"Save The Manatee "

[Woodonglass]

Xylene works great dissolving epoxy...not sure about gelcoat??? I don't THINK it's advisable but not sure.:noidea:

 

[sphelps]

Did a test with some old gell I had ... xylene does not cut it very well at all ... So now we know ..
Had a roller handy so I rolled out a layer on the transom .. Of course it had a heavy texture from the roller .. So I grabbed a bondo spreader while still wet and used it to slick it down .. Other than a bugger pull line or two it slicked down pretty well .. I,m thinking if someone that did not have the means for spraying they could do a half decent job doing it that way ... Maybe roll the first few coats on then slick it down on the last coat ... Gunna need to sand it and buff anyway but it may cut the sanding down some ..

 

[gm280]

Any one ever try xylene to cut poly resin ? I have a gallon laying around and thought I might use it for cleaning the gun after the gell .. Along with the acetone ...
Woody I do remember you being a little on the miffed side after those drips !
Gm . I think the plastic may melt if I were to bake them in the oven ..

And on a sad note . We also had to lay to rest a co-worker today.. "Dean" finally lost his battle with cancer ..
He was a great father ,grandfather , and friend .....

I have no idea if Xylene would work or hurt the material in the gun. I'd be careful and use caution.

As for the plastic water fiolters, they won't melt if you use the warm setting. My filters are metal and plastic and they done melt. :noidea:

And sorry to here about your lost of a friend. I actually had my neighbor, that live directly across the street from me, die last week. He was a very good person and cancer took him fast as well.

 

[Decker83]

Sorry for your loss Sam..

The only thing I have use​d is the acetone..

The gel coat will sand a lot easier than the patch work.. Did most of mine by hand..

Just get that gun out and start spraying..​

 

[sphelps]

The deed is done ..... 3 coats of gell and 2 coats pva ... Hope it thick enough ... I'm tired and my back is killing me !
Good thing is I managed to keep from ruining the gun .... How in the heck do you clean pva ... I shot it with the ol purple people eater ..Acetone doesn't disolve the stuff ... :noidea:
Heading to bed now it's been a long day ..

 

[super_dork]

A quick googling says water is the only thing you need to clean up PVA.

 

[jbcurt00]

Sorry to hear about your friends passing.

I bet you're beat. Looking forward to the pix

 

[archbuilder]

Sorry to hear about your friend Sam. Glad to hear you shot the gel, looking forward to seeing the results!

 

[gm280]

Okay Sam, once you get some rest, we need pictures! :thumb:

 

[sphelps]

Here is a couple of pics ..

Plenty of OP but that was expected ... I thinned with styrene at around 5.5 % .. Was hoping for a bit more volume at the gun but I didn't want to thin too much ..
I had to mix small batches at a little over 1% mekp .. 350 ml was all I could spray without taking any chances of it kicking in the gun . 77 deg temps and a bit humid ..

 

[sphelps]

Another one ..

 

[jbcurt00]

Looks great Sam

 

[archbuilder]

I second the looks great! What technique did you end up using?

 

[Corjen1]

Awesome!! I agree, looks GREAT!!

 

[nurseman]

Nice job there Sam! I'm gonna keep that bondo spreader idea in the back of my mind, just in case I go totally mental and do another boat...(I probably will!)

 

[sphelps]

Thanks everyone ! No special technique .. Just mix and spray and clean and mix and spray and clean over and over again ..
I washed the pva off and tried a little sanding .. Dry sanding would gum a little . Wet sanding was ok without gumming the paper . I think it still may need to cure longer . I finished spraying pretty late and it got pretty cool last night and today ..

 

[Decker83]

Looks great Sam.. It's not as hard to spray as you may have thought..(LOL) It's a lot of work spraying 3 coats of gel.. I was so tried when I finished mine, I could hardly breath..Leave the PVA on and leave the hull in the sun if you can..
Remove the PVA with warm water before sanding.. My PVA peeled off in a lot of places..
I ​didn't have any problems sanding mine..

 

[Woodonglass]

How thick would you "guess-ti-mate" it to be??? It looks "SAMTASTIC"!!!!!:bounce:

 

[sphelps]

I have already washed the pva off ... Would it do any good to spray it on again ? I will need to put it back on the flat trailer to move . Its up on blocks right now ..
Thickness idk 15/20 mils maybe .

 

[gm280]

WOW Sam, I have to admit, I am a little jealous. I haven't done much on my boat because of other things cropping up. You know, life things that has to be done NOW! But it does look nice and ready for stage two...sanding! Keep them pictures flowing. I haven't made the final decision yet as to how to finish my hull. :decision: