TOPIC: What a great tutorial on Fiberglass repair - a few

I've started reading the Fiberglass repair tutorials by Jamil, and finished the "Refinishing" section. What great information he's shared!

It helps me a lot, but I have a few problems I'm not sure how to handle. I can guess and try, but some of you may have some good pointers to keep me out of so much trouble.

Several of the boats I plan to rebuild have problems far worse than most. Second, I can't use the paints that would be best due to allergies. Anything that uses a hardener or activator, which includes AlwGrip and modern car finishes just about kill me. I suspect with repeated exposure, they would.

So, contrary to Jamil's recommendations, if I'm going to do it, it'll have to be gelcoat. I have used gelcoat some, doing some smaller repairs and building some propane lockers for my sailboat from scratch. The lockers (attached picture) were built from the inside out, starting with glass inside a mold made of formica, then gelcoated with a roller, numerous coats, then sanded and polished. They came out ok, and have lasted over 10 years and held up well.

Now to the current boats. The Falls Flyer (another attached picture I recently got has thin and crazed gelcoat. I suspect I'll end up down to the glass in most places before I get rid of all the imperfections. It also needs 2 small repairs. My plan is to roll, or spray gelcoat until I've built up a thick enough coat to sand and polish using the methods outlined in the tutorials and similar to the lockers I built. Thoughts or comments?

Second boat is a Commando Cobra. (another attached picture) The problem is this boat has nearly no gelcoat. The top deck is just exposed cloth, with all the course surface of the cloth exposed. Just rolling on gelcoat would probably not hold up. I'm thinking of a good pressure washing, cleaning with acetone, then rolling on a coat of regular polyester resin to fill in some of the lost material, then sanding and gelcoating. Possibly adding a layer of mat and resin on the inside to regain some of the strength that has probably been lost. It is so course on the top that it will have to have something added to bring back a surface to work with.

Thoughts or comments on this one?

Without fully understanding the nature of your sensitivity to catalysts, I don't want to steer you wrong or put you in any kind of danger. With that said, I trust you'll be making the executive decision on what will or will not kill you.

A few points that may come into play in your search for the appropriate finish:

1. Gelcoat is also catalyzed. It's catalyzed with MEKP (but you already know that)

2. Awl-craft is another variation of LPU, but it's polyester based and is chemically similar to (but not the same as,) gelcoat. If you prefer the ease of a paint finish. It might be worthwhile to call Awl-Grip North America's technical support line to find out if it would be harmful to you in the same way Awl-Grip is.

3. Single part Polyurethanes (Brightside, Toplac, etc...) aren't catalyzed. They are ready to use right out of the can (with proper thinning). So that may be an option. They don't however, age as well as two-part paints.

4. The Cobra will still need a mechanical bond to any subsequent finish. Pressure washing and wiping down with acetone just doesn't provide enough "tooth" for a topcoat. You should plan on sanding the entire surface with 80-120 grit first.

I hope this helps.

Jamil

I can use gelcoat and polyester resin with no problem, so the Awl-craft might be an answer. I can use polyester based auto filler-primer and 2 part epoxy primers, just not the paint with hardners or activators.

I've tried Britesides on another boat, but as you mention, it looked pretty good for a year or two, but has faded since.

The cobra right now is similar to woven roving on top, so it needs more than a mechanical bond - I've got to rebuild the surface some way.

I guess I'm faced with the same things whether I paint or gelcoat, it must have a good surface rebuilt regardless. I'm wondering if gelcoat would serve as the surface rebuilder even if I paint, similar to the way the polyester filler-primers would be used on a car over rusted surfaces?

Got to call Awlgrip and quiz them.

Thanks.