Thanks Jim, trying to educate myself a little more under the constraints of working for a company.
I sometimes worked with a finisher that did work for our company years ago. Used pre-cat lacquer for some interior doors & millwork trim items. He first used oil stains on wood & gel on fiberglass. Later used lacquer stains, then got into dyes, which I never helped with. He used some alkyd clear & paint years back, then a catalyzed clear similar to automotive clear which was great until jobs suddenly started failing (brown mahogany turning purple, finish not lasting, etc] . Turned out to be a manufacturer change in the clear, but this gave my employers a bad opinion of the newer products, which made them want to go back to older stuff, which at least had some lifespan.
Local commercial paintstore hasn't ever seemed to have what I think I might want, so I'm way behind where I need to be just because of product.
My lenmar lacquer stain is the solvent type & I have a bit of it in stock right now. I figured one day I'll need to get into the dye systems, I know it's a world more of versatility. Guess I'll check out the Valspar sometime.
I still use pre-cat lacquer for certain interior applications, but our many times high moisture here slows it up or even makes it blush, even with a window ac unit in my little spray area.
On a super thin coat of epoxy sealer over a tan fiberglass, what specific type , color & brand are you referring to?
I figure if I can cut back my labor times, my employers will get used to the material costs. But just like with auto paint work, I have a lot of time in initial prep, cleaning off baked on stickers, silicone based caulk on some sidelight units, excess glazing around glass, installing glass plugs etc. Spraying quick drying stain has sped me up, but not having a catalyzed exterior finish has slowed things down.
Time is always the enemy & something I need to improve on. On your example of 1/2 hr time for 1 side of a prepped fiberglass slab, are you referring to sealer , color, & 1 coat of clear? I figure stuff in sun here needs about 3 coats of something good.
Are many of your wood doors in a high sun type environment ? Just wondering if a better clear will slow up some of the wood issues I've seen.