Gel Coat cure time before sanding???

[HotDogz]

Gel coated the bottom of my Nordic last night and used a curing agent in the gel. The gel is hard but want to make sure how long I should let it sit before I attempt to start sanding it down. It is a little thin in some spots and would like to sand it down a little and go for a second coat.

[FOURQ]

Gel coated the bottom of my Nordic last night and used a curing agent in the gel. The gel is hard but want to make sure how long I should let it sit before I attempt to start sanding it down. It is a little thin in some spots and would like to sand it down a little and go for a second coat.
if your going to respray it then hit it with some 80 and start again. after you respray it I would wait around 48 hours to sand it . when you do add a little bit of liquid dish soap to the water it makes sanding a little easyer.

[Xlration Marine]

If you plan on shooting it several times I wouldn't add anything to the gell. Or else you will be sanding the whole thing just to get rid of it to add more to sand to get rid of it to add more gell.

[HotDogz]

Thanks for the reply guys...
Laid it down yesterday evening thinking I could do it all in one shot, but after looking at it today, it was obvious it would need another layer in some spots. (This is my first attempt at gelcoating) This time I will make sure to lay it down with enough light to see what I am doing.
XM.. Yea I think your right, on the rest of the boat, will lay down a layer with no curing agent first and then come back and hit it with another coat with the agent in it. Looks like it should be good with just 2 coats and last through the cut and polish process.
By the way...my hat is off to anyone who does this for a living! Definitely is an art and not for the faint of heart! Will post pics of newbies attempt at a resto when I am done.

[Xlration Marine]

Yea if you put an agent in it like wax it will come to the surface to cure. Thats all fine and dandy, but if you have to shoot more it will not stick do to that cure agent. So you well need to take it off before you can shoot more gel on. It's best to put it in the last coat, and then your ready for sanding. Yes soapy water and foam sanding blocks work the best. Good luck to you.

[FOURQ]

food for thought if you put wax or surfacing agent in white it will turn yellow ofter being in the sun, best to use PVA on white....

[BrendellaJet]

another thing i learned when spraying is to give adequate time between coats. If you dont you can have a solvent popping problem and there isn't any easy way to fix that(unless you are spraying white.)

[HotDogz]

Figure I'll wait 48 hours before I start sanding for the second coat.
Excited to see the bottom of the boat one uniform color now. Gettin close to bein done.

[Goad]

I am about to gel my boat.....I have been posting on this board (http://www.fibreglast.com/VBulletin/...ead.php?t=4974) and getting different answers.....if anyone has any objections/suggestions/additions to the advice given there, please let me know. The direction of the thread starts to take place well at page 3. The first 2 pages is more of me getting lost in too much information.
I was told to sand after a few hours of spraying so it wont be so hard to sand....so 48 hours i will wait.....and thanks for the dishsoap tip.
Also, I was told to not think of your gel coat in 'coats' or 'layers'....but to just spay all coats at once so you get a chemical bonded thick layer, rather then a bunch of thin layers.
hotdogz, post up some pictures. Also, what curing agent are you using? Something like duratech?

[BrendellaJet]

I am about to gel my boat.....I have been posting on this board (http://www.fibreglast.com/VBulletin/...ead.php?t=4974) and getting different answers.....if anyone has any objections/suggestions/additions to the advice given there, please let me know. The direction of the thread starts to take place well at page 3. The first 2 pages is more of me getting lost in too much information.
I was told to sand after a few hours of spraying so it wont be so hard to sand....so 48 hours i will wait.....and thanks for the dishsoap tip.
Also, I was told to not think of your gel coat in 'coats' or 'layers'....but to just spay all coats at once so you get a chemical bonded thick layer, rather then a bunch of thin layers.
hotdogz, post up some pictures. Also, what curing agent are you using? Something like duratech?
While not a pro, I learned some things having gone through this process:
Dont spray all coats at once per say, especially if you are thinning it. You need to give the solvents time to evaporate, if you dont they get trapped and when you go to polish the compound fills the pin holes created by trapped solvents, leaving white specks EVERYWHERE. Spray your coats 1 at a time and allow 15-20 mins for the solvents to disipate.
Gel in a well ventilated area. This is very important. If you can rent a paint booth that would be awesome. If you are doing it in your garage, take a few days to prep it before spraying.
I would definitely go with the duratec. After having used the PVA, duratec just seems like such a better product. Im not sure if the duratec can be used in place of the PVA or wax...One of the pros will advise.
Practice first. If you want you can even try to spray the bow of your boat. Play with your gun settings and get it to flow as best as you can. Do the whole process fromstart to finish and learn on a small area all the headaches you may encounter.
Keep your gun clean. This is critical. You cant spray more than a cup at a time in my experience without the gel starting to kick inside the gun. spray a cup at a time. While you let the solvents evaporate, run some acetone through your gun. You can even take it apart to make sure you get all the gel out. Make sure after getting your gun set up you know how to get it back to the ideal setup if you are taking it apart, that will help keep the results consistent.