I must confess that the last few times that I have painted a boat interior I have used oil based house paint and it has worked out just fine. Many of the interiors that I have done still look good after 10 years. This is due in part to the interior of the boat's cabin not being exposed to salt water and the harmful effects of the direct sun and it's damaging UV rays. I would never use house paint on the outside of the boat, for that my preferred choice is the Interlux 2 part Perfection which to my mind, perhaps because I am familiar with it one of the best finishes that it is possible to get with the roller and tip method. I've been using Interlux paints for 35 years all told and during that time I must have tried almost every product that they have made except their flattening agent, until now.
I spent some time on an old but beautiful MacKenzie recently and I much admired the interior paintwork which had a silky smooth finish which apparently was Interlux brightside single pack paint to which flattening agent had been added and wanted to get that same effect on my latest interior powerboat project. A satin finish I find is easy on the eye as it is not so glaring and especially if using white, a popular color for boat interiors that won't blind you as soon as the sun comes out.
Flattening agent can be mixed in different ratios with the paint depending on the level of sheen one is after, one to one gives a semi gloss, two to one an eggshell and so on down to dead flat matt finish. It works great but because there is no pigment in the flattening agent it does not cover as well as paint would on it's own. The best approach and the one as recommended by the makers is to use the paint neat for the first few coats and only add the agent for the final coat. The flattening agent readily mixes in with the paint and has a similar viscosity so application requires no special technique save for the surface preparation which you would have to do in any event.
My project is well underway and I hopefully will have some pictures to post here by the end of the week so you can see how everything worked out. Most of what I am painting are doors and other trim which I have in the workshop so I will try to get a shot of a couple of the doors, one with and one without flattening agent so you can see for yourself.
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