[georgieb51]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Any updates on this, auto clear over epoxy....georgie if I coated Ash with Total boat epoxy, 1/2 gallon thinned down maybe 1 good wet coat rewetting before it drys..both sides and auto clear over..3 days or so later ...this would be fleetside long bed. Not a show truck, parked inside. And sanding before epoxy, 320 grit?...what about recoating a thicker clear epoxy as top coat instead of auto clear?...Thanks....the paint to match wood floor looks amazing, but I do want to use the truck.

Hello Notsolo,
You are on the right track. To start with I would not sand the wood past 120. If you want to sand with 320 do that just before you put your topcoat on. But if you do what you are doing it should work out well. The key thing you are doing is thinning the first coat and getting a couple coats on both sides of the board (and edges, and ends). I would still sand with 120 after the first coat of epoxy.

Another key thing to keep in mind with epoxy is that sunlights degrades it. It will not hold up in the sun unless there are UV inhibitors on the topcoat. Most of my work is with wood boats so I simply use a varnish that clearly states it has a lot of UV inhibitors in it. I do not know if auto clear coat has any UV inhibitors in it.
Painting with a solid color topcoat will solve all your epoxy problems. And here is another TIP: acrylic latex primers work better over epoxy than any oil-based products. The oil will work but it just takes a long time to dry over epoxy. You could just do a nice job with a brush and it would probably look fine (especially if you know how to work with a brush). All the work I did on the boards in my truck bed was with a brush. The topcoat was the only coat that was sprayed.

Good luck with it and keep in touch. We love photos.