gel coat and bottom paint repair

[knied1]

Hi.
I have a 1988 Stingray, I re-upholstered the boat and built a completely new interior for it last year, and now I want to turn my attention to the outside if the boat, it currently has bottom paint on it that is in really poor condition, and a fare amount of gouges in the gel coat above the water line.
I am looking for suggestions as to making the boat look better.

I have been reading the threads on both bottom paint removal, scratch repair, since the boat is white it doesn?t seem like something that a newbie can do without making the boat look worse.

I live near Buffalo NY, and use the boat only in fresh water (either Lake Erie, or Kinzua Reservoir) The boat is trailered, and doesn?t spend more than a weekend in the water, so the anti fouling paint is really not needed.

Also since the season is soo short I really do not want to spend the entire summer unable to use the boat. I currently do not know what direction to go in and really need some advice. I am pretty sure the current bottom paint is an ablative since it is chalky and flakes off a little. I have posted a few threads about other items like upgrading the motor, and swapping out carbs with little response, but was able to figure them out for my self.
This time I am really stuck, and can use all the advice I can get.

Any and all help I can get will be greatly needed and appreciated.

 

[proshadetree]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

Id remove it from trailer tilt on 1 side strip off old with a paint remover.Tilt other way do same them sand the beast and use a good automotive or marine paint.Follow the paint manufacturers directions for application

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

First I noticed that no one has said this to you....... Welcome to iboats!

Sounds like you have a few issues going on. I will move this to the restoration thread about your paint.

Are you keeping the boat on a trailer?

and yes swapping to the 4 barrel from the 2 barrel carb is a great performance boost for the 3.7. The 4 barrel and manifold are rare and very hard to come by.

 

[knied1]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

At this point I really have no plan, I?m hoping to gain one from people who have done work like this. But I am going to need to pull the boat off the trailer since I am swapping my single axle trailer for a double axle one. My original plan was when the ice got off the lake to just swap trailers at a launch, but that could change.

Thanks for the welcome

 

[kybasser]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

I plan to follow this plan http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=280518

 

[ondarvr]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

Old bottom paint can be some ugly stuff and while some of it falls of easily, other spots will stick well and need to be sanded off.

Try a pressure washer first, it may take off most of it, then scrape and sand, and make sure you wear a good respirator, you don't want to breath in any of the dust.

You can get gel coat that is color matched to your boat, or you can try to match it yourself (not easy), it just depends on how good you want it to look. You may get lucky and the white gel coat that comes with the kit will be close in color.

Do a search here on gel coat repair and most of the steps will be explained.

 

[knied1]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

kybasser posted a link for painting the boat, with interlux brightside paint.
the specs say "for use above tru waterline" so I would need to re-do the bottom paint as well correct? and by saying "tru water line" is that sitting at the dock water line or while driving the boat on plane water line?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

They mean on a boat that will be in the water all the time, or for long periods of time, these types of paint should not be used. On trailered boats its not as much of an issue, the boat is only in the water for a day and the paint will hold up to that.

The lower cost one part paints aren't as durable or water resistant though, so don't expect them to last as long as a better 2 part paint.


First get yours cleaned up, fix the gouges and scratches, then see if it needs painting at all, it may just need a good buffing.

 

[knied1]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

Thanks,
Looking into painting may be putting the cart before the hoarse, but I do have one more question. I have read several links about repairing scratches, ive actually been doing research for a couple weeks before posting. The guy at my local West marine told me that if I sand the old anti fouling paint off it will make the gel coat porous, and absorb water, so ill have to re-cover it, I have not seen anyone on any ?repair? or ?paint removal? threads say anything about that. Obviously if I go crazy and sand the entire gel coat off I will have a problem, but hitting it with a 220 or 300 paper shouldn?t mess up the gel coat, or will it?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

You can sand the paint off with no worries, just don't go through the gel coat.

 

[Edko]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

You can use 80 grit, the key to sanding it is to not sit the sander in one place. Use an orbital, you'll be fine. Please use a good mask (not paper) eye wear and gloves.

If you are real antsy about hurting your hull, you can have it soda blasted. But hulls are tough.

When I got my boat it was painted, caked on in some areas and thin in others, a real hack job. Oddly the caked on areas came off far easier.

 

[knied1]

Re: gel coat and bottom paint repair

Thanks for all the input,
Im thinking about using the "Mix and Patch" Gelcoat repair kit by Evercoat. Has anyone used it, and if so what do you think about it?


Thanks again