Stripping off my top - part three

I have found it necessary to break this project up into multiple parts as it is too picture laden for a single post.

This morning I set out to finish sanding the pop top, and to finalize the luggage rack before 8am. Neighbor aside my garage is off to gym by 7, so I have no one to piss off.

I loaded the pop top upon my old garden cart for mobility last night, and dragged it onto the driveway where I finished sanding the bottom edge and made sure all the crevices got a scuff.  I know there are folks out there on the Internet that will say don't use anything more than a scuff pad - they are mistaken. 

The paint I am using is a Interlux white fiberglass paint intended for the boat industry. I am intentionally not adding any matte agent because I feel that if I am going through the effort, I don't want it to look like the old top I have now.  I am hoping that the stippled finish will also help to break up any high gloss look.

So as for prepping the surface, the paint company states they want a 220 grit finish to adhere to and you cannot get a consistent 220 with a scuff pad.

Clean, sand, clean, paint.  That's the way I am going with this project.  I don't have any cracks to be concerned with, or dings with bodywork, so no filler and no need for primer.

As of 8:30, the parts were cleaned, sanded, and rolled into the garage.  I set out to do two more cleanings with the Interlux cleaner, and another with a finish cleaner I use from DuPont. I was not going to let any sub surface impurities screw up this job.

Set out to painting, doing a 2 foot square section at a time.  At 80 degrees plus I was not worried too much about thinning, or adding retarders - should be a good day to paint.  A 2 foot section gave me the opportunity to apply with a small roller, then do another as the first one set up.  Then go back and 'stipple' the first with a paint brush end to achieve the finish I wanted. Then move on to the second.

The roller was applying the paint like this:

With all these bubbles.  The brush allowed me to create the finish and make sure the bubbles were not permanent. From the following picture, you can see the difference in the painted versus the non painted areas.

The top was finished, and the luggage rack as well in about 4 hours.  That's two coats, stippled each time to produce this:

Now to allow a set up time of about two hours and I will move it into the sun to bake on the enamel and tomorrow morning I can reinstall.

Off to work.