Gel Coat Failure

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Guest

Guest
Just bought a Parker 24 Fisherman 1979 - a beauty with Perkins 4108 and a real sense of 'they don't build them like this anymore'. This is a real irony cos the gel coat on the deck and wheelhouse is completely crazed all over in a way that a specialist who looked at it said they had never seen anything like it! Moisture readings are to follow but the signs aren't good. To remove and replace gel coat is horrendously expensive. If the deck was rubbed down and painted (2 pack) or reglassed it may make it worse by sealing in the damp. Anyone come across this and any thoughts on what to do?

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I'm not glassing guru but surely the crazing can be glazed over with a new coating?

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There is a company in southamton that lets you do the work and oversees it.

Ie you do the hard bit of planning the gelcoat off and they do the tech bit of putting a new coat on. They even supply you with all the toold and show you how to do it on site on your boat.

I will look up the name, but their are only two or three osmosis people in that area.



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Crazing is a common problem on car bodies and normally indicates being kept under a cover. It will have to come off and be recoated otherwise whatever you put over it will be peeling later.
A big job, amateur remvoal would involve bet sander, maskes etc. And then recoating, probably with a 2 pack paint system.

<hr width=100% size=1>Jim

Draco 2500
 
Many thanks for your responses. Another radical option would be to redeck with teak and caulking - can't be that much more expensive than some of these other remedies - all of which look quite scary. The biggest challenge is the reply to her question; "Its gonna cost HOW much.............?"

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If you are going to re-deck try Tek-Dek. Once you get the hang of it, it goes on easier and cheaper than real teak and is maintenance free. Just a thought,

N.


<hr width=100% size=1>Will I ever find the perfect boat?
 
The funny thing about gelcoat is....

...that it aint that important!

Gelcoat serves on GRP for looks only - and maybe to aid a smooth planing surface. All RN minesweepers are made of GRP for obvious reasons, but they don't have and don't need gelcoat.

Even stranger....gelcoat is the <font color=red>cause</font color=red> of osmosis. Osmosis being the transfer of water between two adjoining surfaces where the internal and external solutions (water) are different. No such differential exists where there is no gelcoat.

If the GRP is OK then its OK. Do something about the looks if you feel you must.

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Seen a similar problem on the cabin roof and flybridge of a Princess 37 - shame because it is otherwise a nice boat. Wondered about getting it re-gelcoated if the selling price was right but no idea how much. Any idea?

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This can be caused by the gel coat being too thick. It is common on sharp curves in mouldings.

It is unlikely to have caused a moisure ingress problem, unless there have been any areas of standing water.

I suspect a good solution will be to either sand well down and re-gel vertical areas, or sand and fill and sand and then paint them.

For the horizontal bits like decks I would Treadmaster or 'Teak' 'em.

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