February 5, 2013

I used this roller recently with Awlgrip products and found it unusable with the 545 primer, due to excessive bubbling. I was able to roll the 545 with a foam roller, without tipping(tipping not recommended, anyhow, with 545), so used foam instead. When it came to the topcoat, it shed mohair stubble everywhere, so badly so that I had to wipe off the paint, and start over. I again switched to a foam roller, and completed the layer without issue. These do, however, seem to be build really well, and think that if I wash the rollers in the sink to remove any factory stubble, they will work very nicely.

August 17, 2009

I'm using Epifanes MonoUrethane to redo the 25 year old hull of my Newport 27-S MKII, after watching the "hardness" demo competition on the Jamestown website, comparing Petite, Interlux, and Epifanes one-parts. I figured I'm doing this once, on a 25-year-old hull, this'll probably be IT for the lifetime of this boat, so I'd pay the extra and buy the hardest one-part I could find. Following Jamestown's advice, I ordered and used the usual foam rollers, and 4 good ox-hair brushes for tipping after rolling. The first coat went on fine, though with a few tip-grooves not quite going away, and the rollers leaving sort of a bubbly foam behind that really demanded being tipped. The 2nd coat went on really badly, due to ambient heat, and still left the bubbly foam-roller foam behind, but these bubbles dried too fast to tip well, and the whole thing became a mess I had to sand half the starboard side off the next weekend! So being sick of the foam foam being left behind from the usual rollers, I went back to Jamestown's site and saw these red "mohair" rollers, saying something about leaving little or no stipple. I figured if we're tipping with a hair brush, why not try rolling with a "hair" roller...as I was about ready to give up on tipping and do what Don Casey says about light colors,i.e. "..you can get a very nice finish without ever touching a brush to the hull....with a very slight orange-peel texture...." Since I'm using Bold Yellow, I figured "Let's go for it." I am SURE GLAD I DID !! It came out beautifully....very smooth, glossy, very slight orange-peel texture, that I'm starting to realize I prefer over the slick, almost "plastic" finish after tipping.... ....and, of course, from 10 feet away, you can't tell whether a boat was tipped or just rolled anyway...nobody can see a slight orange-peel effect from that far away... ....so, as smooth and easy as these rollers made the job, I don't hesitate to recommend these "mohair" rollers, for an easy, one-pass application that's a pleasure.

Just rolled, no tipping