Tacky Gelcoat

wbas1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Messages
127
I was looking for some gelcoat help. Prior to the winter I needed to replace the gas tanks in my center console. I figured, while the floor was up and out of the boat I would put a new coat of gelcoat on the deck. I sanded the surface & cleaned it with Acetone. Once everything was dry I applied the gelcoat with the correct mixture of harder. The gelcoat I used was 944 WJ 480 Base White ISO Gelcoat. I let it sit all winter and installed the decking back in the boat. When I touched the newly gel-coated surface, everything seemed to be ok. What I come to find out while I was installing it back in the boat, if I applied pressure to the surface for a bit with my hand, my hand would eventually stick a little bit. I was actually laying a sheet on the surfaces when I worked on the console so I would not scratch it but when I went to remove the sheet, parts of it actually stuck to the surface a little bit. This does not seem to happen all over but just in certain spots. After doing some more research on the forum it was said that the gelcoat should have wax it. I come to find out the Gelcoat I was using did not have wax in it. I also noticed when I accidentally spilled acetone on a spot the gelcoat became very tacky but once the acetone dried it was not tacky anymore. I guess my question is, can I fix this somehow or do I need to remove all the gelcoat. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

stresspoint

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 19, 2022
Messages
1,028
just get some styrene wax and mix up some more gel coat and brush / roll over the tacky stuff, the wax and new gel coat will react with already applied gel coat and stick ..
polyester is good like that lucky for you
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,950
if you didnt ad wax, you need to spray up some PVA over the gel to get it to finish curing.
 

wbas1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Messages
127
just get some styrene wax and mix up some more gel coat and brush / roll over the tacky stuff, the wax and new gel coat will react with already applied gel coat and stick ..
polyester is good like that lucky for you
Thank you for the feedback. I am going to try that.
 

wbas1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Messages
127
if you didnt ad wax, you need to spray up some PVA over the gel to get it to finish curing.
The Gel Coat I used did not have any wax in it at all. So i should spray PVA over the entire deck I painted with Gel Coat.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,950
The Gel Coat I used did not have any wax in it at all. So i should spray PVA over the entire deck I painted with Gel Coat.
yes

then after a day, you can scrub off the PVA with soap and water.
 

wbas1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Messages
127
Thank you all for the help. I am going to use Stresspoint's method this weekend. I will update when I am finished
 

wbas1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Messages
127
Update: I re-coated the deck On Thursday of last week and let it dry. It seems to be a lot better. It is still cold here in NY so I am not going to walk on it for a few more days. Thank you everyone for their help.
 
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