Gel coat, paint, or just Polish?
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9363
Printed Date: September-28-2024 at 11:42pm
Topic: Gel coat, paint, or just Polish?
Posted By: timsdayoff
Subject: Gel coat, paint, or just Polish?
Date Posted: January-07-2008 at 11:44pm
I've been watching this forum for awhile and it is great. I can't thank you guys enough for all the info I've used on my 87" 2001. I'm now ready to start on the outside of the hull. I'm not sure if a heavy duty polishing will do the trick or if I need to get into renewing the Gel coat, Clear coat or Paint. Any suggestions would help. The boat sat in the water for 8 months and now has a rough/sandy finish to the lower part of the hull and bottom.
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Tim, born skiing in MN, now skis Vegas
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Replies:
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: January-08-2008 at 7:30am
Tim, We always like to greet people to the site so from all of us, welcome. You will find the answers hear!
Try to restore the original gel first and see how it turns out. It's a lot cheaper and easier than the alternate of ether paint or new gel. If it doesn't work, I try to encourage new gel first but it is expensive and requires lots of man hours. Paints have come a long way with the advent of the linear polyurethanes but the bottom line is it is still paint and you need to treat them as such. As a wood boat owner, I'm verry familiar with the care and maintenance needed on paint.
There are a couple great threads on buffing/wet sanding gel coats back to original. I will do a search and see if I can provide a link.
How about some pictures and some more background about the boat?
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4721&KW=buffing+gel+coat - buffing gel
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8902&KW=buffing+gel+coat - another buffing thread
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/diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow -
54 Atom
/diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique
64 X55 Dunphy
Keep it original, Pete
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Posted By: timsdayoff
Date Posted: January-09-2008 at 3:45pm
Great info in those two threads...I've started using a 3M product and it is doing a better job than I thought possible. I am concerned about a few spider cracks in the side of the hull. I'm not sure if they require the gel coat to be replaced. Once I get my camera set up I'll get some pics up.
My boat is a 1987 2001, I am the 2nd owner. I've had it for 11 years. I always had treated it like my baby. I left it for 2 years with cousins while I was traveling so much I couldn't use it. They let it sit in water for a year, never took care of it. Now I have it back and it's time to restore.
Thanks for the kind welcome to the group.
Tim
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Tim, born skiing in MN, now skis Vegas
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Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: January-09-2008 at 3:49pm
Ive heard before that CC had gelcoat issues in '87. The cracks are only a cosmetic issue- that is unless they were caused by structural issues underneath (rotten stringers, floor/hull seperation, hull/stringer seperation, etc).
Wetsanding the gel will make the cracks less obvious. Youre talking $$$ to have them professionally repaired. The real issue is determining if you need to tear into the floor to repair any underlying damage.
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Posted By: MaddMarxx
Date Posted: January-10-2008 at 3:09am
what color is the hull and stripe, I hope its not maroon, but most likey it is, it seems like most 87s where that color, I have buffed out a bunch of them, it may have to be wet sanded!
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Posted By: gn6027
Date Posted: January-10-2008 at 8:17pm
Tim, let's see pics of your '87. You can check mine out from my link in my signature below.
I have a spider crack in the side right in the middle of the 2001 decal on the starboard side. It doesn't look the greatest, but I'm not ready to eager to destroy my decals to try to fix it.
Glen
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GN6027
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=2562 - 1987 Ski Nautique 2001
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Posted By: timsdayoff
Date Posted: January-11-2008 at 8:40pm
My 87 is royal blue. I can feel these spider cracks. If I dug my finger nails into them I could maybe peel them open. I'll get some pics loaded up next week.
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Tim, born skiing in MN, now skis Vegas
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