How gelcoat / paint is applied to a boat

Wakeboarder3780

How is it done? For a car they primer, then paint, then clear. So if I wanted to repaint my vehicle I know I would have to sand through the clear and the color paint to the primer. Then I would have to pain to my liking, and then clear over the top.

What if I want to repaint a boat? Does is gelcoat like the clear on a car? Can you spray clear gel coat? I've only seen it where people mix colors in it and then fix scratches and stuff..

matt1808 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 1981

I will start off by saying hardly anybody re-gelcoats a boat, It is really only used when building the boat in the mold. At the factory they spray the gel coat in the mold, then lay or shoot the fiberglass over top of it. The smooth finish of the mold allows this process to be used instead of painting, to eliminate the prep work required for painting the hull. There is no clear coat with gel coats.

To re-gel your boat you will have to sand the current coat down a little with a 200 grit sand paper. Then you will need to spray about 30 mil of gel coat, in 3 coats. The last coat needs to be mixed with a surfacing wax. After spraying the gel you have to sand with 200 grit sand paper to remove the texture. One last coat is applied that has a mixture of patch booster and surfacing wax. The last coat has to be wet sanded up to 1200 grit. Then you can go through the rubbing compound and sealing process.

To paint the boat you will just need to prep the gel coat for painting, and spray the paint. Awlgrip is pretty much the industry standard for this.

In other words it will be a lot easier to paint it.

8122pbrainard · Outlaw Joined: 10 Feb 2009 Posts: 111 City: Northfield

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Feb 27, 2009 1:51 pm Post subject:

So if what matt says is correct, the factory gels the fiberglass and paints over the top of the gel? So if I wanted to repaint my boat all I have to do is.. well repaint it and not worry about regeling at all? That seems odd to me, but hey what do i know.

matt1808 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 1981

8122pbrainard, I don't mean to make it sound like it isn't done, but painting seems to be more popular because of the costs. Gel coat will last twice as long as paint, but I highly doubt he is going to be that concerned about durability given his boat.

Wakeboarder3780, no there is no paint just the gel coat.

8122pbrainard · Outlaw Joined: 10 Feb 2009 Posts: 111 City: Northfield

Matt,
I asked where you were to just get a general geographical area because here in the midwest, re gelling is quite common.

3780,
Read Matts description again on how a fiberglass boat is made at the factory. You must have missed the gel coat process. There is NO paint!

matt1808 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 1981

8122pbrainard, Central Illinois

8122pbrainard · Outlaw Joined: 10 Feb 2009 Posts: 111 City: Northfield

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Feb 28, 2009 10:05 pm Post subject:

8122pbrainard · Outlaw Joined: 10 Feb 2009 Posts: 111 City: Northfield

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Mar 01, 2009 7:46 am Post subject:

Take it easy man, I've sprayed bumpers and spoilers for a car before. It's not rocket science. All I need to do is figure out WHAT to spray. That shouldn't disqualify me from doing a spray job myself.. As for the comment about how you'd hate to see me practice on my boat - yes how dare i want to practice on MY (OLD) 89 sunsetter. If I don't practice there where should I? When I upgrade to my brand new wakesetter / 230 / x-star? Just because someone is asking questions to learn doesn't mean they shouldn't try themselves. If you were going to try something new, you would want to be as informed as possible. I think it bodes well on my part that I am asking a lot of questions - it's called looking before you leap. People don't start out knowing everything. Everyone who DOES know exactly what they are doing for spraying boats started out at the point I'm currently at right now at one point in their life.

Your reservations are noted, but If I wanted them I'd ask for it. Nowhere in my post am I asking "Is this within my skill level" It's my decision whether or not I want to do this project - I'm just asking for info.

DRAGON88 · Posted: Mar 01, 2009 9:31 am Post subject:

8122pbrainard · Outlaw Joined: 10 Feb 2009 Posts: 111 City: Northfield

3780,
I'm very sorry that you have taken my comments as being harsh. They were never meant to be that way.

Please understand that I have no idea of your coating knowledge and when you start asking questions like: "the factory gels the fiberglass and paints over the top of the gel?" or "So if I wanted to "repaint" my boat I would be mixing paint into the gelcoat and applying gel? Does regular automotive paint work? Do you need a special coloring to mix in the gel?" this tells me that you need to do more research. Plus, up to this point I had no idea what your skill level is with a spray gun. Your questions did have me wondering! Yes, a boat hull is lots more than a bumper or a spoiler and yes, there is some "rocket science" when you start spraying high end finishes and lots when you get into gel coats.

How is the existing gel on your 89? Is the intent to simply change the color or is there damage?

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Mar 01, 2009 1:44 pm Post subject:

Right now the side is a little foggy looking (perhaps a tad oxidized) and I'm not real excited about the paint job. Below is a picture of the boat in better times (before it was oxidized) And below that is a paint job on a different sunsetter that I really thought looked nice. The area on my boat where it's really bad is the three blue stripes from left to right where it goes dark blue, lighter blue, lightest blue. The lightest blue stripe is so bad you can hardly tell there is color there anymore.

And again I honestly don't think I will undertake a project this massive. In the event I ever wanted to however, it is nice to have a good idea of what it will entail. The only reason I'm seriously considering it is because I have a torn up rubrail on one side and will likely replace it with a new one which will require taking the entire thing off. If I ever did want to paint a boat, the time to do it would be at that moment.

matt1808 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 1981

In that case I highly recommend not painting or re-gel coating, unless you are dead set on changing the color scheme and you are planning on keeping the boat long term. If that is not the case I would either wet sand or use a product designed to remove heavy oxidation (vertglas or similar). painting or gel coating isn't really worth it (in terms of time or money) if you are going to be trading it in in a few years.

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

Yeah, I'd say the same. Wetsand and buff like I'm doing and you'll get it looking pretty good. Is all the blue (including the diagonal stripe design) paint or decal?

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Mar 02, 2009 8:25 am Post subject:

It's all paint but I swear the lighter blue areas got so oxidized they "lost" their color in some spots. The very lightest blue looks nearly white in some areas. Are we thinking that the white is just oxidization and if I wet sand down a bit I'll find the true color underneath?

Edit: I would also like to mention I have some areas where I need to match paint (the darkest blue). In the back I had to replace the back light mount with required boring out some area in the hull and when i did that I filled in some pits with fiberglass filler, then sanded it down flush. The boat is pretty darn old and at the time I just threw some spray paint on the back applying with a match stick just so it didn't stick out so bad. I can remove all of that by wet sanding. How do you make an accurate paint match on the existing gel? (I want to fix that temp solution with a real one) Are their listed paint codes somewhere I'm unaware of on a third party website?

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

Wakeboarder3780, I would say that most of what you will find is oxidation and it will be removed. Here's a suggestion...

Get a sanding block and some 1000-2000 grit paper and wetsand that area. Show us some before and after pictures and go from there. I'd bet you'll find that when you sand it some, the white will come off and you'll still have the original color under there.

As far as the other area, I'll let others answer that, since it goes past my level of expertise.

matt1808 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 1981

Hollywood · Posted: Mar 02, 2009 10:42 am Post subject:

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

Hollywood, Laughing

Wakeboarder3780, stop saying paint...it's gel coat Mr. Green

I think matt1808's idea is probably your best bet for the repair area needed to fill and color match. I'd do that first, then proceed with the sand and buff. You might want to experiment with the sand and buff in one of the worst areas on a small spot to know what kind of results you will get.

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Mar 02, 2009 12:31 pm Post subject:

yes, apologies GEL. It's all GEL. I will point the finger at OB as he slyly led me into the trap by baiting with the question of "Is the striping PAINT or a decal" Wink

Alright well it will be a while before I get the boat back in town but when it does i'll post some pictures and see what you guys think. Thanks for the time and effort Wink

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

Whoops...I sure did, huh? Yeah, get us some pictures and try the wetsanding in a couple spots to send us some before and after pictures.

matt1808 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 1981

Wakeboarder3780, since it hasn't been posted yet, here is Okie's thread he mentioned. It will give you an idea of what type of improvement you can get by removing the oxidation.

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=80278&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=35

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Mar 02, 2009 3:57 pm Post subject:

yeah, trust me - i've been following his post a lot. When he gets it all worked out to a science I'll have hive give me the low down. I'm gonna get the PC polisher everyone talked about on this one boat forum too, seems to be popular.

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

What's the PC polisher?

DRAGON88 · Posted: Mar 02, 2009 7:09 pm Post subject:

Porter Cable 7424, it's a random orbital polisher. I have one, It's a great little machine, way way way more effective than a cheapo one from Sears...

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/udm-1000-na.html

I guess they've rebranded it since I got mine...

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

Oh yeah...very nice. That's like what Meguiar's calls their DA. I've heard those are a great way to go past the hand level and the cheapo ones without going quite as aggressive as a full rotary.