watching paint dry

[lewmiller]

I'm using Valspar Industrial Maintenance Enamel on a 1959 lapstrake Thompson Sea Lancer restoration. Project is in a heated garage/shop. Have used the paint for years on my schooner and like it a lot.

Problem is that it is drying very slowly (48 hours and still tacky) over a portion of the hull that is epoxy coated. The epoxy was fully cured and sanded before paint application.

A thinned coat of enamel on the rest of the planking was dry overnight.

Other than that the humidity in the shop is up a bit, I have no clue why drying time is so slow on the epoxy coated area.

Any ideas?

[pcford]

Other than that the humidity in the shop is up a bit, I have no clue why drying time is so slow on the epoxy coated area.

Any ideas?


Maybe......
1) Epoxy was not cured.
2) You need more air circulation around boat. This is perhaps more important than temperature.
3) Bad paint. I have got a bad can of paint which took several days to go off.

In any case not much you can do but wait. Give it a week or more.

[Wild Wassa]

Could you be using a gass fired heater to warm your workshop?

Smooth freshly painted surfaces and their ability to turn humidity into condensation could possibly be the cause. You don't need much of a temperature difference over a surface for that to happen.

Even an overall drop in temperature will slow the setting of paint. If the unset surface is further from the heater than the set paint? If there is little air flow in that area of the painted surface compared to other areas, that can slow or temporarily stop the setting of paint.

Warren.

[willmarsh3]

It's possible that there is amine blush from the epoxy. This stuff has to be washed and scrubbed off. Mere sanding won't work. I had the same problem once on a shellback dinghy. I ended up having to clean the whole thing off with acetone. :( I called the paint manufacturer who suggested I use their primer first. Once I did that everything worked out fine.

[Bob Adams]

Supposedly, you can overcoat epoxy with an alkyd, but this is not the first time I've heard of this happening. I usually use an epoxy primer as a bridge to the finish coatings. Never had a problem that way. Still, give it some time, maybe some extra warmth, and it may still go off. Good luck.

[Ken Hutchins]

The problem is that they got carried away with reducing the VOC that they are making paints that do not dry.:mad:
I had that problem with the past 2 gal of their spar varnish.:mad:

[jerry bark]

I had a similar event with my kayak bottom which is glassed with epoxy, it seemed to dry poorly when i expected it to be dry overnight. then i went on vacation to myrtle beach, caught some fish, got sunburned, went to winston-salem on the way home and when i got back it was perfect!

I would wait a while if you can before declaring it ruined by (whatever) and cleaning it off.

jerry

[pipefitter]

It is quite possible you are used to using the paint over unsealed and more absorbing surfaces too. Paint takes longer to dry on sealed surfaces as the solvents have only one direction to outgas which is thru the surface skin of the paint.