Does gelcoat apply over carbon fiber?

[SecondBase]

Any special considerations or tips for applying gelcoat onto carbon fiber vs the usual fiberglass?

[UNCIVILIZED]

Most boats, structures, & parts built with carbon fiber tend to be made with epoxy resins. So you can run into compatibility problems from that standpoint. Since polyester doesn't bond all that well to epoxy. But there are some boats built using carbon fiber & polyester or vinylester resins. In which case I should think that there wouldn't be too many unforseen issues.

Note that the above is hypothetical, as I've not tried it out. And also, there are epoxy gelcoats. Though as to what they're like to work with, I've no idea.

Keep in mind too that most things that are built with carbon fiber use it in order to keep the part light weight, & gelcoat would add a lot of extra, non-structural mass to things. Which is why most things built with carbon fiber are painted (or clear coated), as it's a lot lighter.

[Captsteve53]

In short yes , as Carbon fiber can be laid up with Epoxy/Vinyl Ester/and even Poly Ester it pays to know what resin was used, several specialist products are available for over coating Epoxy Resin Carbon Fiber with Poly ester based Gel coats that give a deeper gloss than Epoxy finishes,

Preparations are basically the same as per normal

[TJ D]

I think that it can be done, but as far as I know, nearly all carbon boats are painted. I may be wrong, but I believe that this is the case.

We've got Awlgrip on our boat (carbon/epoxy), and we find the finish to be very good, but it's hard to repair and not have it be visible.