When spraying our FME, I use a top-cup, gravity feed, primer gun with a 1.8mm nozzle.
I thin most of our FME at 25% with a high quality paint thinner or mineral spirits.
Each gun will spray differently and you should thin the minimum necessary to get the spray pattern you want.
Allow 24 Hours between coats and it can require a week to two for complete curing (curing happens in a chemical reaction with oxygen and takes time.
Painting an Aluminum or Fiberglass Boat
1. Be sure the boat has been cleaned off well with soap and water to remove all dirt, grease, leaves, grime and all that stuff that accumulates from years of hunting.
2. Lightly solvent wipe things down with a rag and lacquer thinner. This will remove any gasoline, oil or petroleum residues that would mess with your sanding or prevent paint from adhering. When finished with the solvent rag, be sure to let it set out and lose it?s solvents before you put it into a closed container or trash can.
3. Sand the entire boat, as required, to remove and/or scuff all the paint. Be sure to remove any loose paint. When sanding a duck boat, I prefer 80-100 grit. It gives better ?tooth? and, after all??..it?ll help with the dulled surface and paint adhesion. Sanding must be taken into the best previously adhered surface in order to have the new coat of paint hold properly.
4. For Aluminum boat-Spot prime any bare aluminum with ASG Primer (or AG Primer), specifically designed for use on ?Aluminum, Stainless & Galvanized?. Do not thin AG Primer. A second option would be to prime the entire boat with PPG?s Epoxy Primer.
5. For Fiberglass boat-You can go right to the FME as this is a Primer-Based Paint and will serve as its own primer. If you would like, another option would be to prime with PPG-Epoxy Primer and then follow up with FME.
6. Once the primer has dried (AG, PPG or 1st coat of FME), you can base coat the entire boat, inside and out, with the base coat FME (Flat Marine Enamel-oil based) color of your choice. FME is a ?primer-based? paint and requires no other primer underneath it on a properly prepared surface. You may use a brush, roller or sprayer. When spraying, the best is an airless sprayer though you can thin slightly with a high quality paint thinner for use in a regular air spray gun. If using the air-feed spray gun, we recommend the top-feed, gravity style of gun. It requires less air and less thinning to get a proper pattern. You will also achieve greater success with a couple thinner coats rather than one thick coat. Thinner coats will cure/dry much faster and more thoroughly?.thus, more durable. Secret: ?thin, you win?.
7. When the base coat is dry (usually overnight in good temps), you may accent with any other FME color you?d like. The options are endless??match your local vegetation.
8. We have several camouflage patterned paint schemes and colors available.
*Our 2-tone Reed Stripe was developed for the cat-tail marshes & flooded corn. Base coat in Starcraft Camo Light Brown (#26) and reed stripe with an automotive striping brush with Starcraft Camo Dark Brown (#27), thinning #27 on the palette as you work. We developed these colors through PPG specifically for us and Starcraft. You can even ?green it up? a bit with Dead Grass Green (#28), O/D Green (#35) or some Olive (#18).
*Our Open Water Gray Pattern is very effective for layout hunting. You can base coat the entire boat with Open Water Medium Gray (#33) or Open Water Dark Gray (#34) and allow it to dry. Once dry, overstripe with a wave pattern of Open Water Light Gray (#32) by cutting the feed pressure down, reducing the size of your pattern to a small area and reducing the feed rate so it will be easy to control. Move the spray gun around in a lazy ?wave?, walk alongside the boat and ?wave? the gun to give the pattern you?d like.
We have pictures of these patterns that we can email to you.
9. You can create your own color patterns/schemes with any of the FME colors we have. All the decoy and boat paints are TRUE - FLAT MARINE ENAMELS and work well with each other. We also do custom colors at no extra cost?try us.
Lock Stock & Barrell, Inc.
123 Avery (shop)
Clinton Twp., MI 48036
Ofc.Ph: (586) 790-2678, Shop Ph: (586) 465-0339
www.lockstockbarrell.com * duckguylsb@juno.com
More Boat Painting Info
Couple things to remember while working on your boat.
1. The biggest things that will keep paint from sticking is wax residue and grease/oil (including
finger prints-lot of oil in your hands).
2. Be sure to clean off any old wax...if you've waxed the boat. Pay attention to steep angles
where it's hard to get things cleaned.
3. Sand thoroughly....paint will not stick/stay to a surface that is not sanded.
4. Wash w/ soap and water....wipe down with lacquer thinner, acetone and/or wax and grease
remover.
Sand that boat completely, inside and out.............vacuum up dust and blow everything off &
out
with compressed air.....tack rag to remove dust.....
Lightly wipe down with lacquer thinner or acetone just prior to painting.
5. Paint does two things; A. dries by losing solvent through the paint film B. cures in a
chemical reaction with oxygen...through the paint film.
6. Do not try to cover with thick coats...the paint will skim over/harden and #5 can't happen.
Several thin coats will dry must faster and more efficiently than one thick coat.
It takes a bit of time for curing to fully occur...couple weeks. Once it's cured, the paint
surface is very tough and resistant to scuffing and wear.
7. I will explain the reed striping later...pallet, paint & thinner cups and brushes.
8. When using our FME, I use a top-cup, gravity feed primer spray gun with a 1.8mm tip. I thin
the FME about 25% with high quality paint thinner or mineral spirits. I mix the paint well
(shaker) and then pour into my cup through a quality paint filter. Always filter before putting
it into a spray gun. That will help prevent clogs and frustration.
9. I'll think of more soon.
Paint Secrets
A. Open, pour off and close up the can-do not work from an open can as that allows the paint to
begin drying/curing...ahead of time.
B. Always clean the lid groove prior to re-sealing the lid.
C. Always store your paint cans upside down. This prevents air from intruding and makes it
easier to remix over time. Easy to know where the pigment and flattener is.
D. When the can of paint is down some, you can fill it up with rocks/marbles to eliminate air in
the can. Air is what causes the paint to cure and for that "skin" on the paint.
Another option is to transfer the paint to smaller cans. Cans are available from us or you can
pick them up at your local hardware/paint store or big box paint department.
