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One caution about polyurethanes- I did a test using Varathane Colours which I believe may be a polyurethane paint - they call it“plastic enamel” on the can and they say it can be used for marine applications which I would guess means boats. I found that it covered well and was smooth but two weeks later it was still soft and would gum up the sandpaper when I tried to wet sand it. I gave up on the product.

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Just in case anybody was wondering how much the Marine paint is I called a Marine supplier. $39 Cdn a quart for the one part ( Brightside ) and the two part is $79 Cdn a quart.

I paid $12 for the Tremclad.

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Senna, I had more issues with bubbles last night than previously. I had mixed up a bit of a thicker concoction of paint for my final coat. It took me about a half hour longer to apply this coat because I had to do the light pressure roller technique over and over on the sections to get the bubbles to lay down. I have had more luck comparing the resulting mixture with known consistencies (ie. 2% milk, whole milk, creamer) than measuring exact ratios.

My earlier coats where the bubbles ALWAYS popped automatically was with the 2% milk consistency. Last night, the bubbly coat, was more of a creamer consistency. I don't know if this helps anyone, but...

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exit - i'm actually able to make a diagnosis about your condition, it's stumped me until now, but i just looked it up in my medical index and sure enough it's as clear as day. you suffer from a rare condition, only diagnosed by 2 other people - "chronic experimentation complex"; definition: one who chronically must experiment, results are made from unobtanium, a result that can never be reached; to never finish a project before starting over. see your doctor, there is help, you CAN lead a normal life with the right therapy and drugs, i don't know i'm a rocket scientist, not a doctor!!!! haha sorry i couldn't resist, all in good fun, i wanted to see your red all done in the sun, you could have at least taken a pic.

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Thanks for the diagnosis, Doc. Where do I send my check?

Actually I stuck with the red a bit longer just because I didn't want the paint to "win"- so I got it to shine successfully, then painted over it.

It's totally about the color.. I'm just not a red car guy, but I thought I'd try something different with the dart, until I pictured driving around in it, then I had to make it a more subdued color.

If you want a pic of it in the sun, just look at the pics of the buggy in the same color.

And yes I am a chronic experimenter, and if I wasn't I'd be out of a job, so I can't stop now.

The experiment with the clear coat turned out bad. Spraying alone led to lots of orange peel, terrible orange peel in fact. The regular color never had orange peel like that. I'll let it dry real good then wetsand and polish it but I think you're on to something when you say the shine should be very close with just the paint alone, and easier to deal with.

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i agree, for all the work i'm not so sure the clear will help, espically the spray version, you would love the liquid brush grade tremclad clear stuff, i've used it on a new brass mailbox, stuff like that and it does shine extreemly well, sands nice, ect...but then the paint is "sealed" and touchups are hard, ect... the tremclad clear coat is the perfect thickness, and just needs a "splash" of laquir thinner. i liked the red on your dart, but i agree, i'm not a red car guy. have you given some thought to orange? or like a sublime green??
i'd say stick with the light colors, white is eaisest, and on a dart would look great. perhaps blue? so your going back to the "almond" like color?

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It's called Canvas white. Hopefully a couple more coats and the true color will be visible. Here's a tractor painted with the stuff:

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For what it is, Brightsides is pretty decent paint. But it won't hold up as
successfully as Awlgrip.
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So... just a little more food for thought. Haven't looked into Awlgrip, but seeing that Marq mentioned it too, that might be something to look into.

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From what I gathered as I surfed the various boater message boards, the discussions comparing Brightside versus AWLGrip reminded me a lot of folks arguing about their preference for Coke versus Pepsi.

The only real difference that tended to come out of the discussions was that :
a) AWLGrip cost much more then Brightside.
b) AWLGrip was argued to be 'harder' when fully cured than Brightside.
c) Brightside was considered easier to apply for the 'Do It Yourselfer'
d) Brightside was considered far more forgiving and self-correcting
e) AWLGrip delivered its best performance and appearance when SPRAYED...

Possibly AWLGrip may become the 'third' step up in our selection of potential paints for doing budget home paint jobs

I just wasn't ready to part with the cash that it would have cost to experiment with the AWLGrip.

Neither paint was the clear winner in the boater discussions and arguments for each were fairly strong. In the end it all reminded me of folks arguing about Coke and Pepsi

Possibly the Rustoleum / Tremclad would be the RC Cola in their discussions...

Based on everything that I read... I do have the feeling that MOST boaters would 'prefer' to have AWLGrip on their boats - but COST seems to be the deciding factor that ultimately persuaded them to make use of Brightside. And that reminded me of people who like SONY televisions... but are willing to settle for Panasonics because the quality is similar - but the others are all 'cheaper' costwise compared to the Sony.

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