Gel coat

[Rcan]

Everybody on here has always been very helpful I've had a couple people tell me that you can get a paint on gel coat that looks really good I have a 77 34 chb trawler and it is in need of a Gel coat or paint job I have been told if you do it right that looks great does anybody know the products I've looked and there's so many to choose from I want to do it right the first time any input would be greatly appreciated thank you very much

 

[C lectric]

No one yet????
If you see those folk ask them what they used, specifically. I think they just got plain dumb lucky.

I am not a fiberglasser but have known a couple and done some fiberglassing including gelcoat. Gel coat is actually heavily pigmented polyester resin so it must be mixed with hardener and then applied.

There are a couple basic whites but like real paints other colours must be mixed in to get a match to YOUR gelcoat. Unlike paints there are no charts to add this or that pigment.

To boot there are many different tones of white gelcoat on boats. Some are blueish, creamy, yellowish, greenish, greyish so it take a good eye , a lot of practice and some luck to get a decent match...

Even so most of us find that over several more years the patch will change colour differently from the base colour of the boat.

Ask around fiberglass shops and they may be willing to mix a reasonable match for you. Maybe some custom car shops too. THat's what I had to do, get someone to mix a can worth..

But AFAIK there is no colour matching magic bullet unless you just get plain dumb lucky with the out of the can stuff. My darn BIL was one of those and I had to show him he got just plain dumb lucky.

 

[Comodave]

Are you talking about the whole boat or just some minor repairs?

 

[PMF1984]

I’m not sure I can figure out the difference between a gel coat and an epoxy paint job when done from the outside. Except the epoxy paint is designed for it

 

[psneeld]

There was a small resurgence of some boat restorers re-gelling the whole boat.

It ultimately is more work but materials cost less than some paint jobs...so really a push.

The paints of the last few years are tough to beat....and not many places I have heard of will re-gel a whole boat.

 

[Comodave]

Epoxy paint isn’t generally used on exterior since most of them are not UV resistant. Polyurethane paint is the most common or a variation of poly.

 

[STB]

In terms of 2-parts, I am a big fan of Awl Grip. It has been around forever and is proven to last. It seems to be harder than most rocks. It goes on well sprayed or rolled and tipped. Itbis really glossy. Within its intended service life, it never needs to be, or benefits from, waxing. The downsides are that it is expensive, the fumes are genuinely hazardous, and it isn't repairable, i.e. it is a film that doesn't blend into layers of itself.

The prior owner of my present boat used Perfection. It has the benefit of being a little less expensive, more repairable, and having less bad fumes. It is very clearly softer than AwlGrip but still seems to last well unless particularly heavily worn. It was probably 15 years old on my boat in Florida and lost lots of gloss, but still looked good and consistent.

Someone who did work on my bost used something called Lusid Northstar, which can be mixed in any color by the dealers and has formulas to match all of the AwlGrip colors, among others. I don't know how it will last, but it has a great gloss, seems hard, and has proven /amazingly/ repairable (they goofed some stuff that required fixing). It basically blended into itself as well as the color layer of auto paint. And, it was way less expensive than either of the above. It went on nicely with a roller or by spray. I didn't try tipping it off as it was used on a deck.

In terms of 1 parts, the only one I have used is Brightside. It has pretty good gloss, but not as good as 2 paeta, is repairable, and lasts better than any other 1 part I've seen. It benefits from waxing. It is less expensive than Awlgrip or Perfection, but more expensive than Northstar.

1-parts can go over 2-parts. But the opposite is a disaster. The solvents in the 2 parts lift the underlying 1 part, making a huge mess.

As for primers, my personal go-to is epoxy primer kote, but I think awl grip uses 545.

 

[mvweebles]

There was a small resurgence of some boat restorers re-gelling the whole boat.

It ultimately is more work but materials cost less than some paint jobs...so really a push.

The paints of the last few years are tough to beat....and not many places I have heard of will re-gel a whole boat.

Assuming we're talking about the entire boat vs spot repair.

I'm having my 1970 Willard 36 repainted in Ensenada MX. Yard offered to gelcoat instead of paint and had a very nice recent example of a 40-foot sailboat to show off. Same overall cost.

I posted to this forum - I also pinged Steve D'Antonio who, in part, provided the following describing that two part paint is strongly preferred to re-gelcoat:

. In short, other than for repairs, gelcoat is best suited for use in a mold, i.e. it is applied to the inside of a female mold first, then fiberglass fabric and resin are applied on top of it, before the gelcoat is fully cured, thereby creating a very tenacious, chemical bond between the two.

Applying gelcoat, in paint-like fashion, for deck, cabin or whole hull applications, after the fact, has two results. One, it does not achieve a chemical bond with the underlying substrate. Two, when gelcoat cures while exposed to air, it becomes porous. Furthermore, gelcoat tends to be somewhat brittle, much more brittle than paint, so if it is applied too heavily, especially over an area that might flex, adjacent to a hinge or cleat for instance, it tends to crack. Controlling gelcoat thickness can be challenging, especially when used in this manner. None of these features are desirable.

 

[syjos]

System Three WR LPU Polyurethane Paint is a water based two part polyurethane paint that goes on fairly easy, tough and easy clean up. The fumes are not as harmful as the solvent based LPU's.

I started using it a few years ago and it is very durable and keeps it's shine.

For small repairs, I brush on gel coat, sand and polish..

Spectrum Color will match gel coat if you send them a sample. I sent them a sample from a hole saw cut and they found a match.