Re-Gelcoating. Can it be done?

H Lie

H Lie

New Member
As it is the closing of another great sailing season I am ready to start planning next spring's boat repair/maintenance projects. I am curious if anyone knows of a re-gelcoating process. The gel-coat I have now is sufficient, but it would be nice if I could really make my 'fish shine again! Does anyone have any input on the refurbishing process and/or products to use? Is gelcoat something that I can just buy?
 
I'd try wetsanding what you have. It'll probably amaze you how much shine comes back.

You can spray new gelcoat, but you'll need a spray gun as well as the gel coat. APS sells the oem stuff.
 
I was thinking about the same thing with my boat. I have an old, '69, given to me this spring that I have had a great time with this summer. Very dry boat. However, after each sail, when I open the inspection ports, the inside of the hull is damp. No big deal, but I was thinking a coat of gel coat would seal this up even better, plus give a nice shine. But I am not anxious to spend the money or the time if it is not going to help preserve the boat.
 
Sailkb: Re-gelcoating is a pretty serious undertaking if you haven't done it before. If you have a slightly damp hull after a session, just let it air out (like you are doing), or find the leak, if there is one..

BTW, there are polishes to make your hull shiny again. I would try that method first.
 
That's good to know. I am not thinking of any 'serious undertaking'. I like the polishing/buffing method. There are a few gouges on the bow that came with the boat. I'll check into a little patch work with my local store and go with it. It's cosmetic. I can deal with a little dampness. .....I am thinking of repainting the top side, just to make it nice again. But I know there's previous threads I can check on when I get to thinking more about that.
 
For what its worth, I just re-gelcoated the bottom of a AMF Windflite Sunfish clone. The deck of the boat was nice but the bottom was damaged in places and needed multiple repairs. When I had finished the repairs, I knew I had to either paint it or gelcoat the bottom as it was stained and a patchwork of patches and scraped sections. Just for the hell of it, I decided to re-gelcoat the hull. I have used gelcoat for smaller fiberglass patches but never an entire hull bottom.

I power sanded the entire bottom with 150 and then 220 grit sandpaper and got it as smooth and dirt/crud free as I could. I then blew off all the dust and tack ragged the surface to remove any residual dust. For the finish, I used Evercoat one step finish gelcoat mixed in small batches (8 oz.) with 12 drops of the catalyst per oz. per the directions. I applied the gelcoat with a foam brush and mixed up new batches as needed to finish the job. It is now cured and a pretty good finish. Spraying would be a better application method, but I lack spray equipment and experience. Oddly one of the 8 oz. batches set up in just a few minutes and had to be $discarded$. I have no idea why this one batch set up so quickly as I mixed it the same way as the other batches.

The good news is that the finish is strong and chemically bonded to the original gelcoat and should last for years. Paint over fiberglas always seems to slough off over time and lacks the abrasion resistance of true gelcoat. The bad news is that application is trickly and the stuff is expensive. I spent almost $60 for gelcoat and brushes. The fumes are also heavy and adequate ventilation is a must.

I am not sure I would use gelcoat again unless I could get somebody to spray it on, but it was an interesting project and another skill (?) to add to my toolbox of experiences.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
"The good news is that the finish is strong and chemically bonded to the original gelcoat and should last for years."
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That is the main reason I would consider this project..... if it would add durability and more years to my boat. Wavedancer is sort of advising me against it, being a rather large undertaking. So your advice is to go for it? .....I have spray equipment.
 
Good question. A quart of gelcoat is petty heavy, maybe 5 lbs, but much of that is the volatile medium that evaporates when applied. I would guess that a full coat of gelcoat on the bottom of a Sunfish size hull adds 2-3 lbs. of weight, but that is just an educated guess.

Alan Glos
 
I recently took a leap of faith and re-gelcoated the hulls of my hobie 16. The process is time consuming and depending on your spray skills, can be very, very time consuming (orange peel = lots of sanding). Gel coat requires an additive or an overspray to allow it to cure to a tack free finish. There are several tutorials online about applying gel. I managed to acheive a high gloss finish by using gelcoat with a duratec additive and lots of sanding 220 dry 400-600-1000 wet and then a good rubbing compound with a variable speed buffer and a high quality wool fleece bonnet. If purchasing gelcoat online you must pay hazmat fees for shipping and all orders have a maximum quantity for each shipment- this can lead to a very expensive materials bill. Also you must use a respirator rated for organic solvents.
If your hull is just dull I would definitely try to wetsand/ compound it and then polish/wax before jumping in to gelcoat. All that being said I am very happy with my results- the original gel was 30 years old, so I hope I can get 30 more before I need it again.
Links below to some online suppliers
www.JamestownDistributors.com -good online tutorials
www.uscomposites.com

www.fiberglasssupply.com

Glenn Davies
 
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