PDQ OWNERS FORUM

The original owner of the Doghouse did some very rough repairs that I've been slowly trying to smooth out. The port side below the rub rail went fairly well and I painted it with brightside off-white mixed with flattening agent. I noticed that it traps dirt more than the gelcoat on the other side but not too bad.
I recently brought the hood over the slider hatch home and faired it out. I painted it the same as the port side but the color came out different. I also put too much non-skid in the paint for that part.

The questions I have are:

What did I do wrong that it traps so much more dirt than the old paint?

Is there a better paint that can be applied over unknown previous paint?

Here's a close up of non-skid and smooth areas showing the dirt.

Just my non-expert opinions. I've used Britesides on whole boats.

* Skip the flattening agent.
* Humidity can be a problem, creating a porous surface. Pick low-humidity days (yeah--Florida).
* Skip the non-skid additive; I just use salt on the last coat (you saw it on my transoms). Doesn't flatten the paint and easier to use (I've used the non-skid additives and was not impressed).

Britesides is easy to work with and forgiving of surface prep, but it doesn't hold up like 2-parts.

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I figure boats are toys and tools to use, not artwork. So long as it is functional and passes the 50-foot test, it's good. If it passes the 10-foot test, be proud.

By salt do you mean the de-icing salt you pour on the sidewalk? Maybe the water softener salt? (De-icing might be hard to find here in FL)

Humidity is the reality down here and damn near impossible to avoid. Do you think buffing it out would reduce the dirt issues?

I need to eventually paint almost the whole boat as the existing paint is peeling and showing glass in a few areas. This will have to be done in steps so is there a way to erase the lines between areas? I can plan to reduce the lines using natural boundaries but that's not 100%. Maybe polish again?

Coarse salt from a table grinder best matches the PDQ deck non-skid, though I have used fine table salt where I wanted a less aggressive texture.

I don't think you can buff Britesides. Too soft. But easy to repaint.

You're going to need to sand down to gel coat if there is pealing, first with ~ 150 mesh and finishing with ~ 250-400. I've never seen Britesides peal if properly applied, so something was done wrong. Possibly wax, which sanding won't remove, so a solvent wipe-down will also be needed. Probably 2 coats of paint, plus a pre-coat where ever it is bare. I've found that with a little thinner and the right mohair roller no tipping is needed and painting goes fast. I did my Stiletto27 twice, and painting took only ~ 1/2 day the second time. Another 1/2 day for prep and spot coating. Once you get this down, there are no areas on the PDQ that can't easily be painted in one go.

As for humidity, I would test panels in various types of weather to get a feel for it.

I would not be rebedding all of the hardware. But it would be a good time to fix everything cosmetic.

You might consider Kiwi Grip if the deck is really messed up from repairs in certain areas. It gets great marks for ease of use, results, and wear. But personally I would stay with paint; our decks don't lean!

http://sundownersailsagain.com/kiwi-grip-on-deck/