The_Deck_Hand

I bid a deck last week that began as a "wash only" service call. The HO is selling his house and wanted to stain it himself after having it cleaned by a contractor. The HO was burned pretty bad by the last crew that did the deck 7 years ago so he wanted to brush on a new coat himself. I went ahead and put my salesman face on just like I would if I were vying to get the entire wash, strip and seal. My test strip of 10 oz/gal of HD-80 didn't touch the stuff with a 15 min dwell and a reapplication for another 10 min didn't help either. It appeared to be an acrylic based semi-trans applied with an airless sprayer. I told him that I would have to use a more aggressive approach to strip the old coat followed by lots of sanding for the new solid stain to stick if I got the job. I quoted three options for the gentleman; wash only, wash/light sanding of rails and securing boards and finally the whole ball of wax. To my astonishment he took one look at the estimate and said he wanted me to do the whole thing but didn't want me to try and strip the existing coat off. After I reiterated to him that the new coat wouldn't have a good chance to stick because of the old coating he still insisted on not stripping it. My dilemma is that the job started as wash and I got him sold on the idea of me doing the entire deck. It's definately more money for me but not exactly my idea of a thorough job. I hate to turn down the job because it is over 800 sq ft and I was able to upsell the estimate. He was made aware that the stain will fail sooner than usual but he still insisted. I have done a few acrylic decks (reluctantly) but never over an existing coat. It will be solid going on over the old semi-trans. I guess my question is whether staining over an existing acrylic is that much of a issue? Does anyone recommend an acrylic brand that installs over an old coat better than any other? Any help would be appreciated. ~CH