My only thought is that it's a primer, which means it is not meant to stand alone. If you leave it unpainted for a while, you will need to sand it really well or you may have adhesion problems.

As paintguy said, you will either have to sand it or better yet, re prime it before the finish coat. Primers are formulated for the finish paint to stick too, so the longer you leave it unfinished the quicker it breaks down. You could probably get away with leaving it for a month or so.

No it would be years before I might attempt to paint over it, if I don't paint over it now.

Then you will need to prime it again

Ok, priming again does nto bother me. It's whether the clear stop alone would hold up.

Since it's on the ceiling it wouldn't be "touched" often, but there would be vibrations and some flexing from upstairs.

It will most likely hold up OK

I have not been able to find any peel stop locally, so I went by my local SW and got some of their Prime RX Peel Bonding Primer.

I have a small section of the ceiling that will be hidden behind a wall, so I tested on two boards. One has very little paint and the other still has some.

It goes on thick, kind of the consistency of pudding, and yes it is white in the can and when you paint it on. But I could see it clearing up as it was drying. I'll be back up to the house this afternoon and will be anxious to see how it looks.

Personally, I have not been happy with the RX stuff but it might work with what you are doing. Look for Gardz, if you can find that, it will work.

I stopped by the house yesterday and standing there looking up at it I couldn't tell which two boards I painted.

If I rubbed my fingers on an unpainted section it felt rouch and chalky residue fell. Rubbing my fingers on the painted section it felt smoother and nothing fell in my hair.

Now I need to finish scraping so I can get painting!

Update: I have finished painting the ceiling, and am happy with results. The RXBond did exactly what I wanted. It did darken the wood a little, but it's ok. No more peeling paint or chakly residue falling from the ceiling.

If it lasts a couple years, I will be happy.

According to the spec sheet:

For optimal performance, this primer
must be topcoated with a latex, alkyd/oil,
water based epoxy, or solvent based
epoxy coating on architectural applica-
tions.

For exterior exposure, this primer must
be topcoated within 14 days with archi-
tectural latex or oil finishes.
For better performance when priming an
entire house, use Exterior Latex or Oil-
Based Primers.

If you like the look, keep it protected by applying a coat of flat acrylic polyurethane.

Here is a link that might be useful: Primer

brushworks - The reason I used the RXBond was because I did not want to use poly.

I asked the guy a Sherwin WIlliams and at first he insisted that I needed to topcoat, and couldn't understand why I wouldn't paint it.

Finally he admitted that telling people that they must topcoat it what they have been told to say. He said you will probably be fine, but you didn't hear that from me.

The top coat is to ensure optimal performance of the primer.

It's your choice to use it as you wish.