Gelcoat

Don't expect gel to spray like paint no matter what you add to it. Hard block wet sanding the orange peel of is the norm. Pictures??

Ed,
What equipment did you use to spray it? Ether a airless or conventional with a pressure pot? What fluid tip did you use? One recommended by Valspar?

Ed,
As long as you are using the Valspar, take a look at their gel site. They have some pretty good instructions on spraying as well as the mil. build needed.

Ed,
I'm surprised you were even able to get the gel through a gravity feed without lots of reduction to lower the viscosity. What's the Prestek? I've never heard of it and can't find anything about it. Is it a spraying additive to reduce the gel? Valspar does state not to reduce it's gel coats.

I joke with our painter daily, I told him that im putting a big excuse board on the front of the paintbooth for him....its real easy to screw up a paintjob....but what i think a close to perfect paintjob boils down to is patience

Ed,
Downsize your pictures so they will fit on site. You can use one of the web photo site to do it if you don't have the program. Everyone would love to see the results.

pbrainard@shalestamping.com

How to post pictures with photobucket by Randy in Ohio

Thanks for your help Pete! I guess I should've made them a little smaller, but they will worl for now.

I had it all powder coated. A friend of mine hooked me up.

Ed, no mention of Goody Bag
You better get that Garage cleaned out and get both those girls in there

As I said before--- Great Job! And keep sending those pics .

Thanks Marty!! I did forget to mention that goodie bag, but I haven't forgotten it!! I need to get that trailer done so that I can put those nice ID tags and stickers on!

Brian,
I forgot to mention, I've got about two full days of sanding into it, and about six hours of spraying the gelcoat(after my mistake and some beers in-between of course). If I were to do it over again, I would've sprayed a couple of gallons of polyester primer and then the gel. That was the reccomendation that I didn't follow. I think that the primer runs about $65 per gallon. Also, Prestec is an additive that really simplifies the process. If you cant find Prestek, Duratek(i think that's the correct spelling)is the same thing. Have it mixed 50/50 with the gelcoat and spray it. One gallon covers about 84 square feet, you will ant to get it 20 - 30 mils thick. Anything over 30 will make it brittle. Two gallons should give you the coverage that you need. Also, i can give you the make and model of the gun I bought, it's very simple to use. One thing also that I learned is that you don't want to use a sweeping motion when you are spraying. Like you'll hear people say, it is definitely not like spraying paint. You want to keep your arm straight, maintain the same motion throughout, and keep your finger on the triger until you are done with the area of application. Sweeping will create a heavier than normal orange peel. If all goes well, you should get almost a walk away finish. Go straight to 1000 grit wet sanding and 3M finess it pollish(or a medium cut of some sort) 24 hours later.

Ed wrote: I ended up buying a gravity feed gelcoat gun with a 2.5mm nozzel for $94.00.

And I'd like to know where you got the gun Ed. Your boat is really turning out great,the finish is increadable.

Gary,
i got the gun from Sher-Fab in Ontario Ca. whith the gelcoat. Thanks for the compliment!

Michael,
You know, I'm not a paint and body guy either, I did screw this thing up the first time. I then asked quite a few questions and didn't retry until I felt confident that I could do the job, and it worked out well! I did read that you will want to shoot metal flake with a larger tip, like a 3.5mm, and I think that would be on your last pass as well. If you're looking for a gun to do the job, GS makes both of the guns that I have.

Yea Gary, I can't get on there either. I've got the phone number if anyone wants it.