I am repairing epoxy surfboards. These are painted. I have read that some type of polyurethane paint is used. I have heard the words "linear polyurethane used.
I am only repairing, my own boards, friends boards, and maybe beyond, but not building boards myself. Thus, I may end up needing a lot of paint colors. It doesn’t seem that I will want to buy individual colors but rather, to mix the paint, which I have never done. In another thread, I was advised to buy a color wheel. I’m not sure what I would do with it. I’d love to hear some general advice on how to mix paint colors. On Eva Holman’s site, I see that she uses a “Pantone” paint guide although I have no idea how she uses that either.
I know of two polyurethane paints available to me locally, but neither of them seems available in the “Primary Colors”. These are Valspar and Awlgrip. Perhaps they hide the primary colors by naming them something else. My local paint dealer will sell down to the pint quantity in the Valspar and down to the quart quantitiy for Awlgrip. Are these good choices for me for paint or is there something else you can recommend (including a supplier).
Can anyone point me to the right paint brand, and then to the colors I need to buy so that I can come reasonably close on my paint matching? I’m sure that even a pint of any of this stuff will last me a very long time.
I’ve got to mix up some sky blue color for a McTavish Original, and some green, (along with black and white) for a Rusty Piranah. Then my friends will begin barraging me with boards which are all sorts of shades and pastels of blue, white, green… If there are specific tools that you use, such as specific brands of color wheels, I’d like to know about em.
Also, some boards have some other type of paint on the deck for the logo. The McTavish has some thick black, white and red paint. I need to repaint the logo and am not sure what to use. I think I’d be applying this with a small artist’s brush or an airbrush. Can I use some type of epoxy paint?
We have high volume, dried, compressed air here at work. I may just go ahead and order myself that Devilbliss setup (with 9 oz cups) though because the spray gun we have here is pretty huge. It is a “Kobalt” spraygun from a home center here called “Lowes”. It is a Siphon feed gun 60psi @ 7cfm. It seems like I would need to load it up with a lot of paint (1000cc cup).
I’ll get a Pantone guide straight away if that’s what is required. I see that there are several types available though. Here they advertise coated and uncoated guides. Pantone has other guides too. I suppose learning how to use it will follow thereafter. Is this the right guide to get?
hey Anthro… Be very carefull with awlgrip. I use it alot at work. Dont go near it with out air supplyed mask. I have painted a few boards with it only because I have a shelf full of leftover paint from boat work. At about 100.00 a quart ( base,hardner, thinner. acelerator, ect) you will spend alot to get set up. Great paint but way overkill for what you are looking for. I use the high solids clear for gloss on epoxy and it is tough stuff and very high gloss. Mike
If you are going to do alot of repairs(large or small) on Thai and Chinese boards such as Southpoint, Surftech etc. You need a good cup gun and an air compressor with the largest tank you can afford. Paints —Omni and PPG. Avaiable at auto body supply shops. Otherwise small repairs can be painted with “rattle cans” from Home Depot. Rust Oleums “Painters Touch” white primer matchs Laird SUP’s white bottoms perfect.
Glad to have helped. Can you give me any idea of how those guides are used? Do they provide information on the percentage of the constituent colors which go in to make up the final result? I can’t find any information at all about how those guides are used. I’m trying not to purchase too much stuff.
I’m not sure how surfboard painters use the guide other than mixing and matching the color swatches by eye. I’m a graphic designer and when I specify a Pantone color for the printer to match with inks they can follow the mixing formula with printers inks to match the swatch.
For example Pantone 3262 (a turquoise) the mixing formula from the guide is:
I recommend the coated Pantone guide. The uncoated has a flat finish and makes matching gloss paint near impossible. I own coated and uncoated.
I had trouble getting a perfect match using the Pantone guide. There are lots of colors, but getting one that matches can be a challenge. I found myself trying under different lighting and still failing.
I finally got a prefect match taking my surfboard in Home Depot and letting them scan the board. I shot it using an airbrush and Behr latex. The match was perfect!
You don’t need a new Pantone guide. Professional corporations are required by their quality control departments to buy new guides each year. This is probably why so many used ones end up on Ebay.
I read a couple of your other posts, now I understand. You are painting with Latex and then glassing over it. At first It thought the advice was to paint my finished repair with latex. I’m painting over epoxy, or at least I plan to.
Do you think one of those Hvlp sprayers from Harbor Freight could do a good job of applying a polyurethane?
I am spraying the exterior of a finished board, Surftech style. I only painted the blank of one board I did, but sanded it off before lamination based on advice from Carvenalu.
I have sprayed water based polyurethane too, with my airbursh. It sprays easier than latex. Latex in the airbrush gun, requires dilution with water. Polyurethane does not.
The LVLP gun sprays latex full strength, no dilution. Polyurethane should spray great, although I have not tried in that gun yet.
The LVLP gun at harbour freight says “for latex on the box”. It names a few other finishes too, but I don’t recall the list.
The best part about the gun, is it works with a small air compressor and has little overspray.
I found a source for small quantities of linear polyurethane. Best of all, it is the water reducible variety that I have been wanting, made by System Three. Here’s the link.