THROW AWAY THE PAINT BRUSH

I was not eager about painting the sides of my 35 foot wooden Dickerson since I have not done it for 15 yrs because the Awlgrip stood up so well. However this year I noticed The Awlgrip–which was painted on over existing paint was getting dull and starting to show some cracks.

So I sanded the Awlgrip and many of the crack lines sanded out. Had some peeling spots but not too many.

After sanding both sides I touched up those peeling spots including some that came thru to the wood with Interlux Brightside by brush. It was stiff and slow painting even the touch up spots by brush.

So I thought at my age no way am I going to do the sides by brush. So after talking to John Freal–Rainbow–who used a roller to paint his rowboat, I went to Home Depot and got a super smooth foam roller. It is abt 6 inches long by 1 inch. Since the Awlgrip is basically still a good base I wanted to build on it–but I did not want to build too much, So I diluted the Brightside by abt 10% thinner and rolled it on. Did verticel rolls then horizontal or triangular to smooth it out. Did both sides in I.75 hrs. Could not believe how easy it was. The finish came out great. Secret is to not put too much paint on the roller and to move the roller vertically and diagonally and horizontally to smooth it out.

Only used one quart of Interlux Brightside.

Joe Slavin,