Gelcoat deterioration

Moggy

Moggy

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The gelcoat in the cockpit of my 25 year old Sadler 25 is in dire need of a lick o' paint. The surface is powdery...should I stabilise this first, and if so, with what? Or is it enough to sand the surface to provide a mechanical key?
Cheers Moggy
 
I'd reccomend taking it back to sound material before painting...if the gel coat is powdery, any paint system will lift off too quickly.
 
Sounds like chalking, which all old gelcoats w/o care do at some stage.

I would recommend a 3 or 4 step process:
(ideally all worked with a polishing machine; no, not that B&Q car thingy, but a -semi- professional model with low revs etc.)
1 a/b Polishing cream or (newly available) pad 1000 and then 2000/3000 grade
2 Good rubbing product, e.g. 3M, Farecla
3 Good hard wax, ideally with carnauba, alternatively NauticGlass

With some effort, you can get a shine close to new - as long as you have no massive abrasions where the gelcoat is absent already.

I would plan one or two weekends depending on how much stamina you have ;-)

enjoy
chris

Looks good, not suspicious...
 
If the gelcoat is still attached and just surface powdery I would recommend 3M Perfect-it Rubbing compound and hire a good quality polisher (wool bonnet). 1 bottle (tall black) did all the hull. We found it was possible to remove 400grade sanding marks to a mirror finish (I would attach a picture if I knew how). It will be harder in a cockpit due to the corners but it is worth a trial run. We found the product in an Australian fibre glass supplier not the normal yacht part shops. He said they used it on the new hulls to remove mould marks. Mind it will remove gelcoat at an alarming rate if I was not careful
 
Re: Gelcoat deterioration /painting may be better than doing nothing

If its really bad what alternative does he have , as he says the gel coat is powdery.Its probably thin as well with some of the sub strata showing through. So he either has to put up with his shabby looking cockpit or do something about it.
Painting is not for the faint hearted but it is possible and with good preperation an excellent finish can be obtained. If I remember correctly there was a Fulmar in Portsmouth for sale a few years ago that had a painted cock pit. I didnt see it but a broker told me that it had not been done well.

I painted my cock pit and am very happy with it, it is much better than it was before and as I do not intend selling for many years the question of 'value' does not occur .
 
I agree with the 'Dont paint it' school of thought. Before you do anything it is worth getting all the information you can. I suggest reading Hull & Deck repair by Don Casey. It has given me the confidence to do more technical jobs on my boat. It goes into some depth about gelcoat restoration etc. It may well be that you need to use a sander and/ or buffer, but it may also be possble by hand with rubbing compound etc. Or maybe painting is the way forward for you But read up and make your own decision.
 
im a car valeter and sometimes polish boats aswell.
i did a 40ft boat last weekend with powdery gelcoat but after 5 hrs of fine cutting compound and a few hours of good quality polish it looked like new. i then went over it again with a sealant type compound similar to diamond bright on cars and it looked really nice...very hard work tho and a proffesional polisher and lots of spare heads is a must.. polishers for about 80 pounds.. farecla for about 15-20 pounds for cutting and then a top quality polish for about 15 pounds should be enough to get it back to new.
regards nick
 
ive bought 2 polishers from a company on ebay with several heads in different grades of foam. look at item no. 8041261520
on ebay. this is pretty cheap. mops are around 4-5 pounds each.
they also sell farecla cutting compound. if in doubt which grade of compound you need then get the finest and give it more time and elbow grease.

regards , nick
 
Thanks! I just bought one. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Please 'scuse my ignorance, but if the gelcoat is in reasonably decent condition (ie. not powdering, just lost some of its gloss) then should one still use the cutting compound, or just go straight for the polish?
 
if you use the very fine cutting compound with water as per the farecla instructions then the finish will be perfect but a good coat of wax or polish over that will keep it that way, if not using polish it will pick up discolouration very quickly
regards nick
 
I had the same problem last season.

I used a product called Poliglow and it did the business, no more chalky. I thought it may only last the summer. Still no chalk on the boat even after Winter.

I'm going to put another couple of coats on before the summer and off I go again.

Check out the original thread HERE.

I'm not affiliated in any way just a satisfied customer who wanted a cheap way to get rid of the chalkyness without repainting.
 
you could buy a wooden boat?

Polishing is very hard work indeed!and better done every year im told.

Just the same as with an old car as said befor hear use cutting compound to take the top surface away then polish,just as you would with a car?Wouldent you??Or dont modern cars last long enough?Sounds like the baveria theam??

If your in a hurry you can use "tee cut" thats the olderst car product which cuts and waxes in one
 
Thanks everyone for your advice! The way forward I think is to at least try the buffing option first. If that is unsuccessful, then I've not lost much and I can go on to abrade and paint. It was good to hear Nicks opinion as a pro polisher.

However, if it does come to option 2, I have a very good compressor, spraygun and airbrush, so IF I ever considered selling Tilly, the paintjob won't put off any potential buyer!

Trouville...did I read right? Buy a wooden boat and reduce maintenance hours....you on drugs or what? ( No slur intended!) Fair wind....Moggy
 
I'm having a similar problem right now - but ours is WAY past buffing so I'm investigating other options. In the course of this, Blakes and International both suggested several coats of their high performance epoxy primer (I think Blakes' is called "EPU" and Internationals was called "Interprotect") to stabilise the surface, followed by paint. To be honest, I think I might even be past that - the other option though, is to grind off all the gelcoat and replace it with a mix of epoxy and micro baloons. Several people have sucked air through their teeth and told me it will be one hell of a job!

IF it's not too late for you but the buffing doesn't work, the epoxy undercoat might!
 
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