Cavita/cove line.

nimrod1230

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Not sure what to call it but a line moulded into the gelcoat with some fancy twidly bits at the bow. It would appear the builder used tape which discoloured and was damaged over the years and which I replaced 5 years ago. I used gold tape which turned silver in the first year and is now showing signs of age and losing it's grip. The question is, what to try next?
 
Well on an old fashioned wooden boat, I use old gold Japlac paint from B & Q - In small little tins. You can get a specific primer as well. Wonderful stuff. Kind of better than sellotape!
 
I'm lucky, my cove line was painted white (on sky blue). After the first twenty odd years it was getting scruffy, so I masked it up and brushed on a couple of coats of acrylic paint from a car paint supplier. Hope my handywork lasts a couple of decades, too!

Rob.
 
Not sure what to call it but a line moulded into the gelcoat with some fancy twidly bits at the bow. It would appear the builder used tape which discoloured and was damaged over the years and which I replaced 5 years ago. I used gold tape which turned silver in the first year and is now showing signs of age and losing it's grip. The question is, what to try next?

I had a similar problem, the very shiny gold tape goes silver after a while. I switched to the slightly darker, slightly less shiny gold tape from Force 4 and this has not changed colour at all after 6 years.
 
Bronze powder and two pack varnish

I also found the gold tape originally used looking very sad after a couple of seasons, so I decided to paint this line instead.
My first attempt was to use some "gold paint" bought from an artist's supply store. Appeared fine for the first weeks, but had turned to the colour of a church roof by the end of the summer.
The following winter I took it all off and repainted. This time I bought some bronze powder which I mixed with a clear, two-pack varnish (International Perfection, I think). The mix should be really thick with bronze powder.
After curing, I took the the masking tape off and put a coat of clear varnish over the painted surface to seal it, allowing it to extend the edges a mm or two.
Although perhaps not quite as bright and shiny as the gold tape (when new), this has stood up to the environment quite well. I have redone it once in a period of fifteen years.
 
I had a similar problem, the very shiny gold tape goes silver after a while. I switched to the slightly darker, slightly less shiny gold tape from Force 4 and this has not changed colour at all after 6 years.

My gold tape has gone silver and generally looks messy. How did you get your old tape off?

I recently met a lady who trained as a gilder and she has offered to do my cove line in gold leaf next winter but I would have to prepare the surface first.
 
My gold tape has gone silver and generally looks messy. How did you get your old tape off?

I recently met a lady who trained as a gilder and she has offered to do my cove line in gold leaf next winter but I would have to prepare the surface first.

Very gently with a hot air gun.
 
Whilst on the subject, I would have liked to do mine in a sort of bright pewter colour - you know, like modern pewter, not the real leaded stuff. Any ideas what I should use? Tape won't do the finial designs anyway, so what metal powder should be mixed in the resin?

Rob.
 
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