UV Smooth Prime

I was going to email the company some questions but figured I would get some first hand knowledge of the product on a Vans aircraft here. I did find some old threads on the subject but it didn't seem to answer any of the specific things I'm wondering about.

I just laid down a skim coat of epoxy all over my cabin top and my plan is to do a light sanding with 180 grit. Is that enough to get some tooth or should I go with 120?

Also I plan on rolling it, and per the directions it says do 3 coats, let it cure and sand. Then do another 3 coats let it cure and sand again. I'm assuming I let it somewhat dry to the touch before adding each coat. My questioned is how long does that take? 20-30 mins like most primer/paints? Also it says you need to let it dry for 7 days... is that after the final 3 coats or I do that between each set? So apply 3, let it cure 7 days... sand and then reapply 3 let it cure 7 days and sand?

It also mentions putting on a 2 part epoxy top coat. I'm going to have the plane professionally painted, so assuming I can skin this, seems silly to add primer only to have someone else sand it off..

UV Smooth Prime drys very quickly. 5 minutes will get you dry enough to put on the net coat. Overnight will be plenty of time to get it dry enough to sand. The 7 day cure, is the cure time before top coating.

Okay thanks... do I need to top coat it? Basically will it mess it up somehow if I fly it a good year before getting in with GLO for the paint?

This stuff is thick! Took me a good 15 mins to stir it up. After that it seemed to go on really thin, must be why they say they need 3 coats. Here's what it looks like now...



I don't know if it was my great epoxy wipe skills or what, but I don't really have that many pinholes... Will I be sanding most of this off anyhow and if it doesn't look bad should I just skip the second application? There are a few spots however that I'm going to use a bit of micro in, but not all that bad.

I used it on my empennage fairings and they have been left unpainted for a year of flying - still look fine.

Chris

I flew my RV-9A for 3 years with all of the fiberglass covered in UV smooth prime. It is hard to keep clean, and some oily drips on the nose wheel pant seemed to be impossible to wipe off cleanly.

Here's what 3 hours of sanding will get you.



I will probably do at least another hour or so of sanding just to get more of the UV Prime off. Then I'm going to micro any spots that need work, resand and then more UV prime just on those areas. Even with getting it professionally painted I don't want to relay on the shop to make this stuff even.