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Well the weather is getting a little better here in Central Fl. Although it went below freezing last night, it is supposed to be in the 70's during the day for the remainder of the week. Recent weather hasn't been too cold but its been rainy, windy and just plain crappy in recent weeks, although I did get the the exterior gelcoat of my 15 footer wet sanded and polished and it looks pretty good. (OK, maybe pristine). It looks like it may be time now to paint(AwlGrip) the interior. Its been worked over and ready to prime for months now. I've had the Awlgrip epoxy primer sitting on my workbench for a couple of weeks now, but the topcoat needed to be color matched as none of the off whites were even a close match to the Desert Tan exterior Gelcoat. I buy my AwlGrip at Finishmasters Automotive @ Industrial Paint. They are a national Auto Paint company with branches in most cities and states in the US. My small close by branch doesn't have a color matcher, so today I drove down to Largo/St. Pete to get the sample 3"x3" piece I cut from the side console in the boat color matched. I wet sanded and polished the sample and it glowed like the hull. If your not acquainted with large automotive paint companies who only sell their paint to body and auto paint shops, they have all have an employee whose sole job is to match paint to samples. Phil the paint matcher at Finishmasters, said they do it by eye, becuase computers make mistakes and auto paint is very expensive. Anyway, he worked on my sample for an hour or so (I went to lunch), and when he showed me the results, he put a drop of the paint on the sample, it just disappeard except for the gloss of the Awlgrip. He now has a formula for AwlGrip Desert Tan, an exact match for Whaler Desert Tan gelcoat. It was well worth the $25 it cost for color matching.(Of course it can't be used to patch gelcoat becuase of the high gloss of the Awlgrip.) But if you want to Awlgrip your Desert Tan Waler, this is the way to go. So you only need to contact Phil at the Largo Florida Branch of Finishmasters (727-531-7701) he can mix you up a batch and ship it to a branch near you, or if your branch had a color matcher in their employ, he will share his formula for Awl Grip Desert Tan with him.
ric
Thank you for this excellent info. I will refinish the interior on my 1989 Montauk 17 this summer. I have never sprayed AWLGRIP, however I previously owned a Collision Repair shop and have sprayed many manufacturers refinish materials. I have several questions regarding thinners, catalylsing agents and do you spray full wet coats like DuPont Imron or SW catalyzed Acrylic enamels?
The Awlgrip lab New Jersey color matched a chip from my console and came up with code H6571. They should have it in their system as 78 Desert Tan. Any awlgrip dealer should be able to mix it.
Binkie is right about Finishmaster.com. The fellow, Phil, at the Largo Florida store, has the correct formula and was very helpful in putting together my order of AwlGrip for my 1984 Montauk 17'.
Ron.
Glad to help you out with the Awlgrip color. I only sprayed the interior of my 15 footer. The hull itself was abit faded but in overall good shape. I hand wet sanded it with Abralon pads starting with 600 grit and worked up to 4000 grit and then waxed the hull with carnauba paste wax. It looks like new now but not as glossy as the Awlgrip interior. It is a dead on match. I was able to fill in some small nicks in the hull and they disappeared. Post some pics of your completed paint job.
To John Breedlove, being a pro spray painter you should have no trouble, I follow the directions on the can. It says spray 3 coats. First a light tack coat, second another light coat and third a full coat. Let each coat tack up before the next. I'm not a pro, but I have alot of experience spraying Awlgrip, maybe 20-25 boats over 30 or so years. I have gotten into trouble occasionally when doing the third full coat. If you go too full, you get a sag. It cannot be sanded and polished out like some automotive paints. It a sanding, then do over, not fun. Full directions are online. I hardly use any reducer.
