My old sailboat had been begging for TLC for years. YEARS. I had no motivation to start sanding, priming and painting with a heavy marine enamel…..until I discovered the invent of Blue® Pre-Taped Painter’s Plastic. I am not fooling you here.
I have used (and I trust) Blue® tape on freshly cured & painted surfaces. This Pre-taped Painter’s Plastic combines a thin, folded section of painters plastic that extends from your placement of the tape edge, by 24″ or 48″ depending on the item you buy. The suffix of these part numbers indicate the width in inches of the plastic sheet:
PTD2093EL-24
PTD2093EL-48
These 30 yard long models come on a refillable dispenser that has a serrated edge, allowing you to cut just what you need for the precise application. Refills are about a buck cheaper.
This 14′ sailboat with two hulls got two top coats and so I applied the tape twice. I have leftover product. On a commercial or large residential paint project, I would guess Blue has other offerings in greater lengths.
The film is delicate so avoid making contact with the serrated blade until you’re ready to cut it off, otherwise small frays in the plastic allow paint to penetrate through.
As an experiment, I applied Frog Tape which I also love, to one of the casting / pylons. The process was clumsy because I was trying to incorporate plastic sheeting; it didn’t go as smoothly.
I was very impressed with the Blue® product and will absolutely use this in more applications.
If you’re interested, I also used 3M® Rubberizing undercoating spray paint on the metal surfaces. This waterproof product is item 08883 Black and I’ll have another post on that soon!
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