"Armond Perretta" wrote in message
...
I have been using Pettit Trinidad on my 28 foot sloop for many years (1981
boat purchased new). When we haul, the boat is pressure-washed, and then
in
the Spring the loose stuff is scraped off and the entire bottom wet-sanded
with 80 wet-dry. I use a foam roller and about 3 quarts per coat on this
full keel boat with a 22 foot waterline. At this rate every 3 years I've
had enough paint on hand to avoid buying a new gallon. This routine has
worked for many years, and even though the boat has never been taken down
to
bare glass, the buildup is not an apparent problem. In recent years the
boat has been kept on the Jersey Shore in brackish water.

This year I have decided to honor the titans of Wall Street and what
remains
of the financial system by "going cheap." I took a new gallon of
Trinidad,
split it in half into a new empty gallon can, added what appeared to be
about one half quart of last year's paint, and then thinned each can to
bring the volume to about three quarts in each one gallon can. This means
the paint was thinned about 25 to 27 percent, which is well in excess of
the
manufacturer recommendations. In fact just about any source I can find
would disagree with my approach and advise that I will end up with less
than
adequate protection. The only advantage to me is, of course, cutting my
paint cost by half.

I suppose I will find out in the Fall if this plan is practical, but I
thought I'd throw it out there to see if anyone else does it this way or
has
similar experience.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare





Trinidad is excellent paint. But what you did is an illusion. You added
volume by adding thinner. This will not harm the paint but it will reduce
the thickness of each coat as the excess thinner will evaporated of
sublimate resulting in a thinner coating than if the paint had not been
thinned. What it amounts to is you fooled yourself into thinking you had
more paint while all you really accomplished is making extra work for
yourself in that you have to add at least one more coat to acquire the
thickness you would have had with fewer coats using paint that was not
thinned.

It's like trying to make a bed sheet longer by cutting a foot off the bottom
and sewing it on the top.

Wilbur Hubbard