Print through on deck how to fix
 

Looking at a boat that has severe print through on the areas painted dark blue and black. It is a light layup race boat. It is the worst case I have seen. In the past I have had print though repaired with epoxy primer and block sanding. This might need more than that. Ideas?

post pics

light layup boats are difficult to control print through. By there very nature the surfaces are very active and unless you can get into the interlaminate structure the best you can do is bury it for a while. Duratec's VE primer and gelcoat maybe? What kind of boat is it?

dark colors really get the thermal cycling going.

ditto^^^^ have the top wrapped..

A friend just had his boat wrapped a couple weeks ago, and his print through shows right through the wrap. Very surprised. The upside is, looks like Carbon Fiber:lolhit:

wraps and vinyl amplify defects

Print through generally is a result of the build process and on boats that are affected by some old build techniques will always be at risk. Most of the big guys (Skater, OL, ETC) have a pretty good handle on it these days.

I prefer not to name the boat since I am investigating the cost to repair a boat I am looking to buy. I appreciate the help. Thank you.

oops! forgot to mention,,matted wrap lol..

Why not high build and block it out? You can get rid of it, just a ton of work!!

I think print through is caused by thermal cycling of the build materials and the layup schedule. Unless you can keep the boat at the same temp you blocked it at (forever :D) it will eventually return. High build automotive type primers really arent a great choice for fairing surfaces as the tend to chip and crack easy. I still think you might be better off with shooting gelcoat and blocking, way easier to sand and about a fourth the cost. At least this has been my experiance with true light layup boats. Almost seems like the lack the mass to remain stable. You can get rid of it for a while but it'll creep back. Actually seems to be worst on epoxy boats.


hey that blue and white Whaler on your website, what did you do for the non skid areas? im on my third restoration of one of those things and this one is getting a full Gibco treatment. Just wondered if there were any better options for the OEM pattern. The flex molded ones I've done came out great but some of these Whaler guys are fanatical and it would be cool to get an exact match to the original pattern.