paint or gelcoat

[madmat99]

Hi everyone.
another question for you lovely people.

i am looking at possibly purchasing this boat


my question is. i keep reading about gelcoats and paints and have just got confused as to what is needed.

the paint has been sanded down but not down to the primer.

so can i apply paint straight to this or do i need to put a layer of gelcoat on?
is gelcoat just a different type of paint?

thanks in advance

Regards

Mat

 

[VicS]

Hi everyone.

i am looking at possibly purchasing this boat
View attachment 65382


Regards

Mat

Gel coat is the outer layer of resin of a GRP moulding. Normally it is applied the the inside of the mould before the layers of glass and resin that form the bulk of the hull are applied.

Are you sure the boat in the picture has been painted or are we simply seeing weathered and faded gelcoat ? It looks like the latter to me

If it has not been painted it would be preferable, perhaps, to restore the existing gelcoat by rubbing down with fine/ very fine wet and dry, compounding and finally polishing.

If the existing gelcoat is in too bad a condition to restore or if it has already been painted then is the time to think about painting or repainting.

Preparation for painting will depend on whether it is already painted or not, the type of used paint if it is already painted, and the paint system chosen to refinish.
The coating manufacturer's recommendations should be followed to the letter.

Note 2-pack finishes cannot generally be applied to existing single pack finishes.

 

[Freebee]

Gel coat is not paint.gel coat is a type of resin that is the first layer you see when you look at a glassfibre hull.

 

[Tranona]

Welcome

Very pretty boat.

No need to gel coat it - that is not usually practical anyway, painting is the normal way to refresh it. The basic process is to rub it down, fill any scrapes etch using an epoxy fairing filler such as International Watertite, then primer, undercoat and topcoat. You have a choice of single pack such as Toplac or 2 pack such as Perfection. The former is cheaper and easier to get a good finish and lasts well, typically between 5-10 years. The latter is more expensive a bit tricky to apply in the open but more durable. However you may not be able to apply it on top of the existing paint, so safer to go with single pack.

You will find plenty of information from the various paint manufacturers - I have quoted International products, but others such as Hempels and Epifanes make similar products.

Success depends on hard work doing the preparation rather than spending huge amounts of money on paints.

 

[Freebee]

In the picture it does look like weathered gel coat. ...why not try a small patch with wet n dry papers at 400 grit then then finer grits and see if you can get the shine back.this would in my opinion be preferable to painting.

 

[madmat99]

thanks for all the advice..
I'm heading back up to have another look at it this afternoon.
i will take some fine wet and dry and some rubbing compound and see if it comes back to any kind of finish.
will post results later!!

Mat

 

[madmat99]

Hello again.
after a quick trip up to the boat with the buffing wheel we get this result.

so I'm fairly confident that with a good bit of time this will look fab and not need to be painted.
the next question then is...
the white stripe i believe is the "water line" is this a different type of paint?
and below this has all been taken off with what looks like a grinding wheel.

what do i use to "fill" all these holes?
and then sanding flat. i believe this is called "fairing"
then undercoat and anti foul?

does this seem like the correct way to be going about this?

thanks again for all the help.

Mat

 

[pvb]

Hi everyone.
another question for you lovely people.

i am looking at possibly purchasing this boat
View attachment 65382

I'm confused, a few weeks ago you said you'd bought an Islander and were about to set to work on it.

 

[Tranona]

The white stripe is called a boot top and usually sits just above the waterline. It is mainly aesthetic and can be ordinary paint but more likely a special paint called unsurprisingly boot top. It is an anti fouling paint that tolerates being out of the water for some of the time. The underwater areas will need priming with Primocon or equivalent and then 2 coats of you choice of antifouling. Suggest you visit any chandlers who will have the paint supplier's guides to painting and what products to use.

Use an epoxy fairing filler as I suggested earlier, although there is little you can do above the waterline without losing the colour unless you use coloured gel coat for the final fill. However getting a match for that old blue will be difficult. You may also find you lovely shine you get from buffing up will not last long. Dark gel coats are notorious for fading, and you may find long term that painting is better. The Toplac Oxford Blue would look great on that boat.

 

[madmat99]

thanks again for all the help.
i have had the islander for some time but it needs a full refit inside, there is literally nothing in it. had a good bit of work recently so am looking at the option of buying this new one depending on the work needed as its much closer to a finished boat, then selling the islander to offset the cost.

tranona.
looks like sound advice. going to price up all the bits needed and probably give it a go!!

Regards

Mat

 

[pvb]

The underwater areas will need priming with Primocon or equivalent and then 2 coats of you choice of antifouling.

Might the OP's description of the underwater area as "and below this has all been taken off with what looks like a grinding wheel" suggest a DIY osmosis correction? If so, rather more work would be required.

 

[pcatterall]

When you have cleaned the gel coat I advise at least 3 coats of a good quality 'wax' polish to protect the hard work you have done!

 

[Tranona]

Might the OP's description of the underwater area as "and below this has all been taken off with what looks like a grinding wheel" suggest a DIY osmosis correction? If so, rather more work would be required.

Yes, difficult to tell from the photos, but it could be it needs quite a lot of filling and fairing then epoxy, primer AF. As you say, a lot more work, but mainly graft rather than expensive materials.

 

[VicS]

Hello again.

the next question then is...
the white stripe i believe is the "water line" is this a different type of paint?
and below this has all been taken off with what looks like a grinding wheel.
View attachment 65389
what do i use to "fill" all these holes?
and then sanding flat. i believe this is called "fairing"
then undercoat and anti foul?

does this seem like the correct way to be going about this?

thanks again for all the help.

Mat

This looks as pvb suggests as though the hull has been prepared below the waterline for a major osmosis correction , or at least an osmosis prevention job.

Has the grinding removed the gelcoat ? If so after filling and fairing it will require several coats of a high build solventless epoxy to replace the gelcoat

Even if the gel coat remains it will require several coats of an epoxy primer before antifouling.

This looks like some serious work, about which you know nothing .............. id suggest you walk away.

 

[davidej]

This looks as pvb suggests as though the hull has been prepared below the waterline for a major osmosis correction , or at least an osmosis prevention job.

Has the grinding removed the gelcoat ? If so after filling and fairing it will require several coats of a high build solventless epoxy to replace the gelcoat

Even if the gel coat remains it will require several coats of an epoxy primer before antifouling.

This looks like some serious work, about which you know nothing .............. id suggest you walk away.

I don't know the exact details but isn't this a 30-40 year old boat with a hull built like a brick s**t house. almost any boat of that age will have some osmosis. No boat has ever sunk from it and repairs are not rocket science.

Isn't walking away a bit drastic advice for someone buying a boat of that type?

 

[Tranona]

I don't know the exact details but isn't this a 30-40 year old boat with a hull built like a brick s**t house. almost any boat of that age will have some osmosis. No boat has ever sunk from it and repairs are not rocket science.

Isn't walking away a bit drastic advice for someone buying a boat of that type?

He has little money and no experience and does not own the boat. His objective is to get sailing quickly and he already has another boat that needs lots of fixing. So one has to ask the question whether it is worth taking on another boat that clearly needs a lot of work.

 

[Freebee]

Judging by the condition I hope it's cheap because not many would want to put in the hours.

 

[madmat99]

last one on this.
the fella selling the boat has emailed and said it had a pretty nasty looking anti foul that he took of with a flap disk.
in his own words "a bit drastic"
i have done loads of work on cars filling and sanding down so I'm not bothered about the amount of work.
the main question was what produce to use as i don't know the boat equivalents.
i can understand people saying to stay away from it as it is a challenge, but its nowhere near as much of a challenge as the one i have now.

thanks for all the great advice and opinions and i will hopefully be posting some pictures of a much prettier boat in the next month or so!

Mat

 

[VicS]

the fella selling the boat has emailed and said it had a pretty nasty looking anti foul that he took of with a flap disk.

Mat

And how much of the gelcoat at the same time ?

 

[davidej]

FFS its a 40 yr old boat -who cares about the gel coat. The OP says he is going to fill and re-fair it