Gelcoat Spraying Experience

[Normagain]

I just thought I would share my gelcoat spraying experience. Id heard that it was pretty difficult and admittedly, I did take one shortcut by using wax added gelcoat from Jamestown Distributors. I did not do the recommended non wax coat, and then wax added coats. Here are some before during and after photos. I sprayed all coats before the previous coat was fully dry thinking that it would help with adhesion problems with wax coming to the surface. It seems to be holding up really well going into a year come March.

I used a cheapie Harbor Freight HLPV gun, the one with the largest aperture tip and thinned with Styrene. If anyone wants thinned amounts I am sure I could look it up. The compressor was a Craftsman Professional 25 gallon which kept up well enough to go through a full 20oz cup. Sanded with wet sandpaper by hand, 400, 600, 800, 1200 grit and then power buffed with marine rubbing compound. It only took maybe an hour and a half to fully sand and buff each, not bad at all actually!

[Normagain]

Here is a pic showing the fairly close but not quite color match using the Jamestown creme colored gelcoat, no additional color added.

[martin]

Looking Good...

[kmoose]

Yep, it looks real good. The color looks like a common "Misty White".

[Entourage]

That second photo was after you hit it with the wet sand paper? Looks like some orange peel still in there. Or was that after you sprayed it and that last photo is the finished product?

[Normagain]

The second photo of the bait tank is right after the final spray and before sanding. The one below is before spraying. This tank had a worn coat of paint and it looked pretty bad but the price was right. I sanded all that off down to gel coat, the most difficult part of the process!

[Normagain]

I forgot to mention. I sprayed three 20oz cups on the tank and the same on the console, over coating until each 20oz cup was empty. That seemed to given plenty of thickness for sanding. You definitely want a good respirator and full tyvek suit when doing this, even working outside with a very slight breeze! When I did the tank, gnats swarmed out of nowhere and got on the final coat. Gnats must like styrene.

[Normagain]

For Entourage,
Here is the tank installed.

[verch]

I'm in the process of prepping my entire topside including CC for a fresh topcoat. So far, I've taken a dremil tool and traced out all of the spider cracks, pulled off all hardware and rubrail and sanded with 180 grit. Today I plan to fill all of the voids with Jamestown THIXO two part self mixing thickened epoxy from a caulking tube. The product gets great reviews so I'm anxious to see how it works. I've been debating on what to spray the topside with. I have a few friends in the paint and body business and they all tell me to use a high grade automotive paint. Another friend owns a PPG store and he suggested the same. I'm supposed to visit him this week to look at his product. Why don't anybody use automotive grade finishes for their topside? I'd prefer gel coat but not sure about the finish time and difficulties with application. All of your advice would be beneficial to me as this really is new territory to me.

Thanks,
David