pieces......expert advice needed there.

Nic

That's a very unique workpiece there Joe! ! ! !
Good looking job..........

As far as the rub rail...........If you cannot find "Just the right size" available for purchase you can cut out of a block of wood and shape EXACTLY what you want..........paint it and cap it with a stainless strip.........I'm with you in that proportion is very important.

Harry

Dont use masking tape for the boot stripe You need the blue vinyl tape called "fine line" available in auto paint supply stores . The masking type tape will bleed up and leave a nasty edge. You could also just go with any color 3M vinyl stripe tape available in paint supply stores. The runs and
dust can be sanded with a little wet/dry 600grit then 1500/2000 grit and hand polish with fine polishing compound. The longer you wait to do it the harder it will be to cut and bring back to a shine.
Troy 31Tiara"DRIFTER"Lafitte La

Drifter,

3M "Fine Line" is actually a pale olive green color.

Joef,

I would stick with the recommendation of the vinyl fine line tape. it will bend and stretch around the transom corners and maintain a level application, whereas the blue, brown or any color cloth masking tape, will angle upwards after turning the bend at the corners. It will also give you little to no bleed through and leave an almost perfect cut between colors.
This is the same tape used in auto body shops. What I did when using this tape is to use fine line for my cut in area, and then to use the cloth tape laid on top to cover the rest of the areas that I wanted to protect, leaving the fine line edge exposed to where I was cutting in the different color. If you are going to go with a thick (relatively speaking) boot stripe with an accent stripe (thinner one) above it you can just lay in a thin strip of fine line between the stripe areas and paint directly over it.

Use just the stainless!! Looks great! Remember, you won't have 500 watts shining directly on it in the office.

Regular fine line is a pale green, the blue fine line is vinyl more suited for making circles, it costs more and is not needed for doing those simple stripes.

that 233+ tape you have on there now actually makes really good sharp lines.