A new flowcoat thread

Iliade

Iliade

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27 Apr 2005
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Location
Shoreham - up the river without a paddle.
www.airworks.co.uk
I have just about finished removing what must be twenty years worth of various paints from the port side of my ~39 year old Centaur, revealing mostly very shiny dark blue gelcoat.

Unfortunately, said gelcoat has had the bejeesus polished out of it over the years and the laminate is showing in several places. (A few of which are new, following my less than subtle use of a sharp paint scraper all day)

Given that I really hate painting, that I much prefer a new thick and hardwearing gelcoat surface to paint, and I'm a skinflint, would I be daft to attempt to flowcoat the hull? I would expect to lather it on fairly thickly then have to spend some time flattening and polishing.

-Can I apply multiple coats of flowcoat or should any undercoat be basic gelcoat without added wax?
-Can I get a reasonable build up on a vertical surface?
-How thick should I go?
-Should/Can I spray the stuff in a boatyard and if so how? LVHP? HVLP?


I'm hoping that with a little more effort than painting I can achieve a surface with 20-30 year durability
, though perhaps not the gleam of new two-pack paint. Am I kidding myself?
 
I think trying to apply it without previous experience may be a hiding to nothing. Re-gel coating is a well trodden path for professionals and of course the better the application the less finishing there is to do. If you can find a professional who is happy for you to labour for him you may perhaps get the best compromise. Ultimately I agree with where you are trying to go but think you may just have to spend a bit more than you would like.

Yoda
 
I have a very low opinion of flowcoat. I have used it my self and the result was awful. I have been to look at boats that have been flowcoated and they were unacceptable.
VyCox told me it's because I didn't have the application skills needed.
That is undoubtedly true. And probably applies to you as well.

I have had good results with single pack paint. It may need freshening every 2 or three years though as it is a bit prone to bruising.
Two-pack paints are better, but need much more care in application, if you want to live to enjoy your boat.
 
Perhaps I've missed something, are we talking about under the waterline at all? above? or both? Under the waterline epoxy is the way to go. Above it really needs to be sprayed with Awlgrip or some polyurethane. Some people reckon you can roller it, I'm not sure I would.
 
I have a friend who rollered his 41' yacht. The finish is immaculate. He is a forum member and, handily was a lecturer in painting and decorating.
 
I hand painted my W25 with jouton two part primer and one part gloss system and used a small gloss roller for house doors ect the finish was good I used one part topcoat to make repairing scratch's easy and fuss free

on my new boat I am patch repairing with flow coat and it is a pain to build layers up by roller to cover , if I wanted all the boat done I would be looking at rolling a top coat again maybe a two part one to take more knocks
 
nimbusgb said:
I have re-flocoated two aircraft.

Mirror finish.

Took hundreds of hours.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, wingspan 10m * mean chord 1m, top & bottom, plus 6m^2 tailplane & fin, 15m^2 fuselage, all times two ~ 80m^2.
My hull sides ~ 18m^2.

Hundreds of hours /80 * 18 = a few days :0)

But, I have only two weeks before I'm off to the Himalaya and it'll be too cold for resin work when I get back...

Maybe it'll have to be paint :0(
 
Don't like the word flowcoat.
Flowcoat is the last coat of gel only.

That said in my opinion re-gelling is much easier than spraying Awlgrip, Epifanes, International etc.
The process is a reverse of spraying and in terms of man hours they are about the same however material costs are between a third to half that of Spray painting.
The quality of finish with spray painting is largely down to the standard of prep, cleanliest and the ability of the sprayer.
The quality of finish with re-gelling is down to patience with your finish sanding and cutting.

Given a nice dry 12 deg+ day I can key sand with 80 or 100 grit all over and clean down and then get four coats of gel and one of gel with wax (flowcoat) on a 30' with ease.
I usually roller it on using a fluffy roller although if indoors I will spray using a low pressure gun. (foam rollers will melt and go floppy)
That's usually enough but for bad areas you can keep building to your hearts desire before you add the wax for the final coat.

I'd always use pre-coloured gel coat and add wax rather than buy flowcoat.
The wax in styrene is dirt cheap and as easy to add as the catalyst is.

Once dry or normally the next day I'll scribble all over it with a permanent marker sand this off with 120 grit.
Then rinse and repeat the above with 240g > 500g > 1000g > 1500g "wet n dry" and then cutting compound.
 
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I have the gel gun as supplied by ECF.
The issue with the spray gun is it's messy,
so lots of extra time masking up,
and even more cleaning between pots,
plus really you should use spray gel which is thinner although I use a bigger jet and use standard gel but need to be careful of spraying too thick.
Also any wind at all makes life much harder and the finish is really not much better than roller anyway.

That said, inside in a well vented room its great.
 
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