Thanks Jay you answered my question. I was just curious if sealers got wet sanded before top coating or not. I’ve never sprayed one before so I’m sure the viscosity of a true sealer is a little thinner so it lays flat like a base or clear would. My primer is always a little bit rough more so dust overspray texture that just skiffs off with a quick 400 grit wet sand. I was curious because my urethane primer never mentioned a recoat window for base on it and I thought if I had it flat enough I could have just went right over it with base once it flashed good but the tech sheet didn’t mention whether that was appropriate or not. I went ahead and wet sanded it anyway just to get it smooth and shot the red a little bit ago.

I have some dust that can just be wiped off the base from all the angles and overall just large spray area. In the past I’ve tack ragged it lightly to remove the dust before clear. It’s a solid red no metallics in it so no worries about flattening or standing up of the flakes in it. Is tack ragging still the best method of removing the dust off the base before going to clear? Haven’t had any ill effects from it yet but if there’s a better way to get it off or smooth before clear I’m open to learning!

I’ll post some pics below. I know getting more airflow is the best remedy for the dust but it’s not totally preventable without an expensive booth and and spraying the whole hood in a matter of seconds so it doesn’t land on dry base. Thanks for the help! Shooting clear on Monday…oh and the Sun Pro light on the gun was great! Really helped me learn to slow down a bit and let the base flow out so it wasn’t mottled. Pretty happy with the purchase.

good progress, i always tack rag my base. be sure to not tack it to soon, as a tack rag on a soft spot of the base leaves a horrible mark.
Jay D.

Another update: Shot two rounds of clear today on the hood. Spent the morning vacuuming the booth floor best I could to eliminate the red dust and other floating debris then put the hood back in. Tacked it once before eating around noon then came back and blew it off and tacked again for good measure. Figured all would be well so fired up the fans and started mixing. Got the gun loaded and adjusted decent or so I thought and shot the first coat. Had some pretty bad peel in it and did a little more adjusting to get it right for the second coat. (Keep in mind brand new gun to me coming from an HVLP style to an optimized pressure or RP style gun with clear I’d never shot before the Euro 2020) so had two things working against me as far as familiarity.

Let the first coat flash and while I was cleaning the gun noticed my inflatable booth coming down…well I had shut the fresh air fan off per tech sheet and left the exhaust one on but without the filter in front of the exhaust fan…it quickly became a negative pressure environment and the roof came really close to touching the hood. Quickly fired the fresh air fan back on and replaced the exhaust filter to slow down the rate of air exchange and give the booth time to blow back up. Well in the process I believe materials that were on the booth ceiling decided to become dislodged and start floating around and there is now a massive amount of trash in my second coat of clear.

Really discouraged me because I had done everything right up until this point to keep a clean environment sweeping the floors and wiping off all the hoses from respirator and air supply. Then something stupid happens and boom ruins the job. So with that now I have to cut and buff this hood which wasn’t in the original plans as the rest of the truck isn’t cut and buffed so I was trying to match the finish from the last painter and I believe it would have been real close. Anyway that’s my great day I had and I’m sitting here contemplating building a real building that I can paint in or selling the tools and cutting my losses here. I’ll never make back the money it would take to build a 30x40x14 building with exhaust fans and garage doors with a downdraft pit to justify spending the money and this inflatable booth is no longer good enough for the types of jobs I’m doing. If a guy wanted to spray bicycles or lawnmowers might be ok but high end type work is just a no go unless you buy a new booth every other job…

HEY , DON,T get discouraged! if i gave up every time i got discouraged i would have quit a long time ago and missed out on all the fun and enjoyment i've had painting!! not to beat you up. but one thing you should do is turn your fans on, then RIGHT before you spray the top coat is when you want to tack rag it. another tip is to wet the floor try and not puddle it but just wet it down. do you wear a good pint suit? they real help. is your pump up air fan down next to the floor? not good if it is. i met a guy that specialized in 55-57 T Birds his booth was pressurized and had a cleaned gravel floor that he would wet down. he turned out amazingly clean jobs.
Jay D.

Yeah my fans are both on the floor that’s the only place the booth will let them sit since they’re stitched right at the bottom and don’t have any give in the inlet. I can’t really wet the floor in this booth because the material is permeable to water and will go straight through and puddle underneath the floor. My main trash comes from the ceiling where it clings to the blow up tubes and if I wet that down it will go into the tubes and drip onto the panel. Really these booths are just not made for good quality jobs. I’m half tempted to build a big PVC frame and line the thing with plastic top and sides and then just wet the concrete down. Then I could attach my inlet fan up off the ground a couple of feet and use the exhaust one wherever I wanted as well. My main goal is to keep the fumes out of the rest of the shop and contain the overspray so it can be exhausted outside. I’d build a building tomorrow but unfortunately saving up for a house as well and funds just don’t permit both happening. Such is life

I’ve been wet sanding all day today on the hood. Started with 1500 on it and did 90% of it with that to get it smoothed out. Few places on the contours were a little rough from overspray so I 1000 grit those first and then went over with 1500. Proceeded with 2000 and then just started on 2500 before I quick for the day. Good news is I’m getting most of the trash out of the clear. Bad news is I’m sure I don’t have tons of clear left to work with but it’ll be fine. Picked up a wool pad today from Napa for the buffer to try out. Always used foam in the past but figured I’d try the wool out this time to get the tougher scratches out especially on the vertical surfaces where it’ll be tiring running the buffer. Need to get it finished up before Thursday so that customer can take it back to truck shop to be installed. He came by today and thought it was looking good and was happy with it so I suppose that’s what matters. I’ll post some pictures of it tomorrow evening when I (hopefully) have it finished up.

Final update: Wet sanded down to 2500 this morning then washed everything really well and let it dry. Started cutting with a coarse foam pad and Presta Cutting Compound. Worked fairly well but wanted to try out the wool pad. Loaded it up with some compound and went to town with it. Left the surface a little more hazy than the foam hit cut a lot faster than foam. Then washed the hood off again with hot soapy water and switched to a medium cut foam pad and some polish. Took the haze right out and almost of the swirls left from the wool. I’d use a swirl remover and Black Hole glaze after with an ultra fine red pad but don’t think it’s wise to do that and risk the clear still trying to gas off. Customer was there today watching the buffing process and didn’t even want me to polish it he didn’t see the reason behind polishing it out but I quickly showed him the difference. He said the final polish and glaze wasn’t necessary so with that the job is done. Turned out ok for the time and resources I had there’s definitely issues with trash in it still but i don’t have time to sand it all out and get it perfect and spray another couple coats of clear. He’s coming to pick it up tomorrow so I’ll wash it real well and load it up. Thanks everyone for the help and tips along the way! First fiberglass project out of the way and now I know how it should be done. I have another fiberglass hood to do next so this was good practice for a first time job. Semis live a tough life on the road and in the field so a mirror like finish wouldn’t be practical on this job. Now the pulling tractor on the other hand will be a different story!

I admire you attitude to make sure the customer is happy. thats what it takes to be successful, whether its a pro shop or just a Hobbie shop like most of us. i don't know what your work status is but there's a LOT of money to be made just doing side jobs, especially for someone with your attitude. i turned out a couple nice paint jobs when i first started and it snowballed out of control, i had way more jobs than i could handle. i had a day job 8-12hours a day usually 7 days a week. i was a severe workaholic, i would paint at night grab a couple hours sleep wake up make love to the wife and head to my day job. did this for 10 years or so, made a boat load of money. i'm wondering if you couldn't frame up in a corner with some 2x4s and stretch some heavy Visqueen over them put some filters at one end and an exh fan at the other end. looks like you have plenty of room. i'm going to post products for buffing in a couple day HERE that might help you out. for many years i struggled with the buffing process. just last year a detail guy at my boys shop got me set up and now it so much easier.
Jay D.

badsix wrote:...i'm wondering if you couldn't frame up in a corner with some 2x4s and stretch some heavy Visqueen over them put some filters at one end and an exh fan at the other end. looks like you have plenty of room.

For my jetboat project, that is what I ended up doing with PVC that I can take apart and store later. I call it my "White Trash Spray Booth". I originally was going to purchase a blow up booth but I was supposed to be doing this last winter (a year ago) which it would have been too cold in an unheated booth and ended up not starting the project until it was 105 outside. Now that we are back in wintertime and I moved my project indoors, this dumb looking setup works out awesome. I have a couple of explosion proof fans sitting outside under a popup tent with filters on them, and a couple of 24" pusher fans inside with no filters at all. It is lit with cheap Amazon LEDs. I do have a 5000 watt 240V wall mounted heater on a timer and a couple of small 1500 watt little rotating heaters that I point towards the bottom of my boat that are on 24/7 to keep the boat surface temp from dropping too much.

Last year I bought a 3M Hepa vacuum that has also worked out very well with my DAs. I have a set of straight blocks that hook up the vacuum that I tried once and tossed them somewhere. I can wet sand, just have to be more conscience of where and how much water I am applying.

Prior to spraying, I turn on the two outdoor fans and just leave them on.
When I spray I open the garage door about half way and turn on the two 24" fans. Let it clear out and then close the garage door to conserve the heat.

I keep all my paint materials under the boat with the little heater pointed towards them so they don't get too cold also.

Again, after doing all the prep work outside with only daylight under two pop up tents, this setup has been awesome and much easier to work with. I also have a stereo out there and can spend hours in comfort and when I am done, turn off the lights and lock the door.

i'm going to post products for buffing in a couple day HERE that might help you out. for many years i struggled with the buffing process. just last year a detail guy at my boys shop got me set up and now it so much easier.
Jay D.

Please do!! I have only really done one black hood that I painted a while back and went through a lot of products. When you do post could you please address what you do at the body creases?

Thanks Jay sorry I didn’t see your post earlier! He was happy with the product but it’s a touch off from the rest of the truck so we’ll see how it looks when it gets back together. That was a bummer when he told me that. The paint shop used a computer scanner to generate the code for the red and it must not have been spot on somehow.

I’d be interested in the products you’re using to cut and buff as well if you get time to post them up thank you!