GelShield or VC tar

J

Jcorstorphine

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I was a great believer in the old VC tar but from what I can gather, it may not be what it used to be. My old Westerly Pentland developed chronic osmosis in 1985 when only 6 years old and was treated with the original VC tar by her pervious owners. When I came to buy it six years after the application, my surveyor went off to check his moisture meter on other hulls as the readings were very low and he thought his meter was defective. A further 6 years later when I sold the boat, the surveyor commented that the hull moisture content was still very low.

Has anyone got good or bad results from the newer VCTar agaisnt the Gelshield.
 
Jcorstorphine said:
I was a great believer in the old VC tar but from what I can gather, it may not be what it used to be. My old Westerly Pentland developed chronic osmosis in 1985 when only 6 years old and was treated with the original VC tar by her pervious owners. When I came to buy it six years after the application, my surveyor went off to check his moisture meter on other hulls as the readings were very low and he thought his meter was defective. A further 6 years later when I sold the boat, the surveyor commented that the hull moisture content was still very low.

Has anyone got good or bad results from the newer VCTar agaisnt the Gelshield.
Click to expand...

I removed all the old antifoul on the boat back to the gelcoat last year, the 'original' first coat ontop of the gelcoat was VC Tar epoxy, however when I spoke with International paints on the quiet they did not recommend recoating with VC2 epoxy as the reason as you said the new now called VC2 is not the same as the old VC epoxy.

Their recommendations was 5 coats of Gelshield 200 epoxy, 1 x Primocon primer, 2 x antifoul (Micron Extra), as usual I will be 'staying in' for 2 years before next lift out unless I have to (the anodes also last 2 years, Just !.).

On top of the above even though I have a motorsailer I have also had good results with a 200mm boot topping of Interspeed Ultra , as it is scrubable throughout the year.

Mike
 
Unless the hull is bone dry already, I wouldn't epoxy.......

Having stated the obvious, I have in the past used Gelshied, & found it exceptionally quick & easy to apply.
The boat was later "attacked " by the stern outdrives of a small speedboat on a loose mooring. None of the epoxy, despite much nibbling, came off or chipped.
 
Your thinking is entirely understandable, & if the hull below the water line is dry, crack on. However, if not, all you do is trap moisture in the substrate with nowhere to go. If the internal moulding is flow coated or even if not, very little if any, will come out that way. No hull will realistically be bone dry; so either you find someone with a meter, or make an educated guess on the usage/storage of your boat.....

If you do go ahead, I found Gelshield v. easy & tough ( use at least 5 coats, alternating colours on top of a primer...)
 
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