Gelcoat question

[38special]

My 98 glastron gs205 is maroon colored and white. I would really like to re gelcoat the maroon with teal. Do i have to sand all the maroon off or can it be sealed and shot over with teal gelcoat?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Gelcoat question

No need to take all the gel coat off and it doesn't need to be sealed either. You can paint right over the gel coat after its been sanded. If there are imperfections in the surface a primer should be used.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Gelcoat question

You sure you want to do this? Gonna take a lot of gelcoat to hide the maroon. Then a LOT of wet sanding and buffing to get a nice shiny surface. I would think about a two part auto paint. Paint will last longer. You still don't have to remove the maroon, nor prime it. Just a good 320 sanding to prep.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Gelcoat question

I'm with GS^^^!!! I'd Paint it. Lot's easier IMHO.

 

[38special]

Re: Gelcoat question

You sure you want to do this? Gonna take a lot of gelcoat to hide the maroon. Then a LOT of wet sanding and buffing to get a nice shiny surface. I would think about a two part auto paint. Paint will last longer. You still don't have to remove the maroon, nor prime it. Just a good 320 sanding to prep.

I actually did sand and buff the top half of the boat when i bought it. It was chalky and wall to wall scratchs when i bought it. My intent was to regelcoat the maroon part at that time but i ended up getting all the scratch's sanded out, wet sanded and buffed and it ended up glassy and new looking. I still don't care for the color and it's a much smaller portion of the boat than the white. The interior needs done still so i feel like now is a good time for the color change so my interior uhpolstery will match when i get it done.

The thing i really like about gelcoat is the ability to sand out scratch's buff and make it look glassy again, a lesson learned from many of the scratch's in the maroon that sanded out and ended up looking brand new again. Most of them were from sitting in a slip rubbing on wood or what ever the deck material was made of. Correct me if i'm wrong but paint won't be that durable or easily fixable will it?

 

[38special]

Re: Gelcoat question

No need to take all the gel coat off and it doesn't need to be sealed either. You can paint right over the gel coat after its been sanded. If there are imperfections in the surface a primer should be used.

There are no imperfections. Every thing sanded out nicely and is perfect except the color. I am concerned about the maroon bleeding through if it's possible was all.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Gelcoat question

The maroon won't "bleed" through. Its just that gelcoat has a thicker requirement to be able to hide whatever color is underneath it. Production gelcoat has a lot of specs from the manufacturer. One of which is "hide". Even over plain fiberglass the hide factor will probably be at least 10-12 mils. Over a darker color it might be more. You will have to spray the gelcoat on in three passes of about 6 mils to get to the reccomended thickness of 18-20 wet. Spraying any thicker can cause porosity and never finish well. Spraying any thinner might not allow enough mass to cure properly. Remember that gelcoat shrinks at it cures. So 18 wet might give you 12ish dry. After you wetsand it and buff it you may be below the hide capabilities in the gelcoat. With paint you need much less thickness, somewhere around 5 or 6 mils. If you spray the gelcoat to thick it will be subject to cracking and crazing because it does not flex very well. Make sure you use a mil gauge when spraying. I agree that paint is harder to fix but it is tougher to start with. It won't crack as easily and will stand up to UV degradation much longer. You will also never get as good a finish spraying gelcoat and finishing it as you can spraying it on a mold where air can't inhibit the cure even if you use a surfacing agent or spray PVA over it to keep the air off. I have seen a lot of gelcoat (over the last 40 years) sprayed on the surface doing large repairs and within a short amount of time it begins to yellow much faster than the original finish in the repaired areas. Show me any fiberglass boat over three years old thats been in the sun and I'll show you every gelcoat repair.

 

[coopin87]

Re: Gelcoat question

You could always just have that portion wrapped. If your not painting yourself it will prolly be cheaper and faster. Just an idea. You can take them the colors that your new interior will be and they can match them up exact.

 

[38special]

Re: Gelcoat question

The maroon won't "bleed" through. Its just that gelcoat has a thicker requirement to be able to hide whatever color is underneath it. Production gelcoat has a lot of specs from the manufacturer. One of which is "hide". Even over plain fiberglass the hide factor will probably be at least 10-12 mils. Over a darker color it might be more. You will have to spray the gelcoat on in three passes of about 6 mils to get to the reccomended thickness of 18-20 wet. Spraying any thicker can cause porosity and never finish well. Spraying any thinner might not allow enough mass to cure properly. Remember that gelcoat shrinks at it cures. So 18 wet might give you 12ish dry. After you wetsand it and buff it you may be below the hide capabilities in the gelcoat. With paint you need much less thickness, somewhere around 5 or 6 mils. If you spray the gelcoat to thick it will be subject to cracking and crazing because it does not flex very well. Make sure you use a mil gauge when spraying. I agree that paint is harder to fix but it is tougher to start with. It won't crack as easily and will stand up to UV degradation much longer. You will also never get as good a finish spraying gelcoat and finishing it as you can spraying it on a mold where air can't inhibit the cure even if you use a surfacing agent or spray PVA over it to keep the air off. I have seen a lot of gelcoat (over the last 40 years) sprayed on the surface doing large repairs and within a short amount of time it begins to yellow much faster than the original finish in the repaired areas. Show me any fiberglass boat over three years old thats been in the sun and I'll show you every gelcoat repair.

If i can't shoot the new gelcoat, sand and buff to make it look as glassy as it does now then paint does seem like the better way to go.

 

[38special]

Re: Gelcoat question

You could always just have that portion wrapped. If your not painting yourself it will prolly be cheaper and faster. Just an idea. You can take them the colors that your new interior will be and they can match them up exact.

I will be the one spraying be it paint or gelcoat. What do you mean by wrapped?

 

[coopin87]

Re: Gelcoat question

I will be the one spraying be it paint or gelcoat. What do you mean by wrapped?

There are many grafic companies that wrap boats now a days check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDTFbBRUjas&feature=related

They do everything from custom to plain jain. Had a few friends do this recently and it looks great. I will be doing this over the winter when Things die down a bit and I have a bit of extra cash laying around (hopefully) lol.

 

[38special]

Re: Gelcoat question

There are many grafic companies that wrap boats now a days check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDTFbBRUjas&feature=related

They do everything from custom to plain jain. Had a few friends do this recently and it looks great. I will be doing this over the winter when Things die down a bit and I have a bit of extra cash laying around (hopefully) lol.

Pretty cool. I'll look into that some more. Thanks.

 

[coopin87]

Re: Gelcoat question

No Problem. Good Luck.