G
Guest
Guest
Um, asking for a friend and all that. I am a gel coat virgin, saving myself for the right boat.
We have again repaired the worn down through the gel coat and into the kevlar cloth stems on a couple of boats that see hard limestone, oyster bar, wormrock and beach landing and sandy drag ashore use in the Everglades.
Last fall we experimentally tried using S glass, E glass and Dynel in different wear areas, installed with a mixture of G/flex and West 105, peel ply on top on a couple boats.
The installation was well accomplished. However, neither or E glass lasted a season, while the Dynel is still going unscratched strong.
Back at it again. All Dynel this time. We sanded and cleaned those previously repaired boat stems, and laid the same resin mix atop long, thin, precisely cut strips of Dynel on the stems. Both boats looks great so far, the Dynel flush and compressed under the peel ply without bulging epoxy soaked like an old sweatshirt. Sweet.
I beveled the tip ends of the cloth after it cured, and needed to use a file to make any progress. Dynel is tough freaking stuff. Stem tips file beveled smooth and re epoxied. It looks niceeeee. So far so good.
What also wore off, starting on the first trip, was the enamel spray paint we applied over the resin last fall for UV protection. Those boats are worked constantly in a harsh environment for 5 months, and then spend much of the rest of the year outside on a trailer. Some UV topcoat is called for.
We, shop partner Joel and I, have been back and forth about what to use as a more durable than spray paint UV protectant top coat.
One part and two part poly and epoxy boat paints are pricey, and in Everglades conditions I doubt even their longevity as a UV top coat. Nix that idea until at least next fall when the boats come back for their annual tune up. I never shoulda mentioned that lifetime warranty nonsense, and probably should do that warranty work in the spring after hardest use.
Our shop debate regards top coating those now lovely deep vee Dynel stem protectors.
I want to simply brush on, not micron thin spray on, a coat or two of ubiquitously available Rustoleum enamel paint, which I already have in the shop in the needed colors. And do that every year in paint worn areas. Four bucks a can.
My shop partner, whose boats they are, bought a can of ClearCote white with wax gel coat and has unperturbed visions of rolling gel coat atop the epoxy and Dynel as a thicker sacrificial layer. And I have done my best to perturb him.
Trying mightily as I can to conceal my bias, I am horrified at this idea, and will not list all of my concerns, but believe it will look like stucco without days of sanding and recoating. That it will, at best, spider crack or chunk off at any impact. That it will be a massive PITA to sand back down to epoxied fabric is it fails.
That it may not adhere well to cured and amine blush removed epoxy resin (researched opinions vary)
None the less, I kinda want to see him try it. I did have him sign a notarized agreement to hold me gel coat blameless, so whadda I have to lose?
What say yee who have worked with gel coat?
We have again repaired the worn down through the gel coat and into the kevlar cloth stems on a couple of boats that see hard limestone, oyster bar, wormrock and beach landing and sandy drag ashore use in the Everglades.
Last fall we experimentally tried using S glass, E glass and Dynel in different wear areas, installed with a mixture of G/flex and West 105, peel ply on top on a couple boats.
The installation was well accomplished. However, neither or E glass lasted a season, while the Dynel is still going unscratched strong.
Back at it again. All Dynel this time. We sanded and cleaned those previously repaired boat stems, and laid the same resin mix atop long, thin, precisely cut strips of Dynel on the stems. Both boats looks great so far, the Dynel flush and compressed under the peel ply without bulging epoxy soaked like an old sweatshirt. Sweet.
I beveled the tip ends of the cloth after it cured, and needed to use a file to make any progress. Dynel is tough freaking stuff. Stem tips file beveled smooth and re epoxied. It looks niceeeee. So far so good.
What also wore off, starting on the first trip, was the enamel spray paint we applied over the resin last fall for UV protection. Those boats are worked constantly in a harsh environment for 5 months, and then spend much of the rest of the year outside on a trailer. Some UV topcoat is called for.
We, shop partner Joel and I, have been back and forth about what to use as a more durable than spray paint UV protectant top coat.
One part and two part poly and epoxy boat paints are pricey, and in Everglades conditions I doubt even their longevity as a UV top coat. Nix that idea until at least next fall when the boats come back for their annual tune up. I never shoulda mentioned that lifetime warranty nonsense, and probably should do that warranty work in the spring after hardest use.
Our shop debate regards top coating those now lovely deep vee Dynel stem protectors.
I want to simply brush on, not micron thin spray on, a coat or two of ubiquitously available Rustoleum enamel paint, which I already have in the shop in the needed colors. And do that every year in paint worn areas. Four bucks a can.
My shop partner, whose boats they are, bought a can of ClearCote white with wax gel coat and has unperturbed visions of rolling gel coat atop the epoxy and Dynel as a thicker sacrificial layer. And I have done my best to perturb him.
Trying mightily as I can to conceal my bias, I am horrified at this idea, and will not list all of my concerns, but believe it will look like stucco without days of sanding and recoating. That it will, at best, spider crack or chunk off at any impact. That it will be a massive PITA to sand back down to epoxied fabric is it fails.
That it may not adhere well to cured and amine blush removed epoxy resin (researched opinions vary)
None the less, I kinda want to see him try it. I did have him sign a notarized agreement to hold me gel coat blameless, so whadda I have to lose?
What say yee who have worked with gel coat?