On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 14:02:51 -0500, Courtney Thomas
wrote:

Has anyone re-gelcoated their entire hull themselves ?

If yes, how ?

Once a gelcoated hull is e.g. Awlgripped, what is the cost, economically
& otherwise, to return to a gelcoat hull ?

If Awlgripped, what other coatings will adhere without problems, e.g.
1-part polyurethane ?

Appreciatively,

Courtney


I'm no pro but I have successfully regelcoated portions of my boat any
number of times. First you need to be certain all contaminants have
been removed from the surface, i.e., wax and especially silicone. You
can do this with a product like DuPont's Prep Sol and, less
efficiently, with acetone or other strong solvent. Wipe or scrub it
on the all gel coat you intend to refinish. Have lots of clean dry
rags on hand and immediately wipe each application with a clean cloth.
Do not keep using the same cloths or you will spread the
contamination. Once you are sure that the surface is free of all
foreign matter you can begin filling and defects, followed by sanding.
I recommend 100 grit to give the new gel coat a good tooth. Make sure
y ou give the surface a solvent wipedown once you have finished
sanding and be sure the solvent has totally evaporated before you
begin spraying or you coluld end up with solvent pop (defects that
appear when underlying solvent finds itself trapped under the
gelcoat.) You will need to apply several coats so do not use a gel
coat containing wax. Use a wax free gelcoat right up to the last
application whereupon you may either use a gel coat containing wax or
you may spray on a coat of PVA. Both the wax and the PVA act as
sealers as the gel coat will not harden properly unless it is sealed
from the air.

Thin the gel coat as required to work with your gun. Do not use your
best Binks or DeVilbiss as should you accidentally put in too much
hardener the gel coat might kick in your gun and render it useless.
Buy a cheap--real cheap gun from some place like Harbor Freight. As a
matter of fact buy a couple of them as they are sometimes as low as
$15 each. These guns are perfectly adequate for spraying gel coat and
don't let anyone tell you they are not--I've seen too many glass shops
use them to believe otherwise.

Once you have about 30 mils (I think this is the recommended thickness
but you better do a web search to be cretain) and once your gel coat
is hard the real work begins--sanding out the inevitable orange peel
(a descriptive name for the surface you usually end up with when
spraying gel coat). Begin with 100 or 150 and work your way up to 800
or 1000 or even finer if you like. Once the gelcoat is absolutely
level you can use polishing compound followed by one of the automotive
swirl removers.

You should end up with a gel coat as glossy as anything that ever came
from a factory. It's just a lot of work. It's not something that
required a great deal of skill other than knowing the basics of using
a spray gun---keep the gun perpendicular to the object being sprayed;
do not swing the gun back and forth. This permits the coat to go on
evenly.

Oh, yes. I almost forgot. YOu will not need a giant compressor but
you will need one with sufficient CFM to match the gun you are using.
I have done most of my gel coat spraying with a 4HP Sears roll-around
compressor.

Good luck.

Joe