My brother and I are building skimboards for ourselves and some friends and are unsure of what type of paint to use to dress them up. It's a self leveling bartop epoxy poured over a wooden board and cures to a high gloss. Spray paint seems to bond really well but any type of water based paints scrape right off. Trying to keep the toxicty down if possible. What types of paints would bond the best? Should it be primed first or does it matter? We plan to finish it with a clear coat but were unsure if a 2 part urethane would work with the epoxy. Whats the best clear coat to use for this application? Any help on these matters would be appreciated.
Use Design Master paints from Michaels. No need to seal the wood before painting. DO NOT use two pack urethane. It’s too toxic if you don’t have the equipment to use it right … AND YOU DON’T. People have literally died from the stuff. Wet sand to 400 with wet and dry sandpaper and be happy with that. Skimboards get scratched up anyway.
Thanks for the input Greg, I know your the epoxy master so I’m gonna get a little more detailed. We actually are a skimboard manufacturer (at one time one of the largest in the world) I just didn’t want to cause a ruckus by naming who we are. Maybe it’s not that big a deal but we didnt want to stir the pot if you know what I mean. The boards we’re making have been made the same for the past 25 years however we are looking to improve the quality, durabilty and look of them as much as possible. We just recently took the company over. We’ve been priming the wood with oil based primer and spraying it with an HVLP using water based paints as well as spray paints. Our facilty is equipped to handle some pretty toxic chemicals (we have a paint room with excellent ventilation as well as bunny suits, respirators, spray equipment etc) Problem is the epoxy poured over it is only as strong as the bond of the paint to the wood. Our thoughts were that if we poured the boards raw it would make for a better bond to the wood and be more durable. We’ve had issues with the epoxy chipping off most likely due to poor paint bond. (we make sure to prep/clean every time beforehand) We were thinking it might be better to paint directly over the cured epoxy and clear coat over it to protect/seal the graphics. We noticed other manufacturers are doing something similar to this and are trying to figure out what theyre using. Just trying to figure out which type of paint will bond to the cured epoxy the best and what type of clear coat to use to finish it. Thanks for your time & input…
Trust me surfding, when I saw that Greg responded I was stoked! I've been surfing for almost 20 years and know that Greg Loehr and epoxy go together like peas and carrots. Didn't know he was a part of this forum so to get a response from him was huge to me. By the way that board does look insane!
We've been painting the boards first and applying epoxy over it and it works but we're thinking that the epoxy is going to bond better to the raw wood than it would if its been painted first.
McDing, are you meaning Omni/PPG to be painted onto the epoxy or underneath?
We're playing around with a few things and so far so good. Thanks for everyones input its been a huge help....
Paint onto the epoxy and IF necessary clear coat. Omni and PPG both come in a paint that is made for clear coat. I used to buy Omni in a paint that did not require a clear coat, I recently bought and used some automotive Omni that required a clear coat. The primer though suprisingly enough was a one part "high build" in a spray can totally compatible with my Omni two part. The thing about automotive paints though is that they are constantly changing to meet environmental standards. What you can buy today may not be available next month, Since you already have what sounds to me to be a suitable spray room; I would use an epoxy resin(not a gloss) for my base coat clear then paint my grapics onto the epoxy and finish with a suitable Poly or acrylic clear coat gloss. You might even be able to eliminate the primer between the epoxy and the Omni. I've never seen a Surftech finished, but have repaired many and I am assuming that Is essentially the finish process for those boards. Seems like an extra step, but it also eliminates any final polish, rub-out or wet and dry sand. Spray the top-coat and walk away.
Thanks for the info McDing, I'll be calling the PPG/OMNI guys next week to discuss what our best bet would be. We've been playing around with it the past week or so and have had really good luck with sanding down the cured epoxy to remove the glossy finish, applying Krylon flat spray paint and following it with a clear coat. (no primer inbetween) So far it's worked out beautifully and the tests we've done for bonding/durabilty have proved that it should work just fine. But we need to get away from the spray paint because it's expensive and we're not talented enough artists to use spray paint alone. As soon as we get it dialed in we'll snap a shot of the finished product and post it.
