What the heck is gelcoat?

[Wakebrad]

This word is thrown out so much and I have no idea what it's made of and why it's called gelcoat. Does the boat fiberglass get painted then they apply the gelcoat afterwards, or does the gelcoat include the paint underneath.

I ask because I've got some bottom paint on my boat and while for the most part it doens't look bad, the bottom is starting to get scuf marks and whatnot. I'm wondering if it's possible to get back to what the rest of the boat looks like without having to strip the gelcoat (I don't know if thats even possible)

Also is it possible to put a new gelcoat on yourself or is it a pretty difficult process?

Alright I think that's all of the gelcoat questions I can think of

[salmon_tacos]

Gelcoat is just a different type of material than paint (laquer, enamel, acrylic, latex, whatever). I believe gelcoat is an epoxy-type material, i.e. it uses a hardener. This allows you to apply it thicker than paint since it doesn't "dry" like paint does.

On new boats, the gelcoat is sprayed into the mold and the fiberglass is laid on top of it. It's just easier to get a smooth finish this way. You can spray gelcoat on the boat instead of the mold (re-gelcoat the boat) but I'd imagine you'd have a big issue with orange peel and would have to do a lot of sanding and buffing to get that smooth factory finish.

Hopefully someone will chime in with specific experience on bottom paint. I'm guessing though that there is may be some kind of chemical stripper that will react with the paint and leave the gelcoat alone (for the most part) since they are very different materials.

[Wakebrad]

So to re-gelcoat it would be like painting a car. You'd have to have a dust free setting and do a lot of sanding/wet sanding. I wonder if there's documentation on how to do that somewhere. Thanks for the help. Hopefully the gelcoat God will englighten me.

[wesgardner]

Hey Wakebrad,

Gelcoat is not a DIY process (except for small "repairs") - to re-gelcoat a boat, it's shot on with a two-component gun mixing hardener and resin at the nozzle (along with parrifin that floats to the surface locking off the air allowing the gel to set up hard.

Gelcoat is polyester resin + hardener + colorant.

I think I'd be tempted to just repaint your boat's bottom, you can use "hard" bottom paint that allows you to burnish it to a shine (almost). Lots of racing sailboats use this type of bottom paint.


Wes

[Wakebrad]

yeah, it seemed like something that you couldn't do yourself.

Would I need to do anything to my existing bottom paint to get it ready?

By burnish, you mean with fine grit sandpaper?

The bottom paint actually comes up to the sides. The whites don't match exactly. It's not a big difference but it's mainly just the different texture that looks wierd. Would hard bottom paint match closer to the existing texture?

[NAW]

Wakebrad, PM or Email a user on here called 'hyperliteproair man'. He has a gelcoat repair business and would be more than willing to help you out. His name is Jon.

Hope that helps.