gelcote question

[archimedes]

I would appreciate the feedback from someone who has already done it.  I'm not sure if it's worth the effort if the paint is just going to fail.  Thanks.

[crazycarl]

Is the exposed fiberglass smooth, or can you feel the glass weave?  It looks smooth.  If it is, paint, with the correct primer, should cover it.  I painted an O' Day Widgeon that had small spots like yours.  The glass was smooth to the touch as it had been applied correctly with epoxy.  I rolled on the primer, sanded it smooth, and repeated.  The paint was sprayed on.  When it was finished, you could have shaved using your reflection.
If you can feel the weave, apply a thin coat of epoxy and sand it smooth.  Then continue with the paint process.  I've painted 5 boats to date and each presented its own problem.

note: MacGyver probably has the most experience working on boats as it was his profession for years. He also restored his own Compac 19 to look new. If I recall, he sanded off the factory non-skid and painted new anti-skid on.  I would think sanding it off, would removed the gelcoat down to the glass.

[MacGyver]

CrazyCarl is right on with what he has done, and he is right about what I did on my boat as well.

Exposed fibers is where the leeching would occur, I remember getting a old Trans Am rear wing (I think that was the car, or maybe a different old collectable sports car) and it had a common issue that no one was seemingly able to fix in the autobody field. A friend of mine that runs his own shop had one show up and he passed the job to me, as it had been repaired many times unsuccessfully. I repaired it with a odd technique but everything worked and it held up. This issue was actually leeching effects despite what paint manufactures said would make it a non issue, it still was. The owner took some business cards and before long I had about 6 that I had repaired from all over the US. The common issue was that body shops think they know fiberglass but in all honesty, many times they don't.

Fiberglass is protected by the gelcoat, but at the same time the gelcoat is a downside. Like yin and yang so to speak, they work together but gelcoat is hard, whereas the fiberglass gives. Cracks in gelcoat expose glass strands that then suck water like a sponge.
This causes major and small issues, so how does one decide the best option to repair? Location and expectation of the fiberglass and gelcoat to perform its jobs.

Top deck should be done like Carl stated, applying a thin coat of epoxy like West System, which has the highest ability to be water proof, and not using polyester resins which use a peroxide hardener to catalyst off. That thin coat will be sanded to accept a epoxy primer and will seal the glass strands off from the water. The primer will then coat and allow the paint to adhere as well, sometimes allowing a chemical bond if the company has made it that way, and the paint then provides the final UV protection in the end.

Gelcoat has been used to do all of the above for a long time, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. I remember a old boat I stripped all the bottom gelcoat off due to haze cracking throughout the whole bottom causing blisters to form like crazy. I then ground every blister and filled accordingly, then used 10 layers of a product made by Interlux called 2000. That product had no sanding between layers, chemical adhesion, and chem adhesion as a final to the layer of bottom paint used for the end result. That would seal the bottom superbly. NO GELCOAT used after it was removed.

I used that very same product on my deck. Then followed up with the Interlux product called Perfection which is a two part polyurethane with a decent color setup to choose from. My side stripes I used Brightsides from Interlux, which is a one part poly paint. your final coat of the paints you do not want to sand and buff as the UV inhibitors go to the top during drying. Also you want to use two part paints below single part parts, never the opposite.

That being said, hopefully not a lot of fluff that I just typed, LOL my kids are around and being silly kinda jacks up the concentration. In your case I think you have a couple options, to Gelcoat could work, but it would end in a blotch painted deal so to speak as color variation will be prevalent but if you worry to protect and just sail, then go for it, but if you primed and painted, repaired issues, etc, you would probably paint the whole deck which is alot but you would have a great finished topside deck that you probably wouldn't have to do much to maintain for a while.

My boat sits in my shop since I re did her. I took the whole boat apart and from the ground up re-did it due to the issue on the top deck which was a lot of pitting in the rope non skid areas, and that is why I removed the spots and redid them with the non skid. The knotted rope on the seats and the floor were kept however, but the floor I added some non skid modifier to help out for traffic. The seats came out really well overall.

If you would like, let me know, I just started a YouTube channel up and could make a video about the boat actually and show some of this if it would help out. Might be a good idea anyway to be honest, I will probably just do it.

Everything just takes time to do, but I find if you make a list, and follow the plan, you can accomplish anything with the right knowledge base. I will make the video and post it up and probably even make a few more of other things as well. I am having fun talking about some of this stuff and maybe my efforts will help others in what they are working on.

Just a side note, Interlux still uses the 2000, and Brightsides, but I couldn't locate the perfection. Jamestown Distributors still lists and will sell Perfection so I am assuming it is still in the market. I will email my old Rep for Interlux and inquire about the Perfection line yet. Also Petit makes products as well, although many times were not as user friendly as the Interlux was. I am not a Interlux fan boy, but I am a huge supporter of WEST SYSTEM epoxy, although I can suggest others as well but I have personally over the years put WEST SYSTEM through its paces, and also worked with some of their products for testing prior to market production which was pretty cool times for this old cat............

MacGyver

[brackish]

I am not a pro but have done several boats and several road vehicles, trucks and cars. 

On a Columbia 8.7 (29') I had to do extensive core rot repair, so much so that it had to be done from the top side rather than from underneath which would have allowed the topside glass and gelcoat to remain intact.  So, take off the top layer of fiberglass, dig out all the old rotten balsa, cut about sixfty slices of balsa from a 4 x 4 (it is laid in like slices of bread with the end grain up and down), then reglass the topside, all repairs done with epoxy resin rather than polyester.

Because of the extensive repairs, and a lot of small patches, after prepping I rolled on two coats of Interlux epoxy based primer and appropriately sanded to prep for topcoat.  The hull was almost damage free a few very small ding repairs, but it was oxidized significantly, so I did not prime it, simply sanded it. 

Then painted (spray) the whole thing with Dupont Imron catalyzed polyurethane.  Job came out great.  I kept it for two more years then sold it and I moved from the area and did not see the boat .  Eight years later It passed through my new home area and docked in the marina I currently use.  It looked great.  I assumed the new owner had repainted, but no, it was my job ten years later and looked like new.

Wouldn't recommend Dupont Imron now, think it is a hundred percent automotive and requires post color clear coat application.  The last boat I did I used Interlux Perfection.  I sprayed it also and it came out great.  Perfection is still available, but there are a number of competing coatings that have good reputations.