Roller covers for Micron 66

[LionessRacing 538]

Any recommendations on best roller cover type / brands? 

Planning to put on two to three (Waterline and Leading keel edge, Rudder & Deadwood) coats of Micron 66 over a 120 Grit sanded 2 yr old layer of it. 

I can access Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and West Marine in a practical time period to pick up roller covers. 

 

 

 

[justsomeguy! 585]

Any solvent-resistant 3/8ths nap roller.

[Zonker 2,475]

I used little foam sausage rollers. 6" long? Because they don't hold a lot of paint they are light and your arm doesn't get tired. And you don't throw $20 of paint in the trash can when you are done because they hold little. 

[CaptainAhab 154]

Zonker is old & tired just like his boat always thinking about his sore arms & back. 3/8 nap 9” roller. Not the cheap one...not the expensive one. Go to Homie Dopie. Sherwin Williams & West are overpriced. 
 

The little ones are good for keels & rudders where you don’t want to slather it on. 
 

[Max Rockatansky 453]

Foam roller. Leaves a much better finish, and what Zonker said. Me, I use west’s yellow ones

[El Borracho 1,668]

3/8" nap would leave a rough finish, I would guess, but I have never used such a roller with Micron 66. When I cannot spray I have used the very thin (1/8" ??) foam rollers. The datasheet says 3 coats are required for roller application. That implies very thin coats to make the specified quantity cover the boat three times. The roller work is quite slow if done right. Requires a bit of fussing with thinner to get it smooth and control the wet edge. Takes a shocking number of days if the temperature chart is followed, shoring moved, etc. Done right, by the book, it lasts much longer. Mine is at 3 1/2 years now and looks to make it to next summer.

[Meat Wad 540]

I rolled my 26 with cukote. 10% thinning as per instructions. Used the foam weenie rollers. Do bow/WTL, keel leading edge and rudder. Then go back for full coverage. As many coats as you want. The bow and keel polished klean before the rest so maybe extra coats. Let cure double the recommended time.

Splash the boat and let it self polish.  My bottom was smooth after a few sails and wipes with a soft cloth, like a car sheep's wool mit. Do not use any abrasive scrubbers.

[slug zitski 243]

2 hours ago, El Boracho said:

3/8" nap would leave a rough finish, I would guess, but I have never used such a roller with Micron 66. When I cannot spray I have used the very thin (1/8" ??) foam rollers. The datasheet says 3 coats are required for roller application. That implies very thin coats to make the specified quantity cover the boat three times. The roller work is quite slow if done right. Requires a bit of fussing with thinner to get it smooth and control the wet edge. Takes a shocking number of days if the temperature chart is followed, shoring moved, etc. Done right, by the book, it lasts much longer. Mine is at 3 1/2 years now and looks to make it to next summer.

The technical specs for paint state” dry film thickness”

The number of coats is layman term 

according to this International  antifoul sheet 

with a 3/8 roller 3 coats are suggested to achieve the required dry film thickness 

“ Number of Coats: 2 by airless spray, 3 by roller.

Coverage (Practical) - 4.3 m²/lt by spray, 8.3 m²/lt by roller.

Recommended dry film thickness per coat: 90 microns by spray, 60 microns by roller.

Recommended wet film thickness per coat: 164 microns by spray, 109 microns by roller. “

 

You will not achieve the required per coat dry film thickness with a foam roller 

[SloopJonB 8,035]

I love manufacturers who provide measurements like "dry film thickness"  and "bolt stretch"  for amateur users.

HTF do they expect a guy with a sailboat to measure the thickness of a dry coat of paint or to measure the stretch of a bolt instead of using a torque wrench?

They need to get out of the lab and into the real world a bit.

[El Borracho 1,668]

5 hours ago, slug zitski said:

You will not achieve the required per coat dry film thickness with a foam roller 

You will not. But I do. The finished coverage came out exactly as specified. Therefore my foam rolled thickness must be spot on. And very smooth without any sanding. 

[Gouvernail 2,732]

3/8” roller?? Really?? Hell. Go all the way and use one of those texture paint rollers that is actually designed designed to make huge assed lumps.

We haven’t used a roller thicker than 3/16 in the  last thirty years. 

[Varan 1,728]

Thanks Gouv. Painted the top coats on the walls in our house years ago, with sponges and rags. Looking at redoing them. Your roller looks like something worth trying. Wonder how well it works for texturing sheetrock ceilings?

[Gouvernail 2,732]

12 minutes ago, Varan said:

Thanks Gouv. Painted the top coats on the walls in our house years ago, with sponges and rags. Looking at redoing them. Your roller looks like something worth trying. Wonder how well it works for texturing sheetrock ceilings?

It comes  from Home Depot so I wouldn’t expect  much 

[Gouvernail 2,732]

The labels on most Pettit cans emphasize 3/16 rollers and thin coats. 

They could recommend 1/2 “ rollers and lots of thick coats 

 

 

[Zonker 2,475]

Well if they listed wet film then it would make sense. They are very cheap and simple to use

https://www.amazon.com/TCP-Global-Thickness-notched-Paints/dp/B07S7F1KMW/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=wet+film+thickness+gauge&qid=1605065596&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyR0VJVkFTRFFVMTkyJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTU4Njc0MjU4Q0kySktKVzBFVCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzQ0MjQ0MUZSV1MwQUNRNTNGUSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[andykane 111]

I can second the lower nap roller. This is Pettit Horizons ablative, applied with a 3/16" roller (per their instructions). It'll do for a cruising boat.

[familysailor 121]

Weenie roller as Zonker explains..

[Max Rockatansky 453]

11 hours ago, El Boracho said:

You will not. But I do. The finished coverage came out exactly as specified. Therefore my foam rolled thickness must be spot on. And very smooth without any sanding. 

And in my case, lasted three years, even with fairly frequent cleaning

[Max Rockatansky 453]

@familysailor what is your paint treatment for your saildrive? 

[Zach 17]

On 11/9/2020 at 10:59 PM, Zonker said:

I used little foam sausage rollers. 6" long? Because they don't hold a lot of paint they are light and your arm doesn't get tired. And you don't throw $20 of paint in the trash can when you are done because they hold little. 

Added benefit, is if you are sanded to gelcoat, they'll also telegraph to you whether or not a dab of fairing compound here or there would be of use for boat speed...  Grin.

[familysailor 121]

On 11/11/2020 at 5:13 AM, Max Rockatansky said:

@familysailor what is your paint treatment for your saildrive? 

After taking it down to raw aluminum I sprayed about ten light coats of Interlux Primocon followed by alternating coats of White and Grey Trilux 33. Again several coats about four spray cans worth. Works fine as long as your diver follows instructions to treat it like a baby's bottom. I had a diver go at it with a wire brush and he took it down to the aluminum in less than three months.

Same for the Micron 33, as long as the diver cleans once a month as contracted there is no need for the white scrubby. A t-shirt or at worst a soft terry rag is al that is needed.

[Max Rockatansky 453]

Thx @familysailor

[fstbttms 61]

On 11/14/2020 at 4:39 PM, familysailor said:

I had a diver go at it with a wire brush and he took it down to the aluminum in less than three months.

I assure you that if a diver used a wire brush on Trilux 33, he would have taken it down to the aluminum in a matter of seconds. That product is quite possibly the least durable anti fouling paint you can buy and the only reason to use use a cleaning tool as abrasive as a wire brush on it would be to remove the hard growth a missing or otherwise failed coating had allowed to grow. 

On 11/14/2020 at 4:39 PM, familysailor said:

Same for the Micron 33, as long as the diver cleans once a month as contracted there is no need for the white scrubby. A t-shirt or at worst a soft terry rag is al that is needed.

Assuming you are referring to Micron 66, I can also assure you that there is no anti fouling paint that you can buy in California that will be successfully cleaned with a t-shirt or terry cloth rag unless the paint is brand new or nearly so. Certainly not for the life of the paint. While Micron 66 is (IMHO) the best anti fouling paint available in California, as it ages and loses effectiveness, it will eventually need more abrasive cleaning media, even if cleaned monthly. That is the nature of anti fouling paints and to infer otherwise is to admit that you don't know much about in-water hull cleaning.

[familysailor 121]

On 11/15/2020 at 8:53 PM, fstbttms said:

I assure you that if a diver used a wire brush on Trilux 33, he would have taken it down to the aluminum in a matter of seconds. That product is quite possibly the least durable anti fouling paint you can buy and the only reason to use use a cleaning tool as abrasive as a wire brush on it would be to remove the hard growth a missing or otherwise failed coating had allowed to grow. 

Assuming you are referring to Micron 66, I can also assure you that there is no anti fouling paint that you can buy in California that will be successfully cleaned with a t-shirt or terry cloth rag unless the paint is brand new or nearly so. Certainly not for the life of the paint. While Micron 66 is (IMHO) the best anti fouling paint available in California, as it ages and loses effectiveness, it will eventually need more abrasive cleaning media, even if cleaned monthly. That is the nature of anti fouling paints and to infer otherwise is to admit that you don't know much about in-water hull cleaning.

 

On 11/15/2020 at 8:53 PM, fstbttms said:

I assure you that if a diver used a wire brush on Trilux 33, he would have taken it down to the aluminum in a matter of seconds. That product is quite possibly the least durable anti fouling paint you can buy and the only reason to use use a cleaning tool as abrasive as a wire brush on it would be to remove the hard growth a missing or otherwise failed coating had allowed to grow. 

Assuming you are referring to Micron 66, I can also assure you that there is no anti fouling paint that you can buy in California that will be successfully cleaned with a t-shirt or terry cloth rag unless the paint is brand new or nearly so. Certainly not for the life of the paint. While Micron 66 is (IMHO) the best anti fouling paint available in California, as it ages and loses effectiveness, it will eventually need more abrasive cleaning media, even if cleaned monthly. That is the nature of anti fouling paints and to infer otherwise is to admit that you don't know much about in-water hull cleaning.

Bullshit!

I have been though several divers including some of your subcontractors (even though you assured me in a face to face meeting YOU would be diving my boat personally). Those that have adhered to a strict once a month schedule have been able to avoid unneeded abrasive removal of the bottom paint have been able to extend the life of the bottom paint and the sail drive trilux 33.

Those that pay attentive to my instructions are still under contract, you and your divers, NOT.

Fuck off.

 

[fstbttms 61]

 

3 hours ago, familysailor said:

 

Bullshit!

Blah, blah, blah...

Fuck off.

 

 So good, he had to quote it twice! 

Unfortunately for this guy (whomever he is), every word I posted is 100% true.