Hull painting in Beaufort NC

Alexseal seems to be softer than Awlcraft 2000 and I find it to wear easier in rub areas, but does touch up easy and does have good adhesion properties. . It does last a long time and shines, BUT it's required to wax it at least every 6 months. You do not wax Awlgrip or Awlcraft. So the savings of not having to wax the boat every 6 months, sells me on Awlgrip/Awlcraft over Alexseal alone. I've also noticed it doesn't quite get the depth of shine that Awlgrip/Awlcraft get. Shiny from a distance, but doesn't have that pop up close.

Bayliss and Spencer are only miles away, but quite a bit further by water.

Just curious but if you don't wax Awlcraft or Awlgrip whats Awlcare for?

Sorry, I'm late to this discussion but if I can I'd like to add a few observations. First, Alexseal is very much harder than any of the acrylics like Awlcraft or Imron, only "standard" Awl Grip is as hard. Neither is easily repairable but Alexseal has a new blending solvent out that has blown me away how it works. You can spot in a small repair, spray that solvent on the very lightly sanded surrounding area and it melts the repair in. In well over 20 years of painting boats, I've never seen anything like it (and I'm NOT an Alexseal rep!).

The DOI (Depth Of Image) on any paint is very close between brands, it's more a matter of application talent. I've always been a staunch proponent of an "out of the gun" paint job, mainly meaning NO sanded, buffed repairs after the shoot. Any buffed repairs have to be waxed and once you break the skin of any paint, you're doomed to wax in perpetuity. It's another of my pet peeves but I could never bear to send a new paint job on it's way with repairs. If there are run's, excessive dust, orange peel or bug tracks, they get repaired and the entire shoot redone. If I were shopping paint work, an out of the gun shoot would be my most stringent requirement, if they can't guarantee that, keep looking. You can wax a hull that's undisturbed but it isn't necessary for the first several years of the paint's life to keep the shine, only mild soap and water washing is needed. Pastel colors will be the first to start fading/chalking but even then, not for many years. I shot the very first two boats in the US painted with Alexseal, one of them Fighting Lady Yellow. Chris Van Der Hyde, Alexseal's founder (and Awlgrip!) would personally come by the shop every winter to check on how she was holding up, it was year seven before he said wax her.

I'm in the area and would be happy to help in any way I can. I normally would toss my hat in the ring to do the paint work but as soon as I finish up a couple of projects, we're closing up the shop and I'm going to Africa for a couple months and contemplate retirement.

It's a sealer. I've also found that it kind of works like hand moisturizer and puts back into the paint. Here's from the Awlgrip website:

"
Awlcare is a protective polymer sealer, formulated to protect Awlgrip, Awlcraft 2000 and Awlgrip HDT from acid rain, environmental pollutants and abrasion. Leaves a non-yellowing protective coat that lasts through multiple washings."

Here's the do's and don't of Awlgrip care:

https://www.awlgrip.com/support/maintaining-an-awlgrip-finish

Bill as usual you are a wealth of good information. Pls keep posting on both of the forums while enjoying your retirement.

Thank you Slimshady! I did say contemplate! I'm way too much of a workaholic to just stop and I probably will be involved in the industry in some way, just haven't decided which yet. It may take a lot of sunrises like this one over there to come to a resolution! Gazing at our 41, sipping coffee watching the dugouts paddle by.

I believe we should all work until as late in life as possible, of course part time, it gives our body a reason to keep going. Known to many great people pass just after retiring, including my father. The last lesson he taught me might be the most important. Continue to share your life's knowledge with us newbies.

Retirement is doing the work you want, when you want and for whom you like. I've retired twice and seem to work harder after each although enjoying life more.

Question Bill106
I'm getting a Carolina boat built now, I thought a proper wet sand and thorough polish was best paint job until your post. Yard uses alexseal and does great work. Don't know if one last perfect spray is possible with all the punch list items on a new build?

A perfect spray is possible and I'm managing a 62' yacht right now that Cable Marine did in 2014. It's dark navy blue and still looks great, has very little orange peel in it. Hull has never been wet sanded or buffed. And, I've only had Awlcare applied maybe once every year or so. When you wet sand and buff you take off the top (protective) layer of the paint and open the pores up.

I've yet to see a perfect spray job, even my own! Strange as it may sound, the better the job is, the easier it is to find blemishes, they stand out more against a mirror finish than they do an orange peeled mess. Inside a well-lit building is also much more revealing than outside in bright sunlight, if you can catch it while still in a paint booth you will see everything!

Nailing that money shoot is more about prep than the trigger man, both are important but an experienced guy (or girl!) is far more worried about the prep. Dedusting, good taping, wipedowns, temp/humidity control are where the errors usually come from.

One other possible option you have, and one I really like doing, is to put a clear coat over the final color shoot. This helps in a couple ways, one is you have an extra layer on the outside that may be easier to blend in a repair on and two, the Alexseal clear base is much thinner than the pigmented base colors and much easier to nail with minimal orange peel. With the increasingly popular base coat/clear coat metallics it's a mandatory step anyway. In fact, it's been years since I did a hull with a solid pigmented color, they've all been metallic lately! I always add the second batch of clear coat passes just to get a thicker "candy shell" over the metallics too. These pics are right after the second clear shot on fellow Yacht Forum member Mark Woglum's Riviera, Palma Blue Metallic.



Any yes NYCAP123, each retirement seems like it's harder work! In my first career as an electrical engineer, the desk was a lot easier to drive than a charterboat or a boat building shop!

Bill, what is the solvent number that you are referring to?

Thx Bill I'll speak to them about my options.

A5033

It's not on their website, maybe because it's such a powerful solvent that improperly used could cause more harm than good. Normally when doing spot repairs and before topcoating, you sand the actual repaired area with 320 grit then step out from the repair in increasingly finer grits like 800, 1200, 1500 in 6" larger diameter circles surrounding the repair. Then you spray a couple coats gradually increasing the size of your area too fog in the surrounding lightly sanded areas. Then the compound and buffers come out to try and blend it in but an experienced eye will always see the halo.

With the blending solvent, you spray pretty much the same way but when you're finished, you clean your gun and spray the blending solvent over the entire area. It melts the dry spray and fine sanding scratches and no buffing is necessary!

Wow, that's very interesting. Thanks for that info.

Wow!! Bill106 , that's really nice! You are the pro ! Thank you for sharing all of you info. I must say I'm a pretty good DIYer, with my Oyster White Interlux Perfection ,MANY Jen-Poly brushes and a white foam 6'' roller! Lol! looks great from 5 or more yards away.