no carpet

['75 Miller]

Astrong dislike for carpet compelled me to gelcoat the interior surfaces of my Miller. Sprayed it w/ an inexpensive hvlp from Fibreglast in Ohio. Has a 2.5 tip. I mixed 10 parts white to 1 part blue pigment & got fairly close to the boat's primary color. Used a diferent gun with a 1.8 tip to spray the Duratec hi gloss topcoat.
I've got the last of the clear sprayed, waiting for it to cure enough to wetsand & polish.
Here's some pics before, during, and after spraying clear.

[JAY4SPEED]

Looks good! The color is real close. I got the same gun from Fiberglast but have yet to use it, the one with the 2.5mm tip. Why did you switch to the smaller tip when spraying the Duratec? Is it because its thinner and it will run? Also, I thought you could have mixed the Duratec with the gelcoat 1:1 and sprayed it at the same time. Is there anything that you would have done different now that its done? The reason I'm asking is I will be undergoing the same project very soon. Thanks for posting up the pics, good job!
Jay

['75 Miller]

I chose to use the Duratec Topcoat because I wanted to shoot several layers of gel first basically as a primer/ sanding coat. To sand out minor imperfections and such. Also I wanted to shoot enough coats of Duratec on top of the gel to hopefully be able to sand out any future scratches without getting into the color.

['75 Miller]

I used the 2.5 gun on the 1st coat of Duratec and it seemed to put out a lot of material, even with the air adjusted way down. With the other gun on hand I gave it a shot & it worked. Honestly though, it's possible that with a little more adjusting of the gun that I could have had better results.
The Duratec is considerably thinner than the pigmented gel that I used. I thinned the gel with 5% styrene.
Anything different? Yeah, I'd be a helluva lot more careful when removing my masking. I did the stringers last and had a bunch of small black spots to sand off.

[77 Hawaiian]

That's pretty damn good looking. Not to mention the wood is even better sealed against the elements.

[n8dawg]

I'm inspired!!!!!! Looks good!

[JAY4SPEED]

Anything different? Yeah, I'd be a helluva lot more careful when removing my masking. I did the stringers last and had a bunch of small black spots to sand off.
Being that I have never gel coated before I take it that you remove the masking while the gel is still wet thats why you got the black spots on the blue?
Thanks for the advice!
Jay

['75 Miller]

Definitely pull your tape before the gel cures! The rear of my boat is stuffed against the wall of my garage. When I patched up the thru-transom exhaust holes I gelled it to match. Like a spaz I forgot to pull the tape for 8+ hours. Out of sight, out of mind I guess. Give the gel enough time (30-45 min.) to dry to where it's still tacky but no longer wet. When I gelled the stringers I pulled the tape about 45 minute after spraying. The black spots are from my blackened fingers touching the blue areas.

[bergen]

nice job, the floor in my sanger is polished, but i want to put carpet back in, the floor is to slipery when wet. just my .002 -bergen

[TRG]

Definitely pull your tape before the gel cures! The rear of my boat is stuffed against the wall of my garage. When I patched up the thru-transom exhaust holes I gelled it to match. Like a spaz I forgot to pull the tape for 8+ hours. Out of sight, out of mind I guess. Give the gel enough time (30-45 min.) to dry to where it's still tacky but no longer wet. When I gelled the stringers I pulled the tape about 45 minute after spraying. The black spots are from my blackened fingers touching the blue areas.
'75 miller
Not to be difficult, but, i usualy pull my tape after ive cleaned out my set-up, if you wait too long you will notice your edges tend to get real hard and almost pull too hard to hold a smooth line, if you pull sooner, you'll find that the dura-tec will flow much nicer as you w/sand for a finish!... never the less, you acomplished one hell of a job there, looks great!
Todd