Removing Gel-Coat. What is the correct procedure?

[John the landlubber]

I Have removed the old antifoul on my Rigid Raider Dory, and am considering removing the gel-coat as it is an ex military hull and is painted standard camouflage green. I would prefer something like yellow with blue antifoul, but do not know what is involved in terms of time and cost. I am sure it will involve a lot of sanding, but am not sure what grit sandpaper to use and how to recognise when to move on to the next stage. any help appreciated.

 

[Andrewseamaster]

Re: Removing Gel-Coat. What is the correct procedure?

fibreglass is not waterproof and requires the gel-coat to remain dry=strong therefore do not remove. if you want to change the colour sand and repaint however this should be done very carefully as the paint must have a good key or it will flake off. Try on goggle for international paints for tech info on yacht paint don't use crap=cheap paint. also don't sand the anti-foul as your lungs wont thank you!!

 

[andy6374]

Re: Removing Gel-Coat. What is the correct procedure?

You can either sand it all down and DA sander will work the best. If it has crap loads of old paint you might want to take the grinder to it with some 36-50 grit aluminum oxide disks, becareful and keep a steady hand if you choose this avenue. If end up getting down to the fiberglass, no big deal and you might have to<br /><br />Now prep the surface (with is already sanded) and wipe with acetone. Give a first application of gelcoat thickened with cabosil. At this stage you won't need to spend much time trying to make it pretty sanding will take care of that. You might need 2-3 applications of filler and sanding with 180 grit depending on how anal you are about a having a surface with no low spots. In the end small low spots can be leveled with gel-coat thickened with cabosil before coating the bottom with gel coat (unthickened).

 

[Bondo]

Re: Removing Gel-Coat. What is the correct procedure?

If the Gelcoat Isn't Blistered, or otherwise compromised,........<br /><br />There's No Reason what so ever to Remove it..........<br /><br />Rough it up with a Course paper,+ Gelcoat whatever Color you want, Over It...........<br /><br />You'll end up with Thicker Protection.............