GelCoat or Paint ? Help!

[nymack66]

Help,
I am leaning towards painting my Boat with GelCoat bottom and sides etc, I have it all sanded and ready to go.
I am looking for Pros and Cons and notes for the application process etc ..
Please respond I can use all the knowledge I can get!!
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...l/DSCF0017.jpg
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...DSCF0008-2.jpg

[spareparts]

with gel coat you will have to create the finish, meaning after you spray it on, you will have to sand and buff it out to create decent shine. I just got thru gelcoating my 14 McKee, I'm satisfied with the flat finish, so I'm not worried about it. Paint gives a much better finish, but it scratches easier than gel ,and its harder to patch(especially awlgrip), Stick with a two stage like Imron or Awlcraft 2000, you should be ok. Down load the Awlgrip manual form their website http://www.awlgrip.com/awlgrip_pages...tion_guide.htm

hate to tell you this, but I doubt you are near finished sanding. The first car I painted, I sanded till my fingers were bleeding, the guy who was helping me came over to look at it and told me, I had a good start on the sanding, I was allmost halfway there, to keep going. It was the truth, I wasn't ready to spray. read the awlgrip guide, its full of good information regardless of what you spray

[scook]

I know less than nothing about gel coat, but share Spare's car experience. An old guy in the body shop that helped me with it had a neat trick - sand it until you think it's perfect, then spray on a light coat of contrasting color primer. When you sand again, the primer stays in the low spots & scratches and there's no doubt where the problems are.

[nymack66]

Thanks guys , Gel it is , Wish me luck

[bradford]

I prefer the finish known as "Patina". It takes a lot longer to achieve, but it's much easier and enjoyable getting the finished product.

[shaneburris74]

NYMiack, I was watching an episode of Ship Shape
TV last night and they painted a boat with a roller..yep a roller.

I'm not positive of all the specifics but they used "interlux" brand two part paint. They rolled it on with a foam roller....and right behind the guy with the roller was a guy with a "animal hair" paint brush and he was brushing the paint smooth. They let that dry and fine sanded and repeated the process. The repeated it 3 times and ended with a pretty damn good product. I'm sure its more difficult than on TV but it seemed to be easier and less messy than spraying.

Can any guys chime in on this method? heard of it? good/bad?

later guys

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by shaneburris74

NYMiack, I was watching an episode of Ship Shape
TV last night and they painted a boat with a roller..yep a roller.

I'm not positive of all the specifics but they used "interlux" brand two part paint. They rolled it on with a foam roller....and right behind the guy with the roller was a guy with a "animal hair" paint brush and he was brushing the paint smooth. They let that dry and fine sanded and repeated the process. The repeated it 3 times and ended with a pretty damn good product. I'm sure its more difficult than on TV but it seemed to be easier and less messy than spraying.

Can any guys chime in on this method? heard of it? good/bad?

later guys

That process is commonly referred to as "rolling and tipping"...google it up...should be plenty of info out there on it...I've never done it, but probably would if I's gonna repaint...leaves a great finish and like you said about the spraying when yer not set up for it...

[nymack66]

Here is my POA (Plan Of Action)

I found a very useful document on Gel Coat it did educated me with enough confidence to go with Gel Coat.
I will post it at the end of this note.
I am indeed planning on doing the “roll and tipping” method using the best roller money can buy and the same goes for the brush
My thoughts are simply this, apply a minimum of four coats, this should give me a build of 30ML or more thickness using a waxed Gel Coat reason for a wax gel it will harden to a smooth finish and give me time between weekends to work on it.
I will simply run a sander to scuff it when I need to apply a new coat.
I will place great emphasis on the type of commercial buffing compound and finish wax that I am going to use (compound and wax have come a long way)
I am in the process of fact-finding on this and will post the type I use etc later.
Keep the thoughts and ideas coming, collectively I think we can accomplish something with these collaborations and ideas.
Here is the hyperlink to the PDF on Gel Coats
http://www.americanmarinesupply.com/pdf/GelCoat.pdf

[kamikaze]

Nymack66:

Take a look at DURATEC Hi Gloss additive . It's a addtive that mixes 50 /50 with the GELCOAT to thin it out enough to shoot effectively and allows it to dry with a high gloss to eliminate the work of sanding / buffing mentioned earlier. I also heard Patch Accelerator works as well but I do not believe it improves gloss.

I have purchased some of the DURATEC Polyester Hi Gloss additive but haven't shot it myself as of yet. Understand you need a larger tipped HVLP gun to get a good even flow in order to reduce orange peel. I just got my gun from Northern Tool recently had haven't had the time to play yet.

Here's a cheap HVLP gun with a tip size that I have seen reccommeded for shooting gel coat.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...9459_200319459

Here's link to more info on the Duratec product I mentioned

http://www.duratec1.com/dp07.html

Kamikaze

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by nymack66

Here is my POA (Plan Of Action)

I found a very useful document on Gel Coat it did educated me with enough confidence to go with Gel Coat.
I will post it at the end of this note.
I am indeed planning on doing the “roll and tipping” method using the best roller money can buy and the same goes for the brush
My thoughts are simply this, apply a minimum of four coats, this should give me a build of 30ML or more thickness using a waxed Gel Coat reason for a wax gel it will harden to a smooth finish and give me time between weekends to work on it.
I will simply run a sander to scuff it when I need to apply a new coat.
I will place great emphasis on the type of commercial buffing compound and finish wax that I am going to use (compound and wax have come a long way)
I am in the process of fact-finding on this and will post the type I use etc later.
Keep the thoughts and ideas coming, collectively I think we can accomplish something with these collaborations and ideas.
Here is the hyperlink to the PDF on Gel Coats
http://www.americanmarinesupply.com/pdf/GelCoat.pdf

Whatever you do, can we get you to take some pictures along the way...sounds like a great project, we'd like to see how it goes...