Has anyone re-gelcoated their entire hull themselves ?

Not the hull, but had the entire cockpit professionally re-gelcoated
about 8 years ago. It was expensive, about a grand, and took several
days. Major dings and cracks were filled, then the gelcoat was sprayed
on, sanded, compounded and buffed down, more spraying the thin spots,
repeat, etc.; ended up looking like new. Maintenance since then has
been the same old thing, buff and wax.

Awlgripping, painting and the like is less expensive, looks great
initially, less maintenance as it oxidizes more slowly, but is very
hard, prone to chipping, and difficult to repair. As far as I know,
it's a one way street, once painted, only aggressive sanding is gonna
return the surface back to fiberglass for re-gelcoating, an
unbelievable task. That being said, some top end boats come from the
factory painted.

Re-gelcoating is becoming rare (around here) these days, primarily
because of environmental regulations concerning the solvents.
Re-gelcoating a hull would involve some major equipment, money and a
moon suit.

) writes:
Has anyone re-gelcoated their entire hull themselves ?

Not the hull, but had the entire cockpit professionally re-gelcoated
about 8 years ago. It was expensive, about a grand, and took several
days. Major dings and cracks were filled, then the gelcoat was sprayed
on, sanded, compounded and buffed down, more spraying the thin spots,
repeat, etc.; ended up looking like new. Maintenance since then has
been the same old thing, buff and wax.

Boats should come with white rubber or vinyl cockpit liners.
Replace every 5 years or so depending on level of use.
Wipe down with damp sponge otherwise.

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William R. Watt wrote:
) writes:

Has anyone re-gelcoated their entire hull themselves ?

Not the hull, but had the entire cockpit professionally re-gelcoated
about 8 years ago. It was expensive, about a grand, and took several
days. Major dings and cracks were filled, then the gelcoat was sprayed
on, sanded, compounded and buffed down, more spraying the thin spots,
repeat, etc.; ended up looking like new. Maintenance since then has
been the same old thing, buff and wax.


Boats should come with white rubber or vinyl cockpit liners.
Replace every 5 years or so depending on level of use.
Wipe down with damp sponge otherwise.

--
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William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
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With a little care, an original fiberglass surface will last almost
indefinitely. With no care, it will be absolutely usable for a
lifetime, but may not look great.

There are a lot of 30 year old boats around that have not have any care
for quite a while, and most look pretty acceptable.

For those who need to see high gloss, you need to get a grip on what's
really important.

People that do things like fish wrecks with homemade wreck anchors (usually
several on board) and what not could use some sole protection. If someone
like that put a vinyl liner in the boat, then it would make sense. I'd take
it out in between uses so the boat could properly dry out though.

Brian D



"Jim" wrote in message
k.net...


William R. Watt wrote:
) writes:

Has anyone re-gelcoated their entire hull themselves ?

Not the hull, but had the entire cockpit professionally re-gelcoated
about 8 years ago. It was expensive, about a grand, and took several
days. Major dings and cracks were filled, then the gelcoat was sprayed
on, sanded, compounded and buffed down, more spraying the thin spots,
repeat, etc.; ended up looking like new. Maintenance since then has
been the same old thing, buff and wax.


Boats should come with white rubber or vinyl cockpit liners.
Replace every 5 years or so depending on level of use.
Wipe down with damp sponge otherwise.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community
network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have
"notspam" in subject or it's returned

With a little care, an original fiberglass surface will last almost
indefinitely. With no care, it will be absolutely usable for a lifetime,
but may not look great.

There are a lot of 30 year old boats around that have not have any care
for quite a while, and most look pretty acceptable.

For those who need to see high gloss, you need to get a grip on what's
really important.