That got me in the mindset of thinking about paint (again) and wasting lots of time looking at various paint options. The marine surplus got in several 5 gallons buckets of Hempel 55210 which is like an Awlgrip, but intended for large ships and barges. Not quite as high a gloss and easier to apply. They only hitch was that the hardener they had was a different number than spec'd by Hempel. Not much Hempel is sold in the US and Hempel US told another purchaser this hardener would "unofficially" work fine. I talked with this guy a bit and gave it some thought and decided to go for it. For $40 a gallon hard to go wrong unless it all peels off of course.
I decided to do a few samples this afternoon on the bow of my Trac 14 catamaran and the side of my old Boston Whaler. The stuff is amazing! Specs are thinning no more than 5% with special thinner which I didn't have. So in 90 degree weather and spotty overhead sun, I rolled some on with a 4" foam roller. Here are the results:
Hard to photograph well, but laid out totally smooth with a slight roller stipple. I'm sure would tip out fine, but the slight texture is OK with me and will help distract from the 100s of hours of fairing I'm not planning to do. This section was tinted with RAKA gray epoxy pigment to see how it holds up. The other bow deck is the plain white. These will be outside for the next year or so prior to me painting the VARDO. The vertical sections on the Whaler hulls turned out real well also and will be good do see how it wears against the slipway docks.
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