Sundamaged gelcoat

[jesperht]

I just bought a Scandinavian built sailboat, that have spend some time in the Caribian sun. There is no glosh in the gelcoat, but it appears there are very small holes filled with black dust. Even though i have tried with sandpaper 240, i cant get it off. Any ideas? Any other solution than new gelcoat?


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[atoll]

Originally Posted by jesperht

I just bought a Scandinavian built sailboat, that have spend some time in the Caribian sun. There is no glosh in the gelcoat, but it appears there are very small holes filled with black dust. Even though i have tried with sandpaper 240, i cant get it off. Any ideas? Any other solution than new gelcoat?


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eeek if you must sand you should be using wet and dry 1200-2000 grit with water,then a polishing machine using silicone polishing wax.

cleaning first with phopheric acid will remove stains and salt,then a degreaser ,bleach and hull cleaner work well as well,before polishing with a buffer pad

[jesperht]

Yes i know that, but there is no problem in polishing up from 240. I use 400,600,800,1000,1500 and 2000. But sanding is clearly not the solution.


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[minaret]

Very likely porous Gelcoat. Long term the only solution is a paint job. Short term try using boat soap mixed with some bleach. Then wax with several coats of a quality marine paste wax, to fill the pores.

[k9medic]

My little boat is a 23' twin engine runabout. It has sat in the Florida sun for the past 9 years with very little done to it other than an occasional washing.

This past week I decided it was time for a change. The photos below show about a 2 hour work process using a DA polisher and Meguiars polish and wax. The polish was the professional mirror glaze #9 swirl remover followed by the #26 yellow wax. I have a total of $35 in both products.

[Stu Jackson]

Tips For A Great Buff Wax - SailboatOwners.com

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Tips For A Great Buff Wax - SailboatOwners.com

Is this the same Stu Jackson that came to visit Karen on Mettitt Island?

[jesperht]

Looks nice! I guess that means, that my gelcoat is not sundamaged, but has been like that fra day one? Only thing is, it is only some vertical surfaces that has the problem.


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[SailFastTri]

Gelcoat thats become faded and porous will eventually need painting. K9medic may be happy now but let's see his boat again in 6 months. Been there own the polisher and compounds and waxes. I also tried the miracle polymer coatings recommended by PS but they degrade too, then you're back to stripping them (a lot of work) and compound/wax because the final answer is painting. Maybe I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I can tell a story with them.

[k9medic]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Gelcoat thats become faded and porous will eventually need painting. K9medic may be happy now but let's see his boat again in 6 months. Been there own the polisher and compounds and waxes. I also tried the miracle polymer coatings recommended by PS but they degrade too, then you're back to stripping them (a lot of work) and compound/wax because the final answer is painting. Maybe I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I can tell a story with them.

I agree. The cutting on this particular polish is not too heavy but the results were more than I expected. Given the time involved, I could do this every 5 -6 months and still grin. I use the heck out of the little boat and don't really put too much concern in what it looks like but rather how it runs.

To do it "right" with wet sanding, polishing and waxing would involve the better part of 2-3 days on the boat. To me that's time better spend on the water.

[SailFastTri]

Follow up from above, pictures telling a story as promised:

This image below shows the gelcoat condition in it's faded state, in late Fall season (northeast US) only about 6 months after it was compounded to a high shine then waxed with (top rated) Treewax paste wax:



This image shows what it looked like immediately after compounding prior to Spring launch:




I got tired of spending about 30-40 hours each year compounding and waxing, so I decided to use Poly-Glo. This image shows what it looked like after treatment with Poly-Glo. Yes it looks good, but it's not as shiny or smooth as the compounded and waxed gelcoat finish. It also builds up and then eventually degrades from beneath and needs to be stripped. In the end I don't think it saved me any work:



I applied and re-applied the Poly-Glo as per directions, but after the second season it started to degrade from beneath the coating. So it had to be stripped. That is a tough job if you try to do it with their cleaner, but it's made a LOT easier if you use their stripper that comes in a spray can. Don't even try it without that spray stripper. This is what it looked like in a degraded state, before stripping:



So I went back to compound and wax for another year, then decided to have the boat painted. That was a great move. Yes it was expensive to have it done professionally but it has freed me of drudge work that I had come to dread, and my boat looks great year-round, not just two or three months a year. This is a freshly painted panel, still in the shop: