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.

[Entourage]

Looks very nice. I think im going to try styrene instead patch aid.

[Bryan A.]

Looks great.

Looks like you moved the wheel and throttle around. How did that work out. I need to do the same, but would like to keep the "glove" box just as you did.

What size wheel did you use?