gel coat issues

[corberry]

Hello Everyone! I have a mid 80's Monark Mcfast that a friend gave me. It is needs some attention to say the least. The first item that needs attention is the gelcoat on the hull. I searched the forums and found some information, but I am a bit confused as to what my boats problem actually is. I have reasearched "gelcoat blisters" but I dont know if that is what I have.

The boat sat in the water for an extended period of time, and then it sat behind a barn for about a year. I have attached a link to my project which includes pictures of the hull. It appears that areas (some small, and some large) are just chipping off. I only plan on using this boat on a private lake, and looks dont matter. I just mainly want to repair the boat so that additional damage wont be done. Thanks in advance for the help! I know I will have more questions once I get deeper into my project.

I hope that this link is setup correctly to take you to my shareaproject page.

http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/projectTut,p,445,00.html

 

[Bondo]

Re: gel coat issues

Ayuh,....... Your link works Nicely......
But,....
Your Right,.....
That hull has some Serious Issues below the water line.....
It looks to Me like it's totally Delaminating.......
I'd probably grind it down, coat it with Epoxy,+ Paint it......

Hopefully Ondrvar will come along,..... He's always got Great Info on plastics,+ resins.......

Btw,........

Welcome Aboard to the forums here at iboats.com..............

 

[ondarvr]

Re: gel coat issues

You don't see gel coat do that very often, but there are a couple situations that can lead to it.

1. There may have been a great deal of repair with fairing compound and the bond between the fairing compound and gel coat failed. Even when using the correct products things can go wrong and the bond may be poor.

2. This may have been one of the early barrier coat type products designed improve surface profile and resist blistering. It would have been sprayed onto the gel coat before the skin coat (glass) was applied. Some of these products were not used in the right applications, or if they were, some were not applied correctly and some just didn't work well.


If the entire hull is covered with this stuff, then it's most likely a barrier coat, if it's only in some areas then it's most likely a fairing compound.

Either way it should be removed if the boat is going to spend a great deal of time in the water. If you plan on keeping it on a trailer, you may be able to get away with using a good primer and paint once the gel coat is sanded off.

Start chipping and scraping, then report back what you find with more pics.