New gel coat

[HAS]

With the help of my wife we got a perfect match on the gelcoat light green color,
my sons and I rolled and tipped 5 coats on my 16 ft. try haul, I was surprised how
smooth and even it turned out. I thought this is going to be a piece of cake.
When I went in the garage the next day, I thought the gelcoat would be nice and
smooth but what I found was gelcoat with thousands of pin holes all over the boat,
the largest was maybe a 16th of an inch and these went down to the fiberglass.
I cleaned the haul 2 times with acetone the night before and 1 time the day we
did the gelcoat. I was not able to get gelcoat to stay in the holes no matter what
I tried, I would force gelcoat in the holes only to have the holes reappear in a few
seconds. Has anyone had this problem and know what caused it??
THANKS GUYS............. HAS

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: New gel coat

Ondarvr is the resident Gel Coat expert, so lets hope he chimes in on this one....but you might as well get a picture up on it, as I'm sure he's going to request it.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: New gel coat

Sounds like some type of surface contamination. You said you cleaned it, did you sand it first? Acetone isn't the best product to use as a prep before painting, it evaporates so quickly some of the contaminates can be left on the surface and not picked up by the rag.

It's not common for un-thinned gel coat to fisheye that much, nor does it roll and tip all that well, did you thin it with something?

 

[bluefishing]

Re: New gel coat

Sounds like some type of surface contamination. You said you cleaned it, did you sand it first? Acetone isn't the best product to use as a prep before painting, it evaporates so quickly some of the contaminates can be left on the surface and not picked up by the rag.

It's not common for un-thinned gel coat to fisheye that much, nor does it roll and tip all that well, did you thin it with something?

Ondarvr, what is the best solvent to use for prep?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: New gel coat

On a small repair acetone will work, as the area gets larger it doesn't work as well. If I'm going to gel coat a large area I normally don't solvent wipe it, I may sweep, wipe with a rag, or blow it off, maybe all three depending on what it is. If I'm going to paint a large surface I will buy a prep wash designed for that purpose, they don't cost much and are easy to find, for a small area I might use acetone.

 

[Bondo]

Re: New gel coat

Ayuh,... I've heard of hulls that won't take paint or gelcoat without doin' that...

Common theory is, it was originally layed up in a mold waxed with a sillycone based wax, that comtaminates the hull...

Donno, I've been Lucky as far as that problem goes...

 

[HAS]

Re: New gel coat

ONDARVR & BOND-o

There was a lot of gelcoat damage under the bottom paint, most of the bottom was sanded
to the fiberglass and the sides and transom were sanded smooth. The gelcoat was not
thinned and the pin holes don`t look like fisheye, 2 days before the gelcoat I washed it
with bleach and hosed it down. Is this any help?...........HAS

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: New gel coat

I agree ..

Dont worry .. im sure you will be re-directed to the how to section of the forum.

YD.. ...

PS. use a small brush or a tooth pic to Dab the pinholes .. before your last application of gel..

 

[ondarvr]

Re: New gel coat

Bare Fiberglass (gel coat sanded off) will have tiny pin holes in the surface, frequently these won't fill in if just rolled, brushed or sprayed over, the easiest way to fill them is with a squeegee, a small plastic bondo spreader will work fine. Mix a small amount of gel coat and use the sqeegee to skim over the surface and force gel coat into the tiny pits. If this isn't the problem then we're back to cleaning the surface.

Bleach probably isn't the best product to clean the surface with, use soap (TSP works well) and water then rinse thoroughly.

A close up pic of the surface would be great

 

[HAS]

Re: New gel coat

Thinks for the help guys...........has