Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

[BigJ08]

Okay so I'm a little confused about gel coat. Is it just a certain type of paint that is used on fiberglass or is it necessary to put down before I paint. The reason why I ask is because I have a few areas of bare fiberglass that I'm going to paint and I was wondering if I could just throw the paint on there (rustoleum marine topside if it makes a difference), or would I have to put down a layer of gelcoat first? Thanks for the help.

 

[salty87]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

gel coat and paint are 2 very different creatures. gel coat is pigmented when it's mixed.

if you have exposed fiberglass, you prob don't want to just paint over it.

all depends on how bad the spot is and how well you want to fix it.

got a pic?

 

[gcboat]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

By definition:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelcoat

 

[oops!]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

you dont want to paint exposed glass in small areas.

what you need to do is considered a standard gell coat repair......scuff the area....clean with aceitone....fill with gellcoat or marine tex.....sand smooth and buff to a finish....or paint after the repair is concluded.

 

[BigJ08]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

OK, not exactly what I wanted to hear but oh well . I'll try to get a pic up but the areas are what I would consider to pretty large, as in the last guy who owned the boat replaced the front deck and a large part of the floor with new plywood and glassed it in. Thanks for the help.

 

[oops!]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

i thought we were talking about an outer hull.....which is where gellcoat is uasually found.

a deck or floor is different and can be painted with prep.

post pics please

 

[fishinaddict]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

What gives texture on the floor. Like in these new boats that are all glass. Do they put down a mat or something befors the top coat dries?

 

[BigJ08]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

Here are a few quick pics

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Just keep in mind that I didn't do the fiberglass work, as I know it is ugly . It is very solid though and I don't really have the time or $ to do it right. Just trying to get it looking decent.

 

[oops!]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

hmmmmm.....all your going to do by painting is change the color.

have you considered vinyl or carpet ?

you can paint it if you want.

if you do....the surface must be prepped well......sanded smooth. thats a little tougher to do with raw glass.....and the csm in the glass job.

i did my deck exactally like that with gellcoat.

see gellcoating the deck in the hull ext thread....its just like paint..but a lot thicker....and a lot more expencive......

 

[BigJ08]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

I was thinking about sanding it down good but maybe leaving it where a few of the bigger fibers are exposed so I would end up with some sort of textured effect. By the way oops, point well taken about gelcoat being more expensive, did a quick bit of shopping and I was like . Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[GreggS]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

BigJ,
Wait to hear more from the guys here before you take a sander to your deck.
I know very little about fiberglass but I can tell you that you don't want to sand it to the fibers.
You can acheive the texture by either spreading sand over the tacky paint and then, after the paint has dried, sweep off excess and put on another coat of paint.
Another option would be one of the many bed liner sprays that they use in truck beds.
Again, wait to here more from another on this site. They, as a whole, not a lot more than I do.

Gregg

 

[redfury]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

Two words "Shark Grip". You add it to a small batch of paint and then use a roller and roll it out where you want to have a non skid area. It won't leave sharp edges that can cut like using sand or other abrasives.

Otherwise, you can buy rubberized decking material that you can glue down to the areas you walk on and then paint the rest.

Otherwise, glue some decent grade marine carpet ( if you want it to last ).

 

[BigJ08]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

Yeah I thought about adding a non-skid additive to the paint, rustoleum actually makes one, perhaps I'll try it. My original plan was to use carpet but I eventually concluded that it might be a pain, what with having to glue it down and having it fade over time, I eventually just settled on painting it. I figure touching the paint up every once in a while will be a lot easier than having to worry about carpet. I was also under the impression that carpet tended to trap water underneath, thus causing premature rot. That being said, does anyone have experience with how well the rustoleum paint holds up as a deck paint? All the opinions have been great!

 

[oops!]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

joe....in sanding the fiberglass what you are tring to do is knock off any sharp points or fibers sticking out.....
normally a finishing veil of 8 oz tightly woven glass would be applied over the csm for a paint situation.


you will need to sand the glass smooth......with what ever product you use.....gellcoat ...paint rhino lining or other.

use 80 grit on a sander, and go over the who;le thing till its so smooth you can run your hand over it with out feeling anything.....any imperfection will show.

i just did it......read the hull ext thread.....use the index.....and see gellcoating the deck.

 

[BigJ08]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

Thanks for the advice oops. I checked out that the part of the hull extension about gellcoating, great information!!!, real helpful to actually see how it's done b/c its hard to vizualize sometimes. I think I will try and sand with 80 grit like u said and see what I can get out of it.

 

[beauff]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

I would go 120 or finer but what do I know. I did my deck with Tuff coat & it wored out great for me.

 

[NoKlu]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

Lots of guys here are using truck bed coating as well with good results.

 

[BigJ08]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

How does the price of truck bed coating compare to the price of the rustoleum topside that I'm considering? The rustoleum runs about $12 a quart.

 

[NoKlu]

Re: Gelcoat. Whats the deal?

Your going to have to check around your local area to get prices but it's not that much if you do it yourself. The good thing is most of it is textured so it will hide some of the imperfections in your deck and gives good grip when it's wet. Do a search on this forum and you'll find good info and pics,possibly the approximate prices as well.