1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

neat

Seaman
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
52
Last weekend we sprayed gel-coat on the hull. It took about one hour. This weekend I flipped the boat and gel-coated the top.
Once mister Marvin showed me how it was pretty straight forward. It is not big deal at all and I never sprayed anything before in my life, well except punks not dead at the high school wall 15 years ago.
We used about 2 gallons ($48 a gallon) for entire boat and sprayed 25sqft at the time.

The mix for 25 sq ft coverage was:

14 cc Mineral Spirits
30 cc Wax S10
4 ounces Acetone
1 qt Gel-Coat
9 cc Catalyst


For cleaning the surface before spraying we used MEK.

47.jpg


For more pictures follow the link in my signature.
 

tommays

Admiral
Joined
Jul 4, 2004
Messages
6,768
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

Looks nice 8)


I would not use the paper mask in your future spraying projects it really allows some bad stuff into your lungs :(


Tommays
 

strizzy

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
159
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

Real nice!!! Now you have to tell your self, when it gets scratch it, do not hurt someone... !!
 

jmandss

Cadet
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
21
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

Damn You!! Like I said I sure wish you lived in Charlotte, so you could help me with mine! Great Job!!
Jay
 

klos

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
209
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

Looks great, What did you spray it with?
 

klos

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
209
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

Looks great, What gun did you spray it with?
 

Mark42

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
9,334
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

That looks nice. I have a few questions -


- How thick is the gel coat now?

- How many coats did it take?

Thanks for the photos.

Mark
 

neat

Seaman
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
52
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

Marvin (guy on the picture showing me how) own the store here in Phoenix (Sticky Stuff Sales), he is selling new gel-coat guns for $45.
One coat on the hull and two coats on the top. Only reason I put two coats on the top is that I was worried that red will show after one coat but it didn't.
Entire hull was sprayed with wax already in the mix. You have plenty of time to finish it and I didn’t sand at all. First coat on the top I sprayed without the wax and added wax in the second coat.

I was going back and forth between paint and gel-coat but my friend Marvin (48 years in the business) talk me into gel-coat. He said paint is for cars. It is thin, scratches easy, needs to be redone in 3-4 years (and that if you trail you boat every time) and much more expensive than gel-coat. For me it was just too much hassle brushing two coats of primer, two coats of paint and waiting days between the coats. This way all was done in two hours.

It dries really fast (in hours) and next morning it was hard like a nail.
 

tr918

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
153
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

What size air compressor did you use?
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

Could you plz start sanding that stuff, nice job look's great so far. May i ask, how well did the gel level, that is did it lay uniformly, and did it fill small imperctions well?

We are watching..................
toast.gif
 

neat

Seaman
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
52
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

6hp - 25 gallons, but you can use smaller one.

I'm not sure I'm going to sand at all. It is smooth with no imperfections.
 

andy6374

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Aug 4, 2005
Messages
1,617
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

No orange peel? You must have used a high gloss additive or thinned it with acetone, right.

That being said.. You aren't going to wetsand or DA it up 1000 grit? Maybe you can just start with compounding and polishing. I'd still hit it will 1000grit, just a little bit. After a 1000 grit you should be able to see reflections.

For compounding try this stuff.

http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/...marine_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html
 

neat

Seaman
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
52
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

andy6374 said:
No orange peel? You must have used a high gloss additive or thinned it with acetone, right.

That being said.. You aren't going to wetsand or DA it up 1000 grit? Maybe you can just start with compounding and polishing. I'd still hit it will 1000grit, just a little bit. After a 1000 grit you should be able to see reflections.


Yup, 40cc of acetone per 1qt of gel-coat.
The hull will stay as is. The top I might sand lightly latter on. This weekend I set my mind on all wood interior and windshield.

Thanks for the link.
 

neat

Seaman
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
52
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

My bad, not 40cc of acetone, 4 ounces of acetone.
 

dhatcher

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
80
Re: 1960 Larson - gelcoat is on!!!

nice very nice

gives me ideas for my restore
 
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