Why did this work?

[Jeff Kelety]

Hi all -

Well, Folkboat Nais is back in her element. Three coats of paint, five coats of varnish, six weeks on the hard. I'm plumb tuckered out, but she looks pretty darn good. (My first time doing a boat head to toe; my hats off to youse guys who do this for a living and bring it in at something close to reasonable costs!)

Now here's the scenario. Because this boat needs a little time to take up, I leave here at the haul-out dock with a peppy AC pump in the bildge. While moored there, a strong broadside wind came up and pushed the folkie pretty hard against her fenders into the dock. By the next day my pretty black paint was very discolored beneath the spot where the fenders rubbed. Dismayed (but not daunted) I spent about forty minutes the following day rubbing the discolored areas with a soft cloth soaked in turps. To my delight this activity restored the shinny black gloss where a cloudy grey black had been.

Now the question: why did this work? No paint or black color came off in the rag. The paint had cured about a week before going back in the water. Was this chemical or mechanical? Quite curious am I.

Thanks,
jgk

[Brazz0]

Hi Jeff, I am new here. Anyway here is my bobs worth regarding strange paint behavior.
Theory #1
Solvent entrapment in first coat(s)- not enough to show normally, is compressed through due to pressure from fenders. Hence milky discolouration,
this may have resolved itself without the 40 min
massage once pressure was relieved.
How does that sound? smile.gif
Cheers Brazz

[wolfietuk]

Is it possible that it was something that rubbed off the fender and stuck well to the outer layer of paint?

Rick

[Jeff Kelety]

Well, all those hypotheses seem as good as any. I presume the turp was able to get past a layer of something near the surface. Don't know why or how, but after what seemed like a million hours of prep and painting I was glad to be able to redeem my handiwork.

jgk

[Brazz0]

But nothing showed on the rag, right?

[Scott Rosen]

Plastic fenders can do a number on a paint job. They are less abrasive than a dock rubbing on your paint, but they are abrasive nonetheless. If the fenders are old, then the plastic has oxidized. When that rubs on the paint, it's even more abrasive, and some of the oxidized plastic can rub into the paint.

My guess is that you wiped off oxidized plastic that was ground into your paint.

Get used to it. That perfect paint job isn't going to last forever.

[Brazz0]

I rest my 1st case.

[Jeff Kelety]

<That perfect paint job isn't going to last forever. >

Right. "Forever" I'm not expecting. But something longer than twenty-four hours seemed reasonable <g>. Moral: never give up!

Interesting theory about old fenders oxidizing and then bleeding into new paint. When Nais is at her home lodgings, I keep her two feet away from the dock's edge so that normally this is not an issue. But alls well that ends well. "Art" lives on (at least for a while).

jgk

[ 06-24-2002, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Jeff Kelety ]

[htom]

Neighbor, packing for vacation, asked if I could pick something up for him when I went to the southern mall; I said sure. He wanted two pairs of old jeans from the Goodwill store, larger than 36" waist, no tears in the knees, other damage was ok. When I brought them, he showed me. He cut the legs off and used them as four slipcovers for his plastic fenders.

[Jeff Kelety]

<He cut the legs off and used them as four slipcovers for his plastic fenders. >

Hmmmm. I was wondering about those little fender slipcovers that the expensive boaty stores sell. Denim, eh?

Anyone have personal experience that "dressing up" the fenders actually protects the paint any better?

jgk

[ 06-24-2002, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: Jeff Kelety ]