Thanks Eric. That's pretty much what I need to know. Sounds like I won't be going in that direction. This is a hull that could used
in clinics, at demos, in competition, and seen at some shows so needs to look good. It's been used on a lot of rocky creeks over the
years and although in my opinion a gel coated boat should not be, but it was fun to paddle and now I thought to salvage it for other
uses. As you point out even a new coating will not look all that hot, so reckon I'll just continue as before. I'm having fun either
way. Thanks.

Te Canaille

"Eric Nyre" wrote in message om...
Re-gelling a boat is a royal pain. I have re-gelled some park benches
for a local park, and redid a very old beat up powerboat, and it's
never going to look good.

If you have some scratches in the boat that need to be polished out,
600 grit and polishing compound will remove them (at the price of
thinly wearing down your gel).

If the boat has chips, I would fix the chips and again polish it out.

But the origional question is how to change a boat from blue to white:

* Note: This is how I did it in the 90's, EPA rules may make this
method illegal since you release tons of vapors into the air. Check
first

Repair any chips and cracks in the blue gel (repair them with white) -
hull needs to be good before you try anything

Remove the gunwales and external hardware - otherwise it will get all
messy

Sand the entire surface with 100 grit sandpaper, followed by 220 -
makes it smooth and gives a rough surface to bond to

wipe with acetone, then a tack cloth - removes any oil, dirt, dust

Mix gel with surfacing agent and acetone - agent allows the gel to
cure hard, acetone thins it for spraying

Pour in paint sprayer - make sure sprayer has pressure adjustments so
you can regulate pressure and volume.

in a very well ventalated area, spray the boat with gel until the
entire surface is covered

You will have a re-gelled boat

Now why don't people do this?

First, it will look horrible. The spray, no matter how fine will
orange peel or splatter. That is the nature of gel.

Second, the surfacing agent is a type of wax. When you go to repair
future scratches, guess what. The lovely white gel you sprayed on is
contaminated with wax and your repair won't want to stick.

Third, when you go to wet sand your white gel, and bruise through to
blue, it isn't easy to fix, and the repair may not hold.

If you don't add surfacing agent, your gel will not cure hard, it will
be sticky forever (or until it grabs enough dirt to look really bad)

You will add 6-10 pounds to the boat.

But it can be done. It's just not a good idea.

- Eric