Refinishing a Gelcoat Boat

[Brent]

I have the opportunity to refinish a gelcoated boat, and am looking for insight and opinions on the best way to proceed. The boat is about 20 years old, and has had a few dings and scratches filled with epoxy and painted over (Pettit Easypoxy is the paint). The paint finish is not real smooth and the paint tends to chaulk easily. The objective is to end up with a smooth and fast finish that will help the boat be more competitive on the race coarse.

One option is to remove the paint and restore the gelcoat finish to smooth and glossy condition. Anyone have experience to share with rebuilding a gelcoat finish?..I know epoxy, but dont have any gelcoat experience.

[Guest Ray Henry]

I am about to attempt this on my 26ft Nimble Kodiak up on deck. I've never attempted anything like this before, so I know from nothing. I just completely stripped the bottom, 2 coats of epoxy, 4 coats of barrier coat, 3 coats of bottom paint. Now it's time to move up top.

All gelcoat badly faded chalky and scratched up. I plan to glass over the bad spots, fair some areas, sand it real well, then paint with two part. Either Awlgrip or Interthane - can't decide.

In any case, if you wait about 4 weeks I'll let you know how it went....

[Brent]

I am looking for a smooth and glossy gel coat finish. From what I have gleaned it should be possible to spray on get coat to freshen up the old finish, and get something that would be a nice final finish.

If that turns out to not be not such a great idea, I figure I will smooth out the old fibreglass and go with Interthane over a couple of good fair primer coats.

[Spinnaker55]

Go to http://blumhorst.com/potterpages/ Dr Judy describes how she did the same to her Potter 19 Red Wing. If you can't get to her site, go to trailersailor.com and leave a message for her in the Potter forum.

Good Luck,

Geo in Chicago

[Frank Hagan]

I would second the advice to check with Judy Blumhorst or someone else who has done it. The process I've seen done in boatyards includes sanding and then some kind of fairing putty, then sanding until smooth as glass, then an epoxy barrier coat and 2-part paint. I don't think they try to re-do the gelcoat, as I think that really only works well in a polished female mold. At least, anyone I've talked to who has tried to apply gelcoat "patches" over a large area has ended up with a disaster!

[Charlie Jones]

you might also go to TSBB and ask Eric Jon the same question- he regel coated his old Cal 21 a few years ago. Did a quite nice job too.

[Frank Hagan]

I wonder if they have a material they are calling "gel coat" that is more akin to a thin spray-on material. One of our posters here had a horrible experience trying to use gel coat on a boat by brushing it on.

[Brent]

There are a number of suppliers with gel goat repair products that are sprayed on in thin layers with a gravity cup sprayer. This is the standard method for repairing a polyester boat. The web site info suggests the gel coat drys quickly as long as the layers are kept thin. Finishing is by sanding with progressively finer wet and dry papers, then waxing.

Sound easy enough, but have never tried it.

I am concerned that for the boat project I am looking at I may end up recoating the entire hull, as the old gel coat may be strongly faded. But one the sprayer is fired up, doing a little more is not a big deal. Then there is the sanding...I love sanding.

[Guest fiberglassdr]

I see you guys are interested in Gelcoat resurfacing. This can be done with much work and lots of sanding. I do this for a living, but mostly on molds that need to be restored. After all fairing and repair work is done you need to bring the surface to a 180 grit scratch, with absolutely no shinney areas anywhere. There must also be no cracks in the surface that haven't been ground out filled and faired. The Gelcoat application is next. It is done with a 2qt. pressure pot. You need to lay down 20-24mil of gelcoat. After the gel has cured overnite you will need to liberally wash the surface down with Acetone to remove the surface blum,(soft surface skin of gel) Now you are ready for the fun part, you will need to sand the boat completely with 240,320,400,600,1000 grit wet dry sand paper with water. Be sure to fulsh the surface thoughly between each grit change. This will protect you from scratching your freshly sanded areas with random grit from the paper. After you get to 1000 or 1200grit paper you are ready to buff your jewel. I use a product from SATTEX co which is a stick of compound rather than liquid compound. Its much cleaner. I use three differant grades browncoarse, green medium and white fine. I then finish with either 3M's Finesit, or Meguire's machine glaze. Then wait a week then wax. This is a synopsis of the job but I think you get the idea. I am working on a 43ft Yacht for Carver Motor Yachts at present, one of 3 refinishes for this winter.

Hope this helps Bill

[thebob]

Wow that sounds like a lot of work. I think I'd get fed up with sanding pretty quickly.

[Frank Hagan]

Wow! Its always good to hear the voice of experience ... to do it right usually takes a lot of work and that sounds like a LOT of work.

Bill, is it "easier" to fill and patch and then, rather than spraying on a new coat of gelcoat, spray on one of the new two part urethane paints? I know that has to be done by a professional too (or at least someone who has the right respirators to do it), but it sounds to me like it would be faster/easier and therefore cheaper to do that way.

[Brent]

Wow, thanks for the details on the gelcoat task. After reading this I think I am going to try wet sanding and buffing the paint before going the re-gelcoat approach.