Learning about fiberglass fabrication?

skipperdude wrote:

I was told that Hatteras has been painting there boats for years .
No gel*coat.

SD

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I had a slip next to the Hatteras factory coastal slip at Morehead City.* Over the five years that I was there, I got to know the crews that sea tested their boats.* They told me that Hatteras did put a dark gelcoat in the mold.* Then they painted with Imron over the dark gelcoat.* They used the dark gelcoat to show the thin spots when they sprayed the Imron.* As far as I know all Hatteras boats were painted.

There were alot of advantages to having my slip------especially at fishing tournament time.* They supplied me with expensive rigged baits flown in from Ft. Lauderdale.

*

Forkliftt wrote:

Question- why do you never hear of someone spraying a new gelcoat over existing fiberglass?

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Never heard of that but I have used gelcoat as a paint. Add hardener and a surfacing agent ( a Sort of wax) to the gelcoat then tip and roll as you would paint. It is not perfect because you have to match the color as UV fades the original.

If you are using it for a new application or add on *it should work fine.

SD

Gelcoat is very useful for the boat lay up folks, and if done properly (surfacing tissue) will not shrink in time, and show the underlayers.

It takes less skill and preparation to gel coat than paint a boat.

The best Euro boats are not coated , they are cured inside the mold with huge banks of lights.

For a cruiser the ability to touch up paint is worthwhile.

Forkliftt wrote:

Question- why do you never hear of someone spraying a new gelcoat over existing fiberglass?

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We have a 1965 model Boston Whaler.* It has been in our family for years.* My sons learned to ski and operate a boat on it.* Now my grandsons are.* We have redone it a couple of times.* Last time we turned the hull over, repaired all the dings, and applied new gelcoat.* Boston Whaler supplied the original decals for it.* The wood is varnished. It has a recent Mercury 90 hp 4 stroke, and shows almost as new.* Gets attention

For fishing I have a 25' Blackfin with Cat diesel for power.* We have redone it.* The topside has new gelcoat and non-skid.* The deck wss epoxy painted with new non-skid.* We had the original decals to apply.

Good quality boats can last a long time.

*

As a long time "woodie" owner, I became reasonably competent in all things maintenance on a wooden boat. Plank, frame and floor replacement, fastenings, sanding, fairing and painting, etc.

Now I have a Chlorox bottle and have several gelcoat and fibreglass repairs to do, which I do not know how to do and am reluctant to attempt for fear of botching the job. I am told its easier than what I have been doing in wood, but I guess its the fear of the unknown.

I took the helm door (that I just dropped and seriously damaged the outer gelcoat on while taking it off the boat so that I could refinish the interior wood) down to the local shipyard to be repaired. Their business is slow right now (as is mine and a lot of others) and the head fibreglass guy said they could do it but why not do it myself (they know me from 22 years of trucking our woodie back and forth to our house and doing minor jobs for us). He said he would show me how. And this from a company not known for its charitable nature?

So, I start Gelcoat Repair 101 tomorrow morning at 8am.