stephentyler20
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2008
- Messages
- 117
I've posted on this before, and the problem continues to nag me. Since I've had my '88 wellcraft with red hull, the chalky, splotchy, unevenly-faded gelcoat has been the bane of my existence. I spent hours (and probably damaged discs in my back) trying to wet sand, compound, and polish, and the best I ever got was *temporary* improvement in SOME areas of the boat... other areas remain chalky/faded.
I've gotten the rest of the boat beautified to my liking (i.e., the interior). The white parts of the boat (i.e., above the rubrail) are in decent shape and they polish up nicely. But the red, under the rubrail, continues to look atrocious!
So I have 2 options:
1. Try wet sanding, compounding, polishing, again. This just seems futile. I worked my *** off doing this a couple years ago, and the improvement was marginal. Was I doing it wrong? Maybe, I don't know. But I sanded a LOT. It's also really hard to track progress doing that... it's slow and painful, and I can't tell whether I've sanded enough or too much.
2. Paint. Now, I've done some research here. From what I can tell, Interlux Toplac would be a good way to go, using roll and tip. Again from what I can tell, the work would be 1. clean 2. dry sand 220 (DA sander) to rough up the gel coat, 3. primer 4. paint (sanding between the 2-3 coats).
Frankly, prep/paint sounds like less work with more predictable results. Do others agree?
The other problem, however, is cost. I'm on a pretty limited budget here, and I don't know how much this would cost me. A qt of Toplac is about $40, but I have no idea how much paint I'd need, not to mention primer, acetone, supplies... I'm sure it adds up.
Thoughts/tips appreciated!
I've gotten the rest of the boat beautified to my liking (i.e., the interior). The white parts of the boat (i.e., above the rubrail) are in decent shape and they polish up nicely. But the red, under the rubrail, continues to look atrocious!
So I have 2 options:
1. Try wet sanding, compounding, polishing, again. This just seems futile. I worked my *** off doing this a couple years ago, and the improvement was marginal. Was I doing it wrong? Maybe, I don't know. But I sanded a LOT. It's also really hard to track progress doing that... it's slow and painful, and I can't tell whether I've sanded enough or too much.
2. Paint. Now, I've done some research here. From what I can tell, Interlux Toplac would be a good way to go, using roll and tip. Again from what I can tell, the work would be 1. clean 2. dry sand 220 (DA sander) to rough up the gel coat, 3. primer 4. paint (sanding between the 2-3 coats).
Frankly, prep/paint sounds like less work with more predictable results. Do others agree?
The other problem, however, is cost. I'm on a pretty limited budget here, and I don't know how much this would cost me. A qt of Toplac is about $40, but I have no idea how much paint I'd need, not to mention primer, acetone, supplies... I'm sure it adds up.
Thoughts/tips appreciated!