Gel Shielding

[Medskipper]

Considering Gel Shielding on a twenty odd year old boat.

No sign of blisters and hull very smooth but moisture meter has 9-10 readings.
obviously it's best to have the lowest reading before gel coating, but any experts out there who can tell me when it's low enough to Gel Shield?

Thanks

 

[Avocet]

Avocet was (very poorly) Gelshielded by the original owner more than 20 years ago. 10 years ago, I took the decision to do it again from scratch and asked a surveyor to come and take some moisture readings. The highest was 12 but I don't think there were that many below 10. I didn't have any problems applying it and it seems to have adhered well to this day. (Although the boat has been out of the water for a long time).

 

[jwilson]

Considering Gel Shielding on a twenty odd year old boat.

No sign of blisters and hull very smooth but moisture meter has 9-10 readings.
obviously it's best to have the lowest reading before gel coating, but any experts out there who can tell me when it's low enough to Gel Shield?

Thanks

Not all moisture meters use the same scales. 9-10 is meaningless unless you know the scale - 0-100, 0-25 or 0-10

 

[Medskipper]

Not all moisture meters use the same scales. 9-10 is meaningless unless you know the scale - 0-100, 0-25 or 0-10

Taken on the A scale of a Sovereign moisture meter, datum reading of 3 above waterline has been subtracted.

 

[jwilson]

Taken on the A scale of a Sovereign moisture meter, datum reading of 3 above waterline has been subtracted.

Usually lower than this is recommended for epoxy coating. Some people though seem to get away with epoxying over higher moisture level hulls. Some don't though.....

 

[GrahamM376]

Considering Gel Shielding on a twenty odd year old boat.

No sign of blisters and hull very smooth but moisture meter has 9-10 readings.
obviously it's best to have the lowest reading before gel coating, but any experts out there who can tell me when it's low enough to Gel Shield?

Thanks

Meter readings are only as good as the guy taking them. Before I gelshielded our hull, I had a surveyor take readings which, as it happened, turned out to be fine.