Gel Coat

I/we decided to try my hand at a bottom job on my daughter's H16. One of the first things I/we learned is Gel Coat is REALLLLLYYYYYYYY STICKY STUF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not get it on your hands hehehehehehe. The next thing I learned, is it does not wash of like paint. You almost have to have running acetone to really get it off. Other than that, it is not that bad to work with. We will do her hulls in a bright red this winter, for right now, we are just going to do a nice bottom job with white and leave it at that.

Anyway, just thought I would let all you folks that want to try it but are not sure, go ahead just use rubber gloves and have fun. BTW, we are going to finishe the job with some of the little 3" foam rollers, and a lot of sand paper.

Hope you all had fun on the water this weekend. We will be at the lake from Thursday night untill Monday evening.

Sam and Meagan

There's a reason why Hobie doesn't make red boats anymore - they fade in the sun. Without protection, a red boat left out in the weather will be pink in a couple of years.

Sam,

Another option might be to apply a killer red vinyl graphic onto your white hulls rather than gel coating them both with a 3â€

Dennis,

My daughter came up with that idea just a few hours ago. Great minds sail alike.

As for PVA, DO NOT RUN OUT!!!!!!! Saran rap is a Major Paran in the app!! You know what I mean.

We will have lots of sanding do to when we get back from the lake this weekend.

Sam

Mix the Gel with Duratec clear additive. You'll be very happy with the results. It cures harder faster...even without PVA.

_________________
Sail Revolution
Join us on our new FB Page!

Jeremy,

I will check with the local boat shop to see if they carry Duratec. As far as the PVA goes, it works well if you let the Gel Coat setup just a bit before you spray it on.

Being as how we are doing this by hand, we also discovered that you really need to clean out the spray bottle nozzle before you try to mist the PVA or else you end up with a strong stream which messes up the finish.

As with most of my projects, just about the time I get done, I will have learned all the tricks, probably never to be used again.

I Suspose I can always share the information.

Sam