gel coat?

i purchased 86' silver nautique last year for cheap knowing all of the black gel was going to need to be re done.the boat has severe cracking/peeling/blistering below waterline.i have had major gel/glass work done in the past and know its not cheap.the glass guy is telling me that due to the severe osmosis in the bottom he is going to have to cut 1/8"of glass out of bottom and re-lay w/vynelester resin.this is going to probably put this project beyond my budget and worth of this boat.has anyone encountered this problem and resolved it in a less expensive manner?

Brian, if you decide to sell, check the Orlando Craigslist listings under boats. There is a guy desperately seeking to buy a Silver right now.

bbishop1974 wrote: has anyone encountered this problem and resolved it in a less expensive manner?

Sounds like a good candidate for paint . . . sorry Pete!

bbishop1974 wrote: hi pete,i was hoping for your input.have you ever gone through the process?could a inexperienced restorer pull it off?meaning myself,thanks

Brian,
I have not had to go that far but a close friend up north does. I've see what he has had to go through!!! Here on site, the last person who did it was Gary (farmer). That side tracked into a thread on his modification to make a tool to cut down the old gel.

The last time I went looking for his re gel thread, he had removed all the pictures from Photobucket!

iam really torn on this one.sounds like about $9k to have bottom professionally done .at this point i would consider selling if anyone was intersted or if someone would like share their experience if they have gone through this process feel free to email me bbishop1974@hotmail.com

wakeboardin2k4 wrote: Rookie question....why can't you gel over osmosis?

Eric,
You can but it's hard to be sure there still isn't moisture in the resin that caused the problem the first time. The blisters may come back in the same and or different spots. It has happened with "quick and dirty" gel repairs.

wakeboardin2k4 wrote: Thanks Pete! My next question is what is to be done about gelcoat that cracks on the deck of a boat before spraying new gel? Will those same cracks come back?

Eric,
The glass below the gel is the structure of the hull and needs repair before new gel goes down. The cracks would come back. They must be routed out and filled. A epoxy fill is best. Depending on the area and the size of the stress crack, reinforcement on the bottom side of the deck may be needed. After the epoxy fill of the routed out areas, then a polyvinyl must be put down before the gel. The gel (polyester) won't stick to epoxy but a polyvinyl will and in turn the gel will stick to it.

JoeinNY wrote:     Story of my life lately all very labor intensive

Joe,
So now we do know you've been working on something!! You're keeping very quite on it though! When's the big surprise?

Brian, I just saw that you listed the boat for sale on CL. Shoot me an email if you dont mind- Im curious how bad the gel is: TRBenj@gmail.com

Flip that old girl over and break out the belt sander

bbishop1974 wrote: doing a little research and cant find anything about gel coat cutter.sounds like sandblasting could be a option.any opinoins on that?

I too will need to do gel coat removal on my boat. The 2 tools that I have found are:
Gelplane some were around $2,000
Paint Shaver   $800-600 but have found several used ones for around $400-350

The Gelplane is awesome works well on contours.
The Paint Shaver is an angle grinder with a carbide tool holder; it looks like it would work well on flat surfaces but contours would be difficult.
Both have what I feel is the most important feature chip / dust collection built right in to the unit. Hooks up to a shop vac.

I found a Paint shaver locally used. The seller said he would meet me that would be great I would like to try it before I buy it if he is ok with it.(on my little speed boat project)
Oh if searching use "gelcoat peeler"

wakeboardin2k4 wrote: Willing to rent it after you're done!!

Yes,But not sure how much of a time saver it will be for my application.

But after grinding on my boat there has to be a better way.I think a planner style machine like the Gelplane or the Paint Shaver is the only safe economical solution.I would like to restore more boats in the future and one of these types of tools would make it much more enjoyable.
I would like to find out about this tool that someone was trying to make...

bbishop1974 wrote: definitly would like to find a peeler.

bbishop1974 wrote: i ran it for last 3 weeks and quarter size peices popped off everywhere[hundreds]

bbishop1974 wrote: less expensive manner?

keep skiing!

now iam thinking of keeping it and doing the whole thing myself.i took 4 pages of notes on tim's bfn rebuild and joe's sn.i want to go all composite.as for ripping now,the stringers are rotted and i dont want to push it,i got the 05' for daily abuse.