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Paint gel coat?

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tidesailer
1st Mate

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USA
53 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/30/2005 : 10:51:17

Hello Im new here and just bought a 81 catalina 25. would anyone suggest painting the boat to protect it from uv. being a 81 and has been out in the Texas sun all these years. the gel coat does not look bad just faded. is there a good way to protect it from further uv damage. would a good coat of urethane give me long life of maintinence that a gel coat has provided. I would love to bring her finish back to life. I would appreciate any suggestions..thank you ...Don

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2005 : 12:02:36

First, try polishing and waxing the existing gelcoat. If that hasn't been done lately, I predict you'll be surprised by the results. Painting over gelcoat is a big, irreverible step, not to be taken lightly.

-- Leon Sisson

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Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1768 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2005 : 12:56:50

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Leon Sisson
 First, try polishing and waxing the existing gelcoat. If that hasn't been done lately, I predict you'll be surprised by the results. Painting over gelcoat is a big, irreverible step, not to be taken lightly.

-- Leon Sisson<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hi Don,

Listen to Leon ... that's really good advice (as usual).

I can speak from experience that painting over gelcoat is a nightmare if it isn't done properly. Soon after I bought my boat, I tried polishing my "gelcoat" to bring it back to life. After all the time and elbow grease I put into it, I was disappointed in the results ... I couldn't figure out why I couldn't make it shine. Soon after, I saw the telltale signs of peeling ... not gelcoat, but paint over the gelcoat ... it looked awful

So, I spent two full days, over a gallon of fiberglass-friendly paint remover, and 40 single-edge razor blades scraping all the paint off. After I finally got all the paint off, I used a good polish and a commercial-grade polisher to restore the gelcoat, and it turned out great. There were a couple of scratches that were hidden by the old paint that now show again, but I'll take the scratch in a polished surface over that dull, nasty paint job any day.

Don't get me wrong ... it IS possible to paint over the gelcoat and get great results, but it is expensive, time-consuming, and requires some skill. As Leon suggests, you might be better served by trying to get the oxidation off and polish it before you undertake a paint job. Another possibility would be for you to thoroughly clean the hull, and then apply either PoliGlow or VertGlass ... again, much easier than a paint job.

'Hope that helps ... welcome to the group!

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2005 : 16:02:56

If the color is good, polyglow has worked wonders for my boat. Goes on quick and lasts a long time.

Tom.

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tidesailer
1st Mate

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USA
53 Posts

Response Posted - 12/01/2005 : 09:10:01

Thanks everyone for all your reply.I believe I could have been making a big mistake by painting.Is this poliglow pruduct protect from UV also?...Don

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 12/01/2005 : 09:55:39

Poli Glow is a hard, polymer finish that gives you about 70% of the shine of paste wax, but can last for a couple of years and is much less work to apply. UV eventually wears it down--the speed depends on your location. My first application (5 coats in maybe 3 hours) looked good for three seasons, but that's up north. The sunny side of the hull (in the slip) began to show some wear earlier... This Spring I'll remove it and start over. A friend warned me against adding too many coats without stripping it off every few years--she found that she had a mess that was difficult to remove.

I haven't seen it in stores--you can get it at most boat shows and at http://www.poliglowproducts.com/ One bottle is way more than enough.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 12/01/2005 09:58:39

crcalhoon
Captain

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USA
303 Posts

Response Posted - 12/01/2005 : 12:33:50

The problem with painting over gel-coat is, as Leon says, that it is pretty much irreversible. Once you have painted, you are painted. Thatsaid, there comes a time when paint is the best alternative. I hand painted a hull in 1983 and sailed the boat till 1989 with little apparent change. This summer I acquired C25, Hull 1435, on which the gel-goat was worn right through in many places, and opted to paint hull and deck using roll and tip method. It actually looks quite good with the exception of a couple of little runs and sags which I could sand out and re-paint if I wanted to. And may do so. On the other hand, she is an old lady, she deserves a few sags and wrinkles, and she is 5000% percent prettier than she used to be. As a small side benefit, the new polyurethane paints are pretty easy to keep clean. Splash a little teak oil on gel-coat and you get a little stain. It runs off poly like water. As with any other painting job, the painting itself is the easy part. Sanding and masking and prepping are the time consumers.

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 12/01/2005 : 13:06:59

A friend of mine just did his boat using the roll-tip method and got fabulous results. He found that it was much easier if he rolled and another person tipped. As Charles mentioned though, fixing cracks and scrapes is imperative for a good job. My friend spent a full summer just removing hardware and teak, and repairing and estimated 1000+ spider cracks inthe hull and deck. This usually involves routing the cracks out, filling, and sanding them. If you don't do this the mars will show through your new paint job. Unless you really need to do this, go for a the above suggested alternative.

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crcalhoon
Captain

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USA
303 Posts

Response Posted - 12/02/2005 : 13:44:20

I was pretty fortunate, hull wise. Although the gel-coat was shot, there was surprisingly little crack and chip damage. I repaired most of it in one afternoon with a little epoxy. Deck hardware is getting done a couple of pieces at a time through the winter. A PO had had the blisters repaired a few years ago, and I only found 3 on the bottom. Roll and tip pretty much requires two people, but it is fast and if you keep an eye on the drying rate of the paint, pretty easy. I was doing it in hot weather and occasionally had to add a little more brushing liquid to slow the drying. Most of the problems I had stemmed from getting the paint a little out of balance, too much brushing liquid or too little. Still, I get a lot of compliments on the paint job.

Depending on condition, I have seen some remarkable results with Poly-Glo.

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Ericson33
Admiral

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USA
892 Posts

Response Posted - 12/06/2005 : 14:46:16

I will add my 2 cents in here, #1 do everything you can to try and save the gelcoat. I would start with a good rubbing compound, polishing compound, then wax. Get a good polisher w/ a 7" pad. Do not buy the cheap ones at lowes or sears, get a good comerical grade buffer. I would start on the transom, this will give you a good idea of how much time you are going to have to invest in the project. As for marks or gouges in the gelcoat you can get a color match from here
http://www.minicraft.com/ You don't want to fill in the cracks with epoxy use gelcoat. Gelcoat is just a colored resin. Take a bottle opener and gouge out the cracks the apply the gelcoat over the area building it up. gelcoat will shrink so you want to build it up then after it cures start sanding it down flush to the hull. You can even re gelcoat the entire hull if you want (link) http://www.bertram31.com/proj/tips/re-gelcoating.htm There are many ways of getting the hull back into shape, all of them take time and most of the time is in prep work. I will list a couple of hints. #1 do not use 3m green masking tape. After 1 day it's almost impossible to remove with out it tearing into little slivers. #2 work safe, go and buy a good mask to wear and some cheap throw away clothes. #3 take your time, I know how frustrating it gets when you are almost done with a job and you mass it up at the very last.

Now if all is said and done and you are not happy with the results then you can make the call on using pant to re finish the hull or (topsides). I have allot of experence in this because I repainted my hull last spring. It will take you arond 12 days to do the job correctly by yourself. I used a spray gun HVLP bought from Sears. It was a POS so I rented one from a good automotive paint store. It is all in the prep. The boat had been painted about 6 years ago red, and it was fading back into an orange color. First I sanded the hull with 220 grit this took a good day. I used a two part poly made by interlux. After sanding I primered the hull with two coats, then using a spray can of Black Laqure(sp)masted over sections to see high spots or places that needed to be faired. after doing the whole hull it was another 2 coats of primer sanding between with 320 grit. Next I masked the hull off again (go to lowe's and buy the masking tape and the visqeen that come together. I masked off the from the bottom of the rubrail up and over the stantions then covered the deck. I mixed up the paint and started to paint the hull in light coats, sanding between each coat, then cleaning the hull with thinner, then sparying the hull again. I ended up with 5 coats of paint, I had thinned the paint out so the coats would be thin, and stick to the hull good. After the paint had cured for about 1 month I compounded it out then polished, and added a good wax. The boat will be set for around 5 years and I will have to do it again.

I hope I didn;t go into to much detail, I just want you to know that the last 3 steps are the ones you should take first Compound, Polish and Wax!!!!!!!!

Here is a link to a thread I wrote with some photos
http://www.catalina25-250.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10643

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