Sanding in between coats question

Rolled my second coat of rustoleum topside on my Lowe Hustler and following the directions on the can i sanded before the second coat. Can said 220 i went with 320 and tired to keep it light, on the flat surfaces of the boat it was fine it just dulled the surface which I’m assuming is all your after for good paint adhesion of the following coat, but!!!! On the rivets it stripped the paint right off with little effort.

For prep i power washed the boat very little paint cane off, next i sanded the entire boat down with 220 on a palm sander most of the paint held fine, few places it was chipping so i feathered those out. I completely stripped paint away from every rivet, Acid etched all the bare spots and then followed that up with a base coat of rustoleum primer on the entire boat.

So now the 2nd coat is drying over night and i would like to lay down another in the morning (24hrs past) but I’m afraid if i sand again with 220 per the instructions I’ll strip paint right off the rivents again. When the paint stripped down to bare metal after the first coat i hit them all with primer and let it dry over night till the second coat.

Anyone got any advise here? Am i just over doing the sanding? Thought i was being light but maybe not? Just don’t want to keep repeating the same steps i want good even layers on the entire boat and around the rivets.

I would use a red Scotchbrite pad on and around the rivets. Don't use any pressure and the paint will only scuff and not be removed.

I think the sanding is to knock down any high spots, peaks or bubbles in the paint before second coat. I would avoid the rivets and just do the open areas. Are you rolling and tipping or just rolling?
Also with Rustoleum, don’t get in a hurry to re coat. That stuff takes a month of Sunday’s to dry!


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Yes, sounds to me like none of the base preps or coats were allowed to dry sufficiently and/or the acid etch or primer were put on too thick. I tend to be very conservative whilst painting and firmly believe in a few thin coats very one heavy one.

I've yet to have any tin surface I've prepped lose the finish ... but then, I'm not over-aggressively sanding either ... as that could do it too, as mentioned.

Yes i am rolling and tipping the paint, i followed the directions given on another forum for the rustoleum mixture using reducer and hardener and the coats of paint are pretty thin to help with drying, maybe that first coat was just to thin i let the boat sit for 2 days before sanding it but it has still been pretty cold here. All in all the finish off the roll and tip had left the dried surface really nice no bubbles to speak of so really i don’t feel the sanding step is completely warranted to remove bumps. My plan all along once I’ve got a few coats down is to wet sand and buff, but all in all the boat is not perfect so it’s not like it’s going to be a show piece i just want it to look as nice as i can get it since I’m putting in all the work.

The only reason i even sanded it in the first place was because the can specifically said let the paint dry over night and sand with 220 before recoat so i figured it was so the paint had some tooth to it for the next coat to grab onto. If the step wasn’t required i would have skipped it and just rolled another coat since I’m happy with the results.

Also i followed the recommendations i found through various forums on the acid etch and all bare metal just got a light “dusting” of it i didn’t slather it on. Primer coat i just trying to get it all covered didn’t lay down an excessive amount and i didn’t have any runs on it

rogers954 said:

Also i followed the recommendations i found through various forums on the acid etch and all bare metal just got a light “dusting” of it i didn’t slather it on. Primer coat i just trying to get it all covered didn’t lay down an excessive amount and i didn’t have any runs on it

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That's cool - was just checking, not admonishing you. I do find paint/finish adheres best with the 'light dusting' method, even if it takes multiple coats.

I am very surprised though, that after all your work it came off so easily ...