More progress this weekend:
My POR-15 showed up, so it was time to get to work.
I ordered 2 quarts of POR-15, and a gallon of the etching prep spray. The prep spray is a concentrated zinc phosphate solution: That is to say, room-temperature parkerizing solution with acid.
I bought an $8 pressurized bug sprayer to deliver it because fuck a bunch of trigger spray bottle. The sprayer worked great, we let it sit for a half hour and then hosed it off. We painted with a brush on Saturday until we ran out of daylight, cleaned up, and left the paintbrushes for dead, since theres no getting the POR-15 out of them.
The POR-15 goes on very well with a brush, we were both amazed at how well it applied, how well it levelled even when painted on a vertical surface, but most importantly,
just how far it goes. We got about a quarter of one side of the bed underside painted on Saturday, and barely put a dent in the paint.
Sunday morning I stopped by Harbor Freight and picked up a small paint gun with a 4oz cup on it for $12, figuring that if it turns into a block of epoxy after applying the POR-15 I'll only be out twelve bucks. The gun was shockingly nice, with a good action. If it doesnt survive being used for POR and then cleaned, I'll definitely buy another one, its a great little gun.
It only gets thinned 5% per the instructions, we thinned with lacquer thinner. As soon as we started running the spray gun, we realized that this paint was fucking magical. POR-15 sprays even better than it lays down with a brush. When I started spraying, I cranked the pressure all the way up and turned the paint volume all the way down, and I was immediately getting a very even and opaque coating. Its a one-and-done coating, so you dont build it up like primer. You just throw one thin coat on and its set. I got bottom of the bed, the insides of the fenders, and the entire interior of the bed sprayed up with one quart, with a cup of paint left to spare. We eventually got annoyed with it laying down so well, we ran out of bed to spray it with. I was just laying it on and the cup refused to run out, like the miracle of the loaves and fishes. When it finally cashed out, I was cheering and thoroughly high on fumes.
One important note about POR-15: It cures with humidity and heat. The reason this is vitally important to you is that it means you have about a half hour to get it off your skin before you're wearing it for a week. I learned this to my chagrin on saturday, as I neglected to clean it up properly and ended up with black tattoos on both hands. Fortunately I started Sunday morning off at the artsy coffee house and got a gushing and appreciative "Ooh, it looks like youve been painting" from the barista.
Anyway, enough blabbing, heres my bed covered in POR-15.
Ready for primer.
