Gel Spraying Techniques

If it were me, I would just do the following:

1. brush on thinned epoxy resin and apply heat to help if flow into any cracks.
2. Clean off blush and sand with 80 or heavier grit.
3. Apply Bondo as fairing compound. Sand ending in 120 grit.
4. Clean and apply gelcoat.

you know what they say those that fail to plan, plan to fail. I don't see you failing on your project Skibum, looks like you have had it well planned the whole way. Except wasn't this supposed to take a week. Just kidding, from all the pics and talking to Eric about my boat. I know it is a lot of work and time consuming. I hope to be brave enough to try one of these days.

Bill won't the rub rail cover up any waveyness in that area any way? the underside that is. I was looking at them the other day and alot of the vynal (sp)/rubber ones have a lip on them that would extend and cover it up. Just a thought. Your making progress and the end is in sight.

Bill:

That lip is a royal pain to sand. What is your plan to terminate the fairing compound and gel coat at the joint sealant? Personally, I avoided covering the sealant with boat. This required that I dig out most of the sealant and spent considerable time trying to clean the area of the silicon...not easy and I am sure not very effective ultimately. Still, I ended up without gelcoat covering sealant that I was afraid would cause it to peel away.

Keep up the excellent work.

Finished grinding away all of the gelcote on the topside. Brushed, cleaned, rinsed, and used 202 for prep. Applied resin and it is cooking right now. Finished putting bondo under the lip all the way around the boat. Just need to sand that off.

Plenty of grinding left under the boat. Really wish I could have flipped it over. Would have made things much easier.

Grinded halfway on the left side. Working under the boat is not much fun at all. I wear a nomex hood, goggles, respirator, and full face shield. Use a creeper with adjustable head rest. Arms get tired quick. Even more fun is applying the resin from under the boat. Really wish I could have flipped the damn thing.

The remainder of the topside is all faired with Bondo. Just waiting for it to cure. Been working on the dash and new observer bench. Don't want to give it away yet because of the sensitivity to modifications on these boats.

Racing against time. Been tasked to fly out to Ft. Lewis for several weeks. That is several weeks of no progress.

While I was grinding the bottom of the hull today I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Appeared as though the glass was actually bubbled outward and moved inward when I applied pressure. I took off my dust covered protective gear and found out there was a problem. A big problem. I was able to grind off this entire layer of glass from the hull. Thought I had seen everything with this boat. She still has some suprises for me.



Once I pulled the bad glass off the boat I grinded through until there were no more loose strands of glass. I washed the area with clean water and an abrasive pad. Mixed up some epoxy and cut multiple pieces of 10oz E-glass. I applied the layers from smallest to a full 8" wide.

I'll just have to sand this area down a bit once it cures then fill as with the rest of the boat. Hope this is the only bad spot.

Bill, wow!! sorry to see you run into the problem. At least you found it now and not after you had gel on it. Does it look like the area was starved from resin or do you see fracturing of the glass say from impact? It's hard to see in the picture. Maybe that spot wasn't rolled out before they put in the next layer. I'm sure you checked the same spot on the other side!!

Sounds like someone in the CC molding dept. went on break then forgot where they were when they came back and continued rolling out the glass!

I always suspected previous damage to the boat in this area. I found unusual glasswork in the bilge. This confirms that extensive work was done along the keel. Usually that means a significant impact with an underwater structure at some speed. It is a solid repair. Should not be an issue at all.

One half of the bottom of the boat is grinded to the glass. I'll finish the other side tomorrow. That's my last day to work on her for a few weeks.

Thank you to David F.

Mine was bonded with 5200 or similar material. I had to wedge a 4" putty knife under the guide and eventually worked it away. Some people on the site recommend using epoxy to bond the under water gear to the hull. If that is the case it will be more difficult for you.

5200 is the way to go with the reinstall. I have used some filled epoxy with some wax paper between it and the rudder packing gland but that was just to get a smooth ever surface for later bedding with the 5200.

Finished removing all of the gelcote from bottom of the boat. Ranks right up there with a root canal on the fun meter. Once I cleaned up the mess I cranked up the heat and applied a layer of resin. Working the fairing compound on the bottom of the hull will be great fun. Still have to sand the topside. But I have to catch a plane in the morning. Be back to work on her in a few weeks.

I'm pretty sure it was 5200. It can be a problem to get off but if it can't be pryed off then you can hot wire cut it. A car battery or a HD charger hooked up to about a 12" piece of ni-chrome wire with wood handles on each side works great. .030 stainless welding wire (MIG) will work too but isn't as strong.

Getting the wire started under whatever is the only problem.