Spraying a Gel Coat

[shadetree]

I'm fixing to replace the floor in my fishing boat, and I would like to apply a gel coat to complete inside of the boat so the colors match. My limited understanding of this process is simply to add pigment to the polyester resin, then spray it with a spray gun ($50 siphon feed from Home Depot). Does it need to be sprayed, or can you mix up a batch, dump it out, and spread it with a straight edge of putty knife? Should all the surfaces receiving the gelcoat be scuff sanded and how much? What do you use to clean the spray gun? Are there any good books or videos to buy on this subject? Thanks for any responses.

 

[DukesFin]

Re: Spraying a Gel Coat

You definitely want to spray or if possible, roll the gel coat on. You do NOT want to spread it out though. You would find out very quickly your arms, shoulders and wrists would not fare well when it came to sanding time!

I don't know if you can roll it on for sure though. I seriously doubt a cheap-o spray gun will shoot it either. I've got the Husky Pro from HD and it's barely able to put out the Interlux VC Performance Epoxy and if I'm not mistaken, gel coat is even more thick. You're going to need a gun that can shoot with more psi and a larger tip for sure.

 

[shadetree]

Re: Spraying a Gel Coat

thanks Dukesfin. Looks like I need to do some more research.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Spraying a Gel Coat

gelcoat can be rolled, however I am not sure how well the finish will be...

I know some people that use a thick nap textured roller and gellcoat to lay down the non-skid surface...

 

[solar7647]

Re: Spraying a Gel Coat

I have only done Gel coat once, but I found that a gravity feed gun that has the hopper on top works very well due to the thickness of Gel Coat. The method was recomended to me by a local repair shop. Good Luck

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Spraying a Gel Coat

What do you want the finish to look like, just a nonskid, or some areas with non skid and others with a nice smooth shiny surface?