Association Forum - Gelcoat worn out-Suggestions to re-do?

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Gelcoat worn out-Suggestions to re-do?

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waltex
Deckhand

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USA
22 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/08/2005 : 20:06:13

I have hauled my newly acquired C25. Today, I power washed it. It was very nasty (The guy GAVE me the boat, now I can see why). Now that I can see it the gelcoat is very worn on the sliding cabin cover and other places. Some big spots are orange and some are blue showing thru. My notion is that the boat is 26 years old and probably was never waxed. Therefor it just oxidized the gelcoat so thin it needs to be re-gelcoated. I haven't priced it yet, but will. I don't want to do it myself. Any of you experienced folks have some ideas? I'm in East Texas near Houston.

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2005 : 22:16:42

I think the cost of having the boat professionally re-gelcoated will probably exceed its value.
(if you're doing substantial areas anyway). Many boats get re-painted with LPU paint... it is very beautiful and tough stuff. Lots cheaper than re-gel coating but the cost of having it done professionally still may be daunting.

Most of us have buffed out our boats with rubbing compound waxed and/or used a product like vertiglass to renew the shine. My C25 is is kept clean and waxed, but I've never intended to enter her in a boat show. Gel coat may be cracked here and there... rubbed through on the hatch, but it doesn't affect the sailing characteristics, just part of it's character.

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 07/10/2005 : 00:37:53

What color is the hull? If you paint the hull I think you'll always be chasing scratches.

Check this site out: http://www.minicraft.com/

Good luck.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 07/10/2005 : 08:41:02

WM has an excellent video on refinishing fiberglass. We followed it to refinish the top deck of our laser II dinghy and were very impressed with the outcome. Basically the process was sand down smoothish finish and find the blisters. Use their filler to take out the dents, sand again to get a clean smooth surface. Apply a primer coat or two with wet-n-dry sand downs between to get a really really smooth surface. Finally apply a couple of coats of the two part finish with really fine wet-n-drys between. The outcome wsa really good except where we didn't smooth the sub coats enough (White paint, bright florida sunshine, couldn't see those wrinkles in some places) Definitely an under shade job with two people. The final finishes are applied with a roller and brushed out with a sponge brush. (We had the same issue, the boat is 34 years old and was given to us. It had been 'painted' previously too.)

Edited by - britinusa on 07/10/2005 08:42:07

waltex
Deckhand

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USA
22 Posts

Response Posted - 07/10/2005 : 13:47:01

OJ: Hull & deck are both white. It is a '79 C25 and am waiting to find the shade of white to order. Videos and catalog from Catalina Direct should arrive this week. I will patch scratches & dings in hull and will probably paint parts of the deck as some are recommending. Also sending for 'how-to' paint video & will proceed. I'll do this while the machine shop is working on the swing-keel. Being retired has its many advantages, so will sail sooner than most. Fair weather & Happy sailing!

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mwalkup
1st Mate

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USA
79 Posts

Response Posted - 07/11/2005 : 13:29:53

Just a foot-note here. When I did some minor gel-coat repair on
"Idle Hour" I ordered some gel-coat paste from Catalina Direct.
They advertized it in different shades for our various models.
When it came and I applied it, it dried to a light beige color.
Way darker than my white/off-white hull. Had to sand it out and re-apply a closer color.

Now maybe in 1983 my boat was beige in color, (I've often wondered if that was the case.) But it seems that anyone selling matching gel-coat repair today would realize almost all, if not all, boats with any age on them will bleach out the gel-coat in short order.
83 t/r f/k
#3528

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 07/11/2005 : 23:44:27

Just a quick observation about gelcoat matching.<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Now maybe in 1983 my boat was beige in color, (I've often wondered if that was the case.) But it seems that anyone selling matching gel-coat repair today would realize almost all, if not all, boats with any age on them will bleach out the gel-coat in short order.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Although it may sound counterintuitive, I recommend rubbing out the area to be repaired <i>before</i> attempting to match and patch. My 1979 hull looked almost white when I got it about 10 years ago. In fooling around with various approaches to repairing some large gouged areas on the topsides, I discovered that the original color was closer to tanned leather than slightly off white. If I had matched the appearant color of the hull, then rubbing out the repair would have left a light patch once the "dead" gelcoat was buffed off.

That's not to imply I'm any sort of master of color matching. I consider myself much better at describing it than getting consistently good results myself!

After tinting and applying several batches of gelcoat, I managed to achieve something vaguely resembling well polished desert camouflage.

-- Leon Sisson

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 07/13/2005 : 20:16:31

The other challenge is that Catalina would change gelcoat manufacturers from time to time . . .

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.