Century Coronado restore

[Baylinerchuck]

My gelcoat can list 60 degrees as the lowest Temp on the MEKP chart. Humidity will also play a role.

 

[89 resorter]

Never thought about just reading the instructions on the container :facepalm:. It got into the low 60's here on Saturday and was about 70 in my building so I went for it. Just had to go a little heavier on the MEKP. After a full day of prep, spraying, gun cleaning, spraying more, lots more gun cleaning,etc. I got er done......



Now the real work begins with all of the sanding and buffing that will be needed to get it to shine.

 

[kcassells]

Looks very good to me!

 

[89 resorter]

Thanks KC. There are a couple of spots that must of had pits in the fiberglass that now look like pin holes in the gel. I will probably fill them with white gel paste then sand the entire hull to get fair and remove orange peel. After that, the final coat of gel coating should hide all the imperfections.

 

[89 resorter]

I was giving more thought on how to repair the small pitting that I ended up with after spraying the gel coat and was wondering if I could just thicken some of the white gel coating I already have with micro beads or cabisol ????? Whatever I end up doing I know I have to sand the areas pretty good to remove the wax layer from the last coat I sprayed. Below are a couple of up close pictures to show what I am dealing with .... I have three small areas like this

 

[Woodonglass]

sand it to scuff it up and remove the high spots then thicken gel coat as you described and apply with wide plastic putty knife. This will yield a flat surface. Make sure to wipe down with acetone prior to spreading

 

[89 resorter]

Thanks WOG .....I was hoping it would be something easy like that :thumb:

 

[89 resorter]

WOW, it has been since last October since I have had the temps to mess around with my gel coat repairs. I thought for sure I would have some weather in March to work on her but here it is in late April and this past weekend was the first time temps reached into the 60's (except for last weekend when it hit 80 but our boat club put the docks in the water that day). Anyway, the small pin holes seemed to cover up well with thickened gel coat. The area where the moth decided to mess up is going to take a couple of tries through ..... I could still see some of the damage after sanding the first patch so I will hopefully have the weather to try again next weekend. Its a small area so I should be able to warm the area with my work lights. I forgot to take pictures this time but I will get proof next week. On another note, the admiral, daughter and grand daughter must of got tired of waiting for me to get this boat done and went out and bought a pontoon. They got a great deal on what appears to be a very, very well taken care of boat (my one stipulation was that I did not need another boat to work on). I think they did pretty good and it will keep them from bugging me ..... they go boating and I get more work done on the Century.

 

[sphelps]

Nice score on the toon !!

 

[89 resorter]

Still no work on the Coronado . Admiral and daughter decided that now they have a boat in the water they need a dox box to keep stuff in. Sooooo had to switch gears again and get our old dock box looking presentable. I had already re-gel coated the top to develop some gel coating skills and it turned out okay with the exception of some moth tracks in the freshly sprayed gel. I decided gel coating would be too much work for the entire box so I got it sanded down and sprayed it with clean metal primer yesterday. I hope to do the roll and tipping this coming weekend. I am following WOG's instructions for painting using tractor paint but I do not see what to do if more than one coat is needed.....I'm using bright white over gray/green primer so I assume more than one coat will be needed. Basically, I just need to know if sanding is needed between coats and if so, what grit would be best to use and anything else I need to watch out for? Maybe I will be able work get to work on the Century next someday :frusty:

 

[89 resorter]

Got the first coat roll and tipped on the old dock box and it turned out much like I expected with painting white over a dark primer but I'm not sure if the attached pic shows what is expected or if it will be a good visual aid for how not to do it :noidea:. I'm thinking that I may have overlapped too much from one section to the next since those areas are visibly darker. I think I had the right ratio of thinner since there was hardly any visible flow marks from the tipping. At the same time I'm wondering if it may have been too much seeing how light the coating looks. I'm planning on doing a light sanding with 320 to knock of any nubs, using a 50/50 mineral spirits and acetone mix to wipe it down, tack cloth and apply a second coat this weekend. Going to try not to overlap as much with the roller. Any advise or warnings are greatly appreciated.

 

[sphelps]

I would try rolling the whole side then tip all the way across so no lap marks . Or just do the roll and roll method ..

 

[89 resorter]

Yeah, I'll give rolling the entire back side of the box a try and seeing if I have time to tip it the whole way across. I read WOG's roll and roll method a couple of times and not sure that I totally get it ….. I printed a copy and plan on taking it with me this weekend so I may also give that a try on one side (it's only an old dock box …..test subject lol). After watching a few videos (again) I don't think I loaded up the roller enough when I applied the paint nor did I keep a light coating of thinner on the brush so I will correct that as well. I want to get the feel for this roll & tip or roll & roll stuff before I attempt to paint on the Coronado.

Thanks

 

[Woodonglass]

Roll n' Roll
use 2 rollers. On for Primary coat, one for follow up. Apply paint as normal with first roller and then squeeze as much paint out of it as you can and wrap with plastic bag to keep it from drying out. Apply paint normally with 2nd roller and when done put it in a bag too. Remove the first roller,(it'll be damp but hardly any paint.) Now re-roll the area you just painted but... Apply hardly any pressure to the roller. Let it's own weight be the guide. Keep rolling until you HEAR the paint sticking to the roller. STOP. This should yield an almost spray like finish. I'd recommend about a 5x5 ft section each time.

 

[sphelps]

Yep like Woody said . Hold the handle really loosely with just the weight of the roller . Listen for the sticky sound then move on ..

 

[89 resorter]

Thanks Guys! Made my weekly pilgrimage to HD last night and picked up a second roller then swiped a couple of the Admiral's large zip lock bags so I should be ready to roll (pun totally intended ).

 

[89 resorter]

Did the roll & roll painting yesterday and it turned out much better than my roll & tip effort the week before. Still needs one more coat but I can see now that the old dock box will look new again.

Thanks

 

[CrazyFinn]

Did the roll & roll painting yesterday and it turned out much better than my roll & tip effort the week before. Still needs one more coat but I can see now that the old dock box will look new again.

Thanks

The roll & roll method worked MUCH better for me as well.

 

[sphelps]

Much better ! Looks great ! Once ya get the feel for it there’s nothing to it !

 

[89 resorter]

It also went much faster since I could do a larger area at a time. When my buddies ask, I'll have to make it sound MUCH harder than it really was or I'll end up doing nothing this summer but painting old dock boxes :lol: