Have been refurbishing an old rod for a fellow co-workers Dad.Have been follow others questions and replies on the board.Have preped it and painted it with plasti-kote.Has been curing for the past 72 hours. I'm not sure what top coat would be the best and the tuffest and long lasting.I really want to do this right the first time cause I don't want to be doing it over.So with that said,I need to know what you all use and how to apply it to the rod, and also how long do I have to let it cure before I can wrap the guides on.
Thanks in advance,and thanks to all you rod builders who are willing to help others who have problems.A big thanks and a big applaud to Tom Kirkman for this message board.<<<<Don AT HOBBY RODS >>>

I just did the same thing although with a different paint. I coated it with U-40 Perma Gloss. I used a foam brush with a small hole cut in it, soaked with the gloss. I ran it up then down the rod and left to sit for an hour. I then put on another coat, three in all. I had to wait about two days to wrap the guides, I tried earlier but the thread was biting into the finish.

Plasti-kote also makes a spray on clear coat that works fine.
I've used it with no problems.

I probably would have just tinted some Permagloss and done the coloring and top coating in one step. But, now that you have the Plasti-Cote on there, you have to start thinking about the added weight of that plus a top coat. Maybe it's the type rod where such a thing doesn't matter - you didn't mention if we were talking about a heavy boat rod or a light bass rod.

Do you really need a top coat? I haven't used the Plasti-Cote paint but I'll assume it's an enamel and would be reasonly tough in most situations. Permagloss would add a really hard top coat, but I'm not sure you really need it.

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I tried Permaglos with Plasti-kote and it melted my paint on a scrap test piece. I ended up using the clear glos Spar Varnish in a spray can and its a nice hard coat. Have yet to test it out though.

You need to allow the paint to fully cure before applying Permagloss. The same thing will happen with DupliColor if I apply Permagloss too soon. I have 5 rebuilds I'm doing right now using DupliColor & Permagloss. I allowed the paint to sit for at least 3 days before my first top coat of clear. Permagloss will not 'melt' automotive type paints if used properly.

These are all heavy boat rods by the way. For smaller rods I would consider tinting the Permagloss with pigment.

Jay