SOX

I do not know much about gel coats in general so I was hoping for a cliffs notes verion on good and bad gel coats.

1) is there different brands of gel coat used and which are good and which are bad?

2)how thick is a gel coat and can it be too thick?

Any info would be helpful. I am always trying to learn something new.

Audiofn

Yes there are different brands of it. I use Cooks or the stuff from Minicraft that I am not sure if it is Cooks or not.

Yes it can be to thick. You can use a guage when spraying it to test the thickness. I can not remember what that is sapposed to be. If you put it on to thick then it can stress crack. On some old boats the crap is like 1/4" thick in places.

The downside is that when you spray it out that it is very rough. You have to sand it and buff it out. It takes a while to do. It will fill in some voids so if you do not have things perfect then you can be ok. IMO it is not really any more work to paint with the new Gell then automotive paints. What I am doing with my boat is to put Gell on the sides and under the boat but Awlgrip on the topsides. I think that the Awlgrip will shine longer thent the Gel will. The Gel on the sides and bottom is for durrability as it is the only thing that is rated for under water use.

Jon

HiZ

Audiofn: Here is something. The previous owner of my boat has had the name painted on and I have thus far, as in the past 25 minutes. Used a DA and 400 to sand it off. Now I am to the GEL what is next. I was going to step and wet sand to get it smooth. What else should I use to "seal" it???
Thanks

mismanagement

go to web site minicraft.com gel coat mfg in fl. i think they will be able to help

Audiofn

Well I would keep wet sanding it. Start with 600 wet then keep going up to about 1000 or even finer. The finer that you go the more it will shine and stay clean. Then buff it and wax it with boat wax.

minxguy

Easy Off oven spray would have saved you a lot of sanding. Spray it on thr paint, watch it bubble off. Worked great on my Donzi. Ken

HiZ

Easyoff??? Wow w/o ruining the gel coat shine, I will have to remember that

AGGRAVATION28

Minxguy...say that again? EZ Off can be sprayed on the paint and won't harm the gel? Sounds too easy. Have a couple of painted stripes on the deck of my boat...starting to chip and have planned to sand off and repaint with something......wanted to confirm the EX Off won't harm the gel and simply wipes away.

Thanks