international perfection or jotun hardtop xp

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richievtu

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evening all
im about to (weather permitting) paint my grp topsides, I like international perfection but the price seems outrageous, jotun hardtop appears to be the nearest thing in 2 part polurethane & less than half the price, has anyone used it, im told it isnt as glossy as perfection, how does it compare?
 
I too baulked at the cost of perfection when repainting my Squib and used Jotun Hardtop. I painted when it was probably a bit cold although I used their cold weather additive. I used a fine roller to apply it but did not tip it off as I was working on my own. The result was good but not brilliantly glossy. It covered well.
Doing it again I would do it when the weather is warmer & have an assistant to either apply or tip off behind the roller.
I have since machine polished it back with Fareclar which has helped improve the gloss.
 
I have just finished painting my cabin, cockpit and decks with Jotun XP. Great stuff - however, it was sensitive to the boat temperature.

Due to the rather bizarre weather here recently (Sunny Spells and rain within minutes of each other), it was tricky getting the application right. At times the boat surface (blue then gray primer then off white) was about 35 degrees and the paint would go off very quickly. I reduced the hardener, but this would then go off very slowly when the temparaure cooled.

I was painting by myself and ended up mixing very small batches of 50-100ml (raw paint) at a time. This worked very well for me. Even a small amount of paint goes a very long way when it is freshly mixed. Do not mix any more than 200 ml (raw paint Part A) at a time. When it goes off it really thickens quickly and will start to stick very early on.

Do NOT try to put One coat on. I needed 3-4 thin coats to cover the previous paint.

The main problem is to know when it is about to kick - I tried various brands of roller and they all shed hairs. This included rollers which never shed a hair when painting with single pack paint!

You could phone Shepherd marine and speak to Neil - he was very helpful when I ordered from them. I needed more paint in a hurry and it was with me in 24 hours.

You can also keep adding coats as long as the previous have not cured.

Hope this helps!

Carl
 
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carl170 said:
At times the boat surface (blue then gray primer then off white) was about 35 degrees and the paint would go off very quickly. I reduced the hardener [...]
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Not sure that's a terribly good idea if it's epoxy-based paint (the Jotun I've used on a steel ship was epoxy, but I don't know about XP). If the mix isn't balanced you'll end up with some comp A in there that hasn't cured.

Pete
 
Polyurethane Paint

I think you will find polyurethane is not epoxy. A completely different resin process. Yes you can vary the amount of hardener unlike epoxy. I suspect people like to call it epoxy simply because it is a 2 pack system. Epoxy of course is no good for paint on the surface because it degrades in UV.
I have been warned that polyurethane should not be sprayed as there are some really dangerous cyanides in the paint. If it is sprayed it is done in a sealed booth with operator having positive air supply breathing. But yes it does work well with spraying. I found brushing was OK. good luck olewill
 
William_H said:
I think you will find polyurethane is not epoxy.
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Well, obviously.

That's why I said "if it's epoxy" and made clear that although the Jotun I had used was epoxy I did not know about what the OP was using.

William_H said:
Epoxy of course is no good for paint on the surface because it degrades in UV.
Click to expand...

Best tell that to Jotun then, since they make various epoxy paints. The stuff we used on the ship was Jotamastic, I think - I wasn't involved in selecting it, I just slapped on the stuff the bosun dished out. I presume the pigments in the mix protect the epoxy from the UV.

Pete
 
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