spraying gelcoat

[garagenc]

Hey Guys
I haven't been on lately because my "part time" job (landscaping) has taken off so much I had to lay-out from my real job at the shipyard to get my landscaping work caught up.

Since the weather is crappy for outside working today I was working on the "V" and trying to spray gelcoat. I tried 2 of those aerosol can sprayers where the paint/gelcoat is poured into a clear screw on bottle to the bottom of the aerosol can. I can't get either to work. I tried thinning but it still wouldn't work. I saw a guys paint the entie bottom of a 16ft and they worked great for him. Anyone know what I might be doing wrong. I kept the outlet in line with the vent.

[msbhammer]

Never seen tat type of sprayer before. No air lines or compressor ?? ???

[Mac_Attack]

I've used them and the paint has to be very thin. Billy Mac

[Bygracealone]

Garage,

I've not used it either, but I'm very interested in knowing more about this way of spraying gelcoat. Can you provide any more info? Any links or pics would be very helpful. Where can you get the stuff?

Thanks

[76GMC1500]

If you're painting large surfaces, just use paint. Gel coat is for molds.

[Skools Out]

thin it out with acetone is how builders spray it with HVLP guns to regelcoat a whole side of a boat that sticks to the mold.

[Skools Out]

i'm going to flip the Sea Ox upside down and spray the whole boat with thinned gelcoat.

[Bygracealone]

I was just about to ask you whether or not you re-gelcoated any of your boats... I can't wait to see how the Sea Ox turns out...

[Skools Out]

i'm going off white gelcoat on it, inside and out lol

[spareparts]

I've had varing luck with the preval sprayers, I only use them whem I can't get coompressed air or if its a real small job. I have been buying the touch up gravity feed spray gun at Hrbour Freight, you can get it on sale for $8.99, yes thats right, 8 dollars and 99 cents, about the cost of two prevals, I probably spend more money in acetone cleaning the gun than its worth. I only thin the gel if I have too, acetone will slow the kick, so I don't use much if I can get away with it, If its cold outside, I will warm the gel with a heat gun or hair dyer before Imix it. I use patch aid to thin the gel slightly( it helps the gel to kick) from Spectrumcolor.com. And I have found the less I thin the gel, the better results I get

[kamikaze]

Spareparts:

I thought I was the only one crazy enough to toss those harborfreight tough up HVLP guns. Its the only way to go! Skip the clean up - besides I've never had one shoot the same after I shooting two part expoy anyways. I see they now have a full size gun on sale for 12.99 even better.

Kamikaze

[spareparts]

I'm too cheap to toss em, I use the left over acetone from cleaning up everything else to soak the guns in, after the gel hardens, I takem apart and pick the gel out with a small screwdriver and a dental pick

[garagenc]

Thanks for everyone's reply

I think I'm going to paint it. These areas are in the bilge and on the transom so I can just paint the entire transom and this way if the paint shade is not exactly it'll be hard to notice.

I talked to Yachtpaint.com today and they reccommended I wipe the area with 202 cleaner and then sand with 150-160 grit paper and then use 202 again and then apply 2 coats of pre kote and then topcoat They didn't reccommend using antifoulant because I don't leave my boat in the water. They said I could roll it on.

The aerasol spray bottles only work with gelcoat if you thin it out and then that makes it hard to coat. But for all you guys who still spray gelcoat, the main guy in the tech division said there is a new additive (no name) to add to the gelcoat and it makes the gelcoat smooth and dry hard, so less sanding.

[cfelton]

I had my neighbor ,who runs a autobody shop , color match paint to my v , and sprayed color and Emron clear on my transom and it turned out great!

[msbhammer]

I hate Painting !!. >:( ;D