Some Advice for Painting with Interlux Brightside

[Janine]

He said to sand first to rough up and remove dusty oxidation, wash, absolutely prime with Interlux primer to fill in pits, dry a few days, sand with fine sand paper, tack cloth, then to paint, dilute the Interlux with 20% kerosene and apply in "haze" coats (so thin the first coat you may not even see very well), very thin, at least three, one coat per day, under cover so no dirt attaches, one person rolls on with foam roller, another follows immediately behind to catch drips, then once around again to find other drips, as long as the drips are brushed out the paint will find its own smooth surface. He said if it's applied straight, it's thick, it can glob and drip, and the paint is so durable it'll take an enormous amount of work to sand it smooth. Even if you think it's smooth, he said in 4 hours if applied straight, because it cures so slowly, a whole sheet can slide down a vertical surface and it may require a discouraging amount of work to redo. He said it's the most durable paint he's ever seen used for boats. Costs about $36/qt, not sure how much will be needed to cover. It does not spray well, so rule out auto shop spray-on.
He told me at the shipyard two men he knew who painted boats using the two-part epoxy paints, both died young---no kidding~ I guess they're very toxic. At the same time, Interlux is less offensive but it contains Teflon which may be a carcinogen. In any case, wear a chemical mask, not just a dust mask, and gloves, when using these kinds of paint.

[Doug Mager]

WOW! Thanks for digging that up for us Janine!!!
Just this spring I painted the f'glass inner walls of our Trillium with this paint. I had scuffed the walls, painted (without any primer) the walls with a NON foam roller (HUGH mistake) and given it a second coat after a light sanding. Looks O.K. (except for the type of roller sleeve I used) but now ya got me concerned about the related health issues!!!!

[Herb P]

He told me at the shipyard two men he knew who painted boats using the two-part epoxy paints, both died young---no kidding~ I guess they're very toxic. At the same time, Interlux is less offensive but it contains Teflon which may be a carcinogen. In any case, wear a chemical mask, not just a dust mask, and gloves, when using these kinds of paint.

Any of these paints are "really bad"... A lot of them have Xylene... I think one should always wear a mask with organic filters... I have a 3M mask and it works awesome. You can breath normally and it tastes like fresh air and you almost think there's no paint smell until you take the mask off and then it hits you like a wall...

Well worth the money..