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Subject: A successful paint
job
After doing a LOT of
research, I decided to give
your paints a try. I found
it kind of tough to get an
honest review or opinion of
them- I couldn't find anyone
that had used them, and the
few places I found
discussions of the paint
(such as Iboats forum, etc)
were mainly negative,
although no one seemed to
have ever USED them. They
just said that the claims
couldn't be true.
But, after reading, I
decided to give your product
a try, and I'm glad that
I did. I restore and collect
classic fiberglass boats. In
the past, I've been very
limited in what I could use
to paint them if I did the
work myself, without access
to a 'proper' spray setup
and protective equipment,
most marine paint systems
were out. Products like
Easypoxy were just plain
disappointing. I figured if
your paint delivered 1/2
what it promised, I'd
be happy with it. So, I took
the plunge.
You might recall that I
emailed you with some
technical problems I was
having during the
application, namely peeling
and bubbling of prior
layers. Following your
advice, I adjusted the
application thickness and
gave it a slightly longer
drying time, and everything
started to work perfectly.
The boat itself is not done
yet, but the painting has
been for several months now.
The finish is just what I
was looking for- It is hard
to describe- a deep gloss,
but a soft one. It looks
like the original Gel-Coat
finish, not like a painted
finish. It cut and buffed
beautifully, and has a
perfect shine to it.
I used it on the restoration
of my 1960 Glasspar as a
test, and plan to use it on
my next restoration projects
as well. The variety of
available colors makes it
ideal for me, as I'm not
limited by the dozen or so
'popular' colors available
from most paint
manufacturers. This allows
me to get VERY close to
original factory colors.
As a side note, I did a
'torture test' to see how
the paint held up. I was
especially curious as to how
well it really held up
submerged, so I primed and
painted a small fiberglass
piece, and after allowing
ample cure time, I've left
it submerged. Several months
later, it's still looking
good- So I'm expecting
incredible longevity on my
boats which are kept out of
the water and inside (in
climate control, no less!
It's also nice to be able to
tell all those people that
said it was nothing but
snake oil and would never
work as advertised that it
did, indeed, work. And, it
worked well! I'm glad I
found it.
If you ever need a
reference, or anyone has any
questions, feel free to give
them my E-Mail address.
Thanks.- Andrew Gott
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Andrew's answer to our
request to publish his
letterl
You are more than welcome to
use the letter as a
recommendation.. I'll have
better photos of the
'finished' project once it's
done, there is still a lot
of mechanical and electrical
work as well as trim
hardware to be installed.
The boat will be shown at
ACBS boat shows as well-
I'll let you know as soon as
we start winning awards.
I'd imagine a lot of
complaints you get could
probably be easily resolved-
I had problems at first- the
paint was a bit more finicky
than others I had used in
the past, it seemed to be
VERY sensitive to being
applied too thickly (a
common sin, especially when
dealing with a more
transparent color like
red!), but once I got it
down-
I love it.
I friend of mine painted a
very similar boat with
Easypoxy about a month prior
to mine. He nagged me the
whole time I was doing mine,
saying how quick his job
went, and how nice it
looked... Why was I
bothering? Well, after only
a few short months, I think
he can see why- He has lost
most of the gloss, the
finish is VERY soft, and a
spot on his deck where water
pooled for a few weeks has
bubbled and peeled off...
Looks like he'll be
stripping her down again in
the spring.
My restoration was well
documented on a number of
forums (most notably
Iboats-,
where I caught the most flak
for using an 'untested' new
paint...). At the present
time, I'm updating my web
page,
http://www.agott.com/glasspar,
and when I do it'll have the
full details and
step-by-step of the paint
job.
Here's some comments from
Andrew a year and a half
later.
... I really liked the
'behavior' of the sm-1000,
it gave us exactly the
finish we were looking for.
Most people don't think it
was painted- they think it
is Gel-Coat- Which is
exactly what we are going
for.
Do
the other paints respond as
well as the sm-1000 to
cutting/buffing? (The answer
is yes) We found the SM-1000
to be superior to any other
marine paint in this regard.
It brought out a deep shine
that has been easy to
maintain.
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