Kathymel

Sorry to drone on about this again, but … I’ve started prepping the second side of the boat for painting, so it’s the first time I’ve used the Vactan since I filtered all the bits out of it. What I’m griping about now is the adherence of the stuff to the metal. Having just removed every scrap of paint from the side, I know how enthusiastically red oxide clings to the surface with every particle of it’s being against the onslaughts of grinder and sander. The Vactan can be removed with a finger nail. Secondly, I had hoped that the fish eyes had been caused by the bits. Sadly, they’re still there just as prominently. I’ve satisfied my worry that it was something on the surface of the metal that was causing it (my prep is meticulous and I even made a short video that shows they’re not always in the same place). The stuff just seems to be separating from itself as it goes on. Regardless, on that point I’m just hoping it doesn’t affect the performance. Anyway, back to its adherence … given the assumption that the Vactan has performed its primary function of converting the rust, I’m seriously considering sanding the lot of back to bare metal and going straight in with red oxide. I’d appreciate the thoughts of others on this.

Fair enough. I should’ve said … as the only primer, in that another three coats of primer go on top of it. I need to do my water tank at some point as well, so I need to know this too. A brief look at the Fertan website found this: Water Tanks. For potable water tanks it is usual to follow our products (usually Fertan Rust Converter) with one of the many coatings designed for lining water tanks.

Ever since the pandemic and the way Bezos treated his stuff, I’ve tried to avoid Amazon, but you have a point. It is always so easy to deal with them and it’s never a problem if there’s a problem with your product. I’ve used Fertan before and been pleased with it, but this time I didn’t have a clean water supply to rinse it with. Kurust had also been good but expensive for large areas. however, if you want to confuse yourself about what’s best, watch some of the rust converter testing on YouTube. The variations in the results achieved by the different Vlogger don’t help at all 😩 I don’t treat any rust converter as a primer regardless of the marketing spiel. I am right here, you know. You can talk directly to me rather than talking about me, if you like 😊 “expectations and demands” You make it sound like I was being unreasonable. Perhaps you could explain in what way my “expectations and demands” were so unreasonable you were unable to meet them. Your apology is, as has been said, a passive aggressive non-apology and you have done the company no favours by responding in this way on here.

I’ve just posted replies on this thread, but they’re not showing up. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. Well, that worked … just replies to Emma not working, then?

Thanks for that. Nothing exotic on a Liverpool boat, that’s for sure. I’m probably lucky it’s not MDF like the door linings 😁

This is from around my side hatch. I need to replace the bottom piece. I wondered if anyone could tell me what manner of timber it’s likely to be? Thanks 😊

I’ve never used them before, but I shan’t buy from them again (not that I shall need any more for a while 😊). I spent some time shaking both bottles and it made no difference at all. Perhaps I should find me a fortune teller. 🤣 I have contacted the company but no response as yet.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a bottle of Vactan I’d bought direct from the company that was full of bits. It had been necessary to sand it down after I applied it. The company was initially helpful, stated that occasionally a bottle would have too much undissolved tannic acid in it and sent me a replacement. Sadly, the second bottle looked to have the identical problem. However, this time when I got in touch with the company, they made out it was perfectly normal and nobody else had ever complained so it must be my problem. They wanted me to return both bottles in order to get the refund. Well, I’m annoyed but I’m not daft. I decided to filter it both so I could use it and also to prove I wasn’t delusional. I think the photo speaks for itself.

I have only had to log in a couple of times in three years, but the app behaves very differently on different platforms. It’s quirky to say the least. &nbsp The forum is very friendly (though there are lots of spurious posts for points to earn freebies). I’m Lockfairy if you do venture on there 😊 It was delivered from Vactan the day before.

Quite possibly. I spend a bit of my time on Renogy’s own forum. There are many things about Renogy I dislike, and I and many other members have spent much of the last couple of years complaining about them and some of their less functional kit on their forum. What you said makes me realise that, whatever their faults, at least they could never avoid owning up to multiple kit failures as a result of this. (Having slagged them off, I should probably mention they have improved a lot lately!)

The metal was at 20° when I started around 7am and appeared to be completely dry. There aren’t any deep pits for any water to be hiding in either. I used a solvent degreaser and two cloths to wipe on and wipe off (John Barnard’s technique). It’s a bit of a mystery, really. It will be interesting to see what the new bottle does. I know what you mean about trying to paint the roof. It was the first thing I set about painting several years ago. It was May, but as soon as I started it became the hottest May ever. I was having to get up at stupid o’clock, dry all the condensation and then wait for that brief window of time when I was sure everything was dry, but before it got too warm to touch. No need to apologise, I don’t mind. Any company that isn’t aware that their customers are quite likely to be talking to each other these days is a bit thick and is taking a bit of a risk lying to them 🤣 I hadn’t heard that about the post office scandal. I still find it gob smacking that, even with the volume of identical cases they had, they still blamed the postmasters.

That’s what I thought!

Had a very nice email from Andrew, the owner of Vactan this morning: “Sorry to hear you feel you are having issues with the Vactan. Firstly the product is made in 1000lit batches and we have not had any other customers concerned about the bits you see. HOWEVER Vactan is based on a naturally occurring powder called Tannic Acid and occasionally someone may receive a container with larger than normal amounts of undesolved powder impurities. We can send further material no problem if it is an issue.” Couldn’t really ask for a better response from a company, so there’s another bottle on the way.

That’s what I was using before and, I agree, it seems very similar to Vactan. I’ve tried a lot of different brands over the years and Kurust was my current favourite but I couldn’t get hold of it this time (and it’s stupidly expensive).

I did wonder if the fish eyes were the rust spots, but it didn’t behave like that all over the only large patch of rust on that section. Also, there are fish eyes on the test piece where there was no rust. I have had a couple of replies now from the woman who answers emails (not someone on the technical side of things, I’m inclined to think). The first one was to tell me the weather was too hot and it is drying too quickly (it does actually say you can apply up to 40° (which I just wouldn’t do, regardless)). I told her it was only 20° at 7 am, at which point she suggested the steel had retained heat from the day before. I told her I use a laser thermometer every time before I apply anything in this weather, but by that time she was knocking off for the weekend and will tell her director on Monday. So, I’m left with the decision of whether to start building up coats in the hope that it will be fine or leaving it until I get a response. I think I read that thread when I was trying to decide which rust converter to try next. Is it the one where the OP gets roasted? It’s been such a PITA even just getting a rust converter. None of the local big DIY stores currently sell it, so I had to get it online which caused several days delay (and a blisteringly hot 11 mile ride to the nearest DHL drop location yesterday to pick it up) and now this 🤦‍♀️ I did wonder if it was the first brush I used which was why I did a test piece with it another new but different brand brush. When that did the same, I realised the bits were in the liquid. I take your point about cleaning brushes first though – I may start doing that. I did shake it pretty well before I used it. A lot of the bits are stuck to the side and they’re not moving 🤷‍♀️ The reply above is mostly to you as well, but I forgot to hit the quote button. I bought it direct from Vactan.