Gel Coat Restore

Sunfish65

Member
Hi There,

Here is an update on my boat. I hope to be in the water by May 24th long weekend. The deck of my boat forward of the coaming and ending at the bow stripe had a hack paint job done. It was a good color match, but had faded to a green over the years. I wetsanded with 600 grit to get all of the paint off. Thankfully there was beautiful gel coat underneath. There is a small spot I need to re-gelcoat this weekend, you can see from the pictures below something had spilled on the deck, eating through to the gel coat. The original paint job covered this area. I wil be using a 1 step gel coat tinted to match the color (as best I can).

As you can see the boat is in great condition. Just needs a compound and wax after the repair. I can't believe there isn't one stress crack around the cockpit. And the cockpit itself looks virtually brand new! The mast step and daggerboard trunk are in great shape!

Sunfish65
 

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Very nice. Thanks for posting pics.
( Reminds me I'm glad I live in a state that doesn't requires numbers that are almost as big as the boat)
:eek:
 
Well I wanted to re-gel coat my boat this weekend, but the weather didn't cooperate. A cold front moved in, and it was too cold for the gel coat to cure properly. I did however finish 2 projects I had been meaning to get to. I installed the block eyestrap, and installed an inspection port. I have a Harken Carbo Ratchet block to go along with the eyestrap. The inspection port is in a odd place I know, but that was the only soft spot in the boat, and it was covered in marine tex anyway. So I decided to cut it out! See pics below.
 

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Super. Interestingly enough I'm doing the same things. I was Gel Coating last week with West Marine brand (made by Evercoat) and it was bad. I went thru lots of calls and three cans of the stuff to find a date code that wasn't. At lunch today I was able to get a coat on with no trouble. The bad stuff hardens in seconds! Just in case you run into something similar.
 
Noticed that you have the old style rigging with a pulley instead of a fair-lead for the halyard. What year is your boat?
 
I believe it is 1972. Although, there is no way to verify. There isn’t a deck plate, and there isn’t a serial number stamped on the transom. There is what used to be some sort of item (I think a sticker) where the older deck plates were. Un-known.
 
Interesting. I bought a small can of white Evercoat gelcoat that called for 12 drops of hardener for each ounce of gelcoat. When I mixed up a small 2 oz. batch and added 24 drops, it turned into a semi hard glob in less than a minute evern though the ambient temp. was about 65 f. I am wondering if I got a defective batch and plan to take it back to the store where I bought it. Has anybody had a similar experience?

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
An exothermic reaction is a chemical reaction that is accompanied by the release of heat. In other words, the energy needed for the reaction to occur is less than the total energy released. As a result of this, the extra energy is released, usually in the form of heat.
This why it is better to mix small amounts of resins as the heat will be less, giving time to apply product. Doubling catalyst when doing a double batch does not take into effect the exothermic reaction (extra heat) therefor decreasing the work time of the resin, hence the Hard ball of gel coat. You can not just double a batch and expect it to react the same as a single batch.
Keep the batches small so you can keep ahead of the resin whether polyester, epoxy, or gel coat. Know your product and read all fact sheets and you will get the proper out comes.
Just had a friend tell me a story about mixing up a gallon of body fill for a big job hoping it would last the whole day LOL well the gallon was hard and hot before he could apply even one coat.
This is why resin mixing containers are small. Don't double unless you know what you are doing and have the proper proportions in regards to catalyst.
Hope this helps people in the mixing of resins.

><> Minas man <><
 
I think all of the stuff Midas Man says is true (great education!), but this is a problem with the formulation of the Gel Coat mixed by Evercoat. They are trying to figure out what batch numbers are good and bad, they may know now. 11 drops in 1 oz is fine and 24 is fine with 2 oz (typically). This bad stuff is so bad, you can mix 2 drops with 2 oz and it still hardens up. If your store doesn't know about it, Tell them to call Evercoat.
 
Always test product prior to application on the smallest part to be repaired and if at all possible the least conspicuous place. This will help you get familiar with resin as far application thickness, is it going to run or will it stay where I want it, and set time. After that first application you can make adjustments to your next batch so you can achieve the best results possible.
divimon2000 sounds like you found a bad batch of gel coat thanks for the alert. Nothing worse that applying a resin only to have to remove it later as the chemicals are not good.
Atmospheric conditions change constantly, humidity and temperature, so keep in mind these variables as they do effect resins in regards to cure times.

><> Minas man <><
 
Funny,

I just went to open my can of gelcoat paste, and it was as hard as a rubber ball.
The brand is Gelcote. It's probably a good idea to ask how long
the product has been on the shelf before you buy.

Sunfish65
 
Well, I finally took the plunge and refinished the portion of the deck that was damaged. I have never worked with gel coat, but the repair went smoothly enough. I used a large portion of the can of paste to spread over the repair, and a large amount of hardener.


I was all set to add the proper amount of hardener, when I squeezed the bottle of hardener too aggressively, and it squirted into my yellow gel coat mix. After that I had to eyeball it (which is not recommended). My thinking was that if I used 3/4 of the can of gel coat, then I should use 3/4 of the bottle of hardener. The mix worked, and it started to harden within the hour. I guess I was lucky.


I started to use the gel coat paste right away after I added the hardener, the consistency was like cake icing. As it started to harden, it came more like peanut butter.


In the end I think I slathered on too much gel coat. I started to wet sand the repair to make it flush with the deck, but I was getting no where. This weekend, I am going to dry sand the repair with a palm sander - 180 grit paper, make it flush, and then wet sand.


After that, I am going to compound the repair, and wax. After that we will see how detectable the repair is. I am not too concerned how perfect the repair is, I just wanted a strong repair. The previous owner spilled something that had burned right through to the gel coat. This would have caused water to be absorbed and would have weakened the area over time. The previous owner slapped on some paint to fix the job. However, I wanted to go one step further and repair it properly.

There was also a small chipped area in the mast tube that I fixed. I will have to sand that area as well. Here are the before and after photos. I know it doesn't look pretty now, but with some sanding, compounding, and waxing, it might look a whole lot better. The chalkiness of the gel coat is just due to the run off of the sanding.
 

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Hi,

Attached is the repair before compounding and waxing. Just wondering why I can still see the damage below through the new gelcoat after sanding? I was expecting a solid yellow color. The mixture was bright yellow when I was applying it. It was not a good color match....Sigh.

Sunfish65
 

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You must have used clear or translucent gelcoat? I've never used that, I use white and tint with yellow, that way its opaque. I have used polyester resin (semi clear) and tinted when I needed a translucent color like you seem to have. Or, you just have it on thin and need another coat.

If it's clear you started with, sand and do over with white. Now you're much better at it! You'll probably nail the matching too.
 

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