paint and gelcoat questions

[INEEDAV]

I am trying to clean up the boat while I am waiting to get to work on the engine. I am trying to repair a couple small gelcoat chips. Where is the best place to order the materials to fix the gelcoat. Also any advice on repairing the gelcoat would be appreciated.
I am also trying to repair some paint checking all across the deck. I am currently wetsanding starting with 600 then 1200, and then moving on to using rubbing compund to polish it up. The problem is that in some areas the checking is deeper than the top layer of paint. :mad: Anyone have any ideas on how to get these at least semi-hidden until I can get the boat painted next winter?:idea:
Billy

[Fiat48]

Help Billy out with this. :confused:

[SANGER-RICH]

Originally posted by INEEDAV
I am trying to clean up the boat while I am waiting to get to work on the engine. I am trying to repair a couple small gelcoat chips. Where is the best place to order the materials to fix the gelcoat. Also any advice on repairing the gelcoat would be appreciated.
I am also trying to repair some paint checking all across the deck. I am currently wetsanding starting with 600 then 1200, and then moving on to using rubbing compund to polish it up. The problem is that in some areas the checking is deeper than the top layer of paint. :mad: Anyone have any ideas on how to get these at least semi-hidden until I can get the boat painted next winter?:idea:
Billy
Do you have pictures of the spots in question????:cool:

[INEEDAV]

http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/169000_0281.JPG
It is mostly like in this picture. There is also some in the areas of paint that fade from charcoal grey to black. On most of that I have sanded about as far as I can without screwing up the color scheme, I will probably go ahead and sacrifice some of the scheme on the front of the deck where the checking is the worst. Some of the checking has been sanded out that was in this picture, some of it is just too deep to get out with out sanding down to the base coat. I appreciate any help you all can give me.
:)

[Jr. bentpipes]

Call Billy B, and get that thing painted,set your motor in and move to the west coast!!! so you can run it!!:)

[SANGER-RICH]

Originally posted by INEEDAV
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/169000_0281.JPG
It is mostly like in this picture. There is also some in the areas of paint that fade from charcoal grey to black. On most of that I have sanded about as far as I can without screwing up the color scheme, I will probably go ahead and sacrifice some of the scheme on the front of the deck where the checking is the worst. Some of the checking has been sanded out that was in this picture, some of it is just too deep to get out with out sanding down to the base coat. I appreciate any help you all can give me.
:)
Unfortunatly the ctacks go into the base coat, It would be a waste to pur good material over the bad that is on it. It should be striped down below the cracks and start over, matereials are way to expensive now of days to do patch work on paint that bad. Try taking some wax and grease remover and see if you can get the wax out the cracks, if so and clear lacquer is available in your are it is alot cheaper than the urathaine clears here in CA, you might be able to re-clear over it and hide most of it for a while. My 2 cents worth. Rich

[Kurtis500]

The deck on my Hondo looked like that in 95 when I repainted it. I ground the area down below the cracks and re-laid fiberglass. Then sanded everything back to original shape and painted. No roblems, but a lot of work.

[INEEDAV]

Jr Bent Pipes that sound like a great idea, getting my wife convinced of that may be a little tough. I can run the boat here, as soon as the 16 inches of ice thaws on 11 Mile resevoir. :D
Sanger Rich ; Repainting is in the plans for next winter, but I dont have the funds to build a motor right now and paint it too. I may try to see what I can do anout getting the wax out of the cracks and clear coating it. That may get me by till next winter. I have some clear coat left over from a repair on my truck, that may work, if not I should be able to get some here, there are several paint supply houses in Colorado Springs. If I cant get it out good enough I will just have to build it so it runs along fast enough you can't see the paint flaws.:)
Thanks for the advice, if someone has some more or different advice let me know, I am open to any and all ideas.
Billy

[78Eliminator]

Run it ugly!!! Dial it in this Summer and pull it apart next Winter to paint it. At least, those are my plans. My Sanger's paint is beautiful, but it has a lot of stress cracks that need attention. I am going to repaint it very similar to what is there now, but in the mean time I am going to run the hell out of it.
Justin

[INEEDAV]

78
If it was time to get it on the water, that is exactly what I would do. I have a few extra days a week to find something to occupy, so this is what I am doing. Just trying to get by.
Billy

[78Eliminator]

I hear ya. Let us know how it turns out and shoot some shots after you clear coat it, if that's what you end up doing. I know NOTHING about painting. Keep us posted. :D

[BILLY.B]

No matter what you do now you'll never be satisfied. You wouldn't put a band-aid on a broken arm right?. What i'm getting at is if you try and re-clear what you have it will only add to the problem when you go to re-paint (more material to remove). Is there paint under the exsisting paint job or is there gel-coat?. My suggestion is to live with what you have at the moment and save the money you'd spend trying to cover up the problem and put it towards the new paint job. Your going to have to completely remove all the cracked paint before anything of quality can be done, anything else will just be a waste of time. If you have any other questions i'd be happy to help you out.

[INEEDAV]

Billy B.
Looks like the entire boat is black gelcoat with paint over it. I agree that I wouldn't put a band aid on a broken arm, just wanted to make it look a little better till I can get it painted. I guess I can try to get out what I can and leave the rest alone. Only bad thing about waxxing it is it leaves the wax in the cracks, any ideas on that?
Billy

[Jr. bentpipes]

INEEDAV, I have lived in CO. Craig to be exact, you definately have a few extra weeks on your hands, I would agree with Billy & 78 elim, get the performance out of her and then paint it, depending on what your after there might be a lot of hours leaning over the side of that thing, having an excelent paint job just adds to the scratch factor and disappointment if that sound occurs then the ten minute cuss job and all your neighbors wishing you would move!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[FlatUgly]

As the name implies, if its fast enough aint nobody gonna give u sh*t, but god damn im gonna get a lot of shit some day LOL, besides girls always dig horsepower over aestetics

[BILLY.B]

Originally posted by INEEDAV
Billy B.
Looks like the entire boat is black gelcoat with paint over it. I agree that I wouldn't put a band aid on a broken arm, just wanted to make it look a little better till I can get it painted. I guess I can try to get out what I can and leave the rest alone. Only bad thing about waxxing it is it leaves the wax in the cracks, any ideas on that?
Billy I believe Mequiars has a spray wax that won't dry white in the cracks like paste wax. Should work all right with what you have to work with.

[INEEDAV]

Thanks Billy B, I will look for it tomorrow.

[BILLY.B]

I know this will sound really stupid BUTT. If you need to get the old wax out of the paint cracks you can get some wax a grease remover and an old tooth brush or soft scrub brush and very softly scrub the area until your satisfied. Wiping of with a towel will not get into the cracks. I've tried this in the past and it does work. It's just alittle bit old fashioned.:cool:

[INEEDAV]

Thanks, I was wondering how I was going to get the old wax and rubbing compound out of the cracks. I will start on this tonight.
Thanks for the advice on the glass repair as well, it turned out good, it was just in the glass around the stringer, looks like the crack propagated from a hole through the stringer for the seat mount.
Billy

[INEEDAV]

Billy B.
The toothbrush and wax remover works well, labor intesive as all hell, but effective. A few of the deepest cracks are keeping the white in them, but most are cleanign up decent.
I am beginning to wonder if it wouldn't be easier to strip the paint off of the boat and have a black gelcoat boat for the summer.
Thanks for the tip.
Billy