Sun Damaged Gel Coat

rubberduck

rubberduck

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We have dark blue gel coat on our tender garage which faces directly into the sun in our new berth. It has become chalky, almost like bloom when spray painting in poor conditions. Is there any way of rectifying this & preventing it in the future.
 
Magnum is a bit of an expert on what to do with gel-coat fading. He may have some technical knowledge as well.
 
I'l go out on a limb here........

Its not fading in the sun.

Its dirt ( calcium type deposit) that comes out the rain a bit and your wash down hose, the sun then dries it and bakes it hard.
salt thats been trapped and then runs down as it rains.

My Dad used Rainx on his caravan which helped as it repels the water helping it run down before it dries.

White hulls also suffer but the darker hull gets hotter and evaporates the water quicker.
 
Maguires have a restorer works very well and provided a good finish.

There's was blue Sunseeker in Lymington that had corner protection covers made, that clipped on by press studs to prevent fading, similar material to window/canopy material with a soft backing, thought a good idea ?

Just need to unclip and remove before you go out.
 
Age of boat and where moored?

I have had navy blue hulls, current one 10 years old moored for 6 in Portugal.

Cut and polish to look like new and it goes off in 6 to 8 weeks to streaky bllom patches.

Either polish frequently or bite the bullet and get a respray or hand paint.

The worst is red and green followed by navy blue.

Feel how hot a navy hull gets on a sunny day.
 
My boat has blue sides and this year was looking as you describe.

I tried various polishes but in the end I gave up and had it done professionally. It is looking as good as new now so worth the money.
 
Boat is less than two years old & was fine till she went into her new berth at Burnham on Crouch, stern gets the sun all day. She went in mid May so two months has caused the damage. I think I will be getting a cover made, just for the tender garage as the rest of the boat is fine.
 
rubberduck said:
We have dark blue gel coat on our tender garage which faces directly into the sun in our new berth. It has become chalky, almost like bloom when spray painting in poor conditions. Is there any way of rectifying this & preventing it in the future.
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Is it possible to put up some pictures (close up, 5" away) with the sun's reflection to see what the surface is really like?

DAKA makes a good point regarding TDS, the calcium/ mineral deposits drying out much faster and being missed in the wash down (drying) process, in the warm weather these build up giving the appearance of a chalky oxy surface.
Many folk are sold a "compound & polish" when in reality hard water scale removing techniques would have revealed a perfectly fine surface underneath to enhance.

Dry down, dry down and then dry down some more if you are using the hose. It is full of problems and in the sun it is far worse, quality in line water filters pay back ten fold, get the ppm down to around 10 for a good spot free finish if you are unable to instantly dry down before evaporation. Most pontoon taps are pumping out around the 300 mark, so that's not bad considering Evian is around 309, but then again what is Evian backwards?

There are so many ways to reveal the true surface and then to polish that true surface to form a perfect reflection.

The perfect reflection, will become your main source of protection as this is what will be reflecting light inc UV, and smoothness providing a free run for water and particles rather than a trap (think gold mining)

The cherry on the cake is what products you apply to interact with the elements on the surfaces behalf and remain to assist with future cleaning, any Carnauba wax with a decent content will see you fine. Its breathable, hydrophobic and continues to protect provided you don't try washing down with acid.

You would need to have an understanding of the various different applications, techniques and the effects they would have on 'your' surface as they differ.

Close examination will help you understand and probably save you a few quid in **** products.

Whatever the condition, you need to have a game plan.

Understanding "what is needed only" will pay you back more than any magic products false claims.

Yes, the best protection by far is a cover.

Tony
 
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DAKA said:
I'l go out on a limb here........

Its not fading in the sun.
Click to expand...

Very much on a limb, IMHO. Virtually every blue coloured hull I've seen in the Med fades after a season or 2 in the Med sun in any areas which are even slightly facing upwards, like transom corners. There is no cure as such only regular polishing. I once had a red striped Turbo 36 in the UK which did exactly the same thing on the coloured bit
 
Deleted User said:
Very much on a limb, IMHO. Virtually every blue coloured hull I've seen in the Med fades after a season or 2 in the Med sun in any areas which are even slightly facing upwards, like transom corners. There is no cure as such only regular polishing. I once had a red striped Turbo 36 in the UK which did exactly the same thing on the coloured bit
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I feel you have cut my quote a bit short Mike so I will try to expand.......

I dont think the colour is fading.

I think the colour is being covered with a white calcium deposit.

The areas facing the sun will be the hottest and will dry water quicker.


If you are saying it doesnt rain in the med and some boats that dont get water hose rinsed still 'fade' then I accept I must be wrong. However I bet the boats that get fresh water rinsed 'fade' before the ones that dont get rinsed (assumes a dry rain free season).

If you rub a small area hard with a wet finger the muck will eventually come off, proof its not faded.

( I had a dark brown go faster stripe on my boat in a calcium rich water area , on a hot day you could see steam coming off as I rinsed and a white residue was left on the gel)
 
It it helps, when I got our 14' ArrowFlyte (a similar blue to that used in the menu bar of this forum above and as seen in avatar) it had been covered with about a third of the bow exposed to sunlight for a number of years. As a result, the front of the bow was 'whitened' similar to what you describe along with some areas at the stern, transom etc. Having cleaned and polished a number of times it had no visible effect, but this year I used a pre-wax colour restorer (from BoatSheen.com but others probably similar). After perhaps 2 hours of manual polishing (quite a small area), this section is now barely distinguishable from the rest. I got weary of polishing after day 2 and so waxed for the season, but I'll do another 'deep clean' at the end of the season and then it will probably not notice at all. The boat now has a full cover and lives on the driveway, so unlikely to suffer further fade. If it's a big area then I'd recommend an electric polisher to save your arms however! :rolleyes: I'm reliably informed to avoid rotary ones - as an off-centre action helps prevent over-polishing and subsequent removal of gel-coat... :eek:
 
DAKA, apologies for cutting your quote short but I do that to keep the length of my posts to a minimum. Yes maybe its calcium deposits from water in the OP's case but I've seen so many coloured hull boats with sun damage on upwards facing panels in the Med that I feel its more likely to be sun damage on the OP's boat
 
PowerYachtBlog said:
Friends of myn have Pershing with black, dark greys, and blue and they don't fade.
But they are not gelcoat but Awlgrip paint.
Click to expand...

Sorry I should have qualified my comments by adding coloured gelcoat hulls. Yes, painted hulls tend to keep their colour and shine far better than gelled hulls.
What about these pearlescent brown and beige gelcoats that you see on Rivas for example? Do they fade?
 
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