gel coat

alun2

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We have just bought an elizabethan 29 it needs new gelcoat we are on a budget so want to do it ourselves.

we are new to big boats, any advice please

alun
 

aidancoughlan

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Is it the Hull or decks? If its the hull, you may not need a new gelcoat - from what I have heard on this forum in the past, painting is a lot easier than gel-coating.
If it's the deck area, this is quite a big job because of the need to remove deck fittings etc.
 

Evadne

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Hi, congratulations on a superb choice of boat! If it's the underwater section, i.e. osmosis or similar, then you are talking about stripping the gelcoat, drying out and applying epoxy. About £3k-£4k for a professional job, the problem in doing it on your own is finding a suitable venue to dry her aout, and actuallly driving off all the water. I had mine done in 1989 and if I were you I would really think long and hard about how much money you would waste if it went less than perfectly.

The decks is something we have just finished on our elizabethan 29, only the coachroof to go. If it is the same as us, the gelcoat develops osmosis-like bubbles and these crack. Over time water and crud gets in and chips start lifting off.
Replacement was as follows:
a) Remove anything that will come off with a 2-handed scraper. This ishould be most of the gelcoat.
b) clean with acetone
c) fill with epoxy mixed with microballoons or other low-density filler to the consistency of peanut butter. Smooth as you go, its easier than sanding.
d) sand the bits you missed.
e) paint.
I got the advice on how to do all this from West Systems, who were very helpful although I ended up using SP epoxy.
We found that 2 of us could do a third of the deck area in 3-4 weekends, so we diid it over the course of 3 years.

The topsides show a similar blistering in a small way just above the waterline, I just hoik out any loose bits from time to time and fill with epoxy or gelcoat replacement filler. I also paint the topsides with Toplac avery 4-5 years or so.

Hope this helps. If you want any details of the Owner's Association, please PM me.

Yours
David ("Evadne", e29 no. 11)
 

adelaidem

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congratulations on a superb choice of boat! really ? sounds to me they laid these types off vessels up with a lot of moisture in the chopper gun or resins i would be rather worried if it was my boat and she had osmosis through out the entire hull and deck, although it does sound like you have gone the right way with the repairs gee what a job though!
 

Evadne

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I don't think it was osmosis in the deck, more likely a bad gelcoat layup in the first place, with pinholes or air gaps between the gelcoat and the grp. That was the considered opinion of why the underwater gelcoat failed as well. I suspect that in those days the grp itself was rollered on by hand, and they didn't always get the gelcoat right 40+ years ago. The fact that it took so long to show up means I am less worried about it than I would be on a more modern, more lightly built boat, but most problems are curable with a little effort. And the boat is definitely worth a little effort!
 

adelaidem

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yes that could be possible. a tie layer of resin onto the gelcoat before the glass layer has solved this problem in moden layup procedures, although i have witnessed old grp boats with osmosis caused buy moisture in the resins or in the chopper gun compressers.
 

Evadne

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GRP laying up technology has certainly come a long way since then. The interesting thing about the older technique is just how much wood is in the build. I don't know whether it was a mistrust of the new material or simply treating the grp as a planking material and trying to build the rest of the boat along traditional lines. Apart from the obvious such as hatches, washboards, internal bulkheads and joinery there are king planks fore and aft, stringers, a beam shelf, a stem piece and an unknown sized lump of mahogany in the deadwood between the ballast and the (wooden) rudder. The deadwood was a problem when she was epoxied as they couldn't dry out that part of the boat as well as you would a purely grp one; we only found out it was there years later when replacing the prop shaft bearing, and trying to tap a new thread for a bolt! I know that the later 29s had less wood and more fibreglass.
 

pappaecho

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I have this theory that all the apprentice layup bods get the less important topsides, lockers etc to layup and the better experienced layup operatives do the hull. On My Evasion 32 the layup on the hull is very good, On the topsides, gelcoat is missing with visable chopped strand matt, un wetted with resin in a few small areas - normally corners. I just fill with resin filler and sand down. This is my third grp boat and they all seem to have badly laid up topsides
 
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