fishinfool Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 How much would it run me to put a new gel coat on my fiberglass bass boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low_Budget_Hooker Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Lots of work. This isn't somthing you do for the first time on a nice boat. Practice on a beater boat first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted July 27, 2005 Author Share Posted July 27, 2005 Sorry I didn't make myself clear, I was going to get it done at a shop somewhere. There's no way i'd have time or know-how to do this on my own. I was just wondering how much a shop would charge to do it for me on a 17' boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low_Budget_Hooker Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Honestly I couldn't tell you what they would charge but I know I would have to get at least 1500-2000 for somthing like that. Lots and lots of sanding time. But I just do projects on the side. Maybe it would be cheaper in a shop set up to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamblerOH Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 I own an auto body repair shop in West Virginia. What you are looking into is a very expensive job. If you can do any of the removal and installation of parts and accessories it will save you a lot of money. If you are even more inclined then you could also go ahead and remove the top half of the boat from the bottom half, this will also save a lot of shop time. In most boats to get the gelcoat right the carpet also has to be removed so be ready to replace it also. Most boats can get by with just recoating the top half. If you take it apart and carry just the top half to the shop you should be able to get it done for less than $1,000 not including things like carpet, fasteners and rubrails. either way you go its expensive and a lot of labor. By the way dont let someone talk you into just having it re-cleared. Clears are made for automobiles and gelcoats are made for boats. An automobile clear will not adhere to gelcoat. Pm me if youneed more info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scbassin Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 A friend of mine had a 21' Stratos done a couple of years ago for $3500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 If you're talking color and clear coat, you're talking a large chunk of change, probably 2 - 3 K$ The problem is the amount of manual labor involved. When applied as a top coat, there is no way to apply it smooth. It takes many hours of hand sanding and buffing to get it back to a glassy finish. The other problem is gel does not cure when exposed to air and has to have a sealer. There's always the risk that it may not cure and have to be stripped off and done again. Even at that, color coat is usually not going to look as good as when it's sprayed in a mold the way it's intended to be used. A much cheaper alternative is to spray it with a high quality urathane. The draw back to that is when it gets a chip, it may come off in large chunks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 How easy/big/expensive of a job would it be to spray it w/ urathane. I'm not looking to put a lot of money into this boat, its an '84 Winyah Bass Boat in great condition, once I re-wire a few things. There aren't any chips in the paint as of now but i'd like to make it shine a little more, its got that dull look to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamblerOH Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 It would be cheaper to spray it with urethane. Urethanes are made for automobiles, they are made to adhere to basecoats. Paint is made to be used as a system, for example on an automobile you would start with a DTM primer(direct to metal) then use a primer surfacer (2k urethane) and finally a sealer then basecoat and clearcoat. In order to re-clear your boat you will have to skip all of these steps except the actual clear coat. You also have to keep in mind that the boat will scratch very easily with auto clear(as easy as your car or truck)and thats when you will begin having the peeling problems Ben was talking about. I'm with you though, I would take my chances and have it recleared. That is the cheapest way to get the results youre looking for, I just wanted to warn you that theres a chance you could spend a good deal of money and still have problems with your finish,besides shiny boats dont catch more fish ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 I just realized I said urathane paint, I guess since that's what I'm spraying on my wifes 74 VW convertable I had it on the brain. I meant to say a good grade epoxy paint. Not any of them are really going to bond to that gel coat real well though. Being an 84 model boat and if it's a solid color, with no metal flake, most likely you only have gel coat with no clear coat. It that is the case, get your hands on a varialbe speed buffer with a thick wool buffing pad, one that you can get down to 1,500 - 1,800 rpm. Don't try it with a high speed one. Wet sand it good with 1,500 or 2,000 grit wet/dry paper to take all the old dull gel off the surface. Get a bottle of 3M Perfect-it II Fine cut Rubbing compound and buff it back to a nice glassy shine. If you've never used a buffer, keep it moving, don't let the outer edge hit very hard and use very light pressure around edges. This is all to keep from burning/blistering the gel. Keeping the pad slightly damp helps a bunch also. Once you get if buffed out to a nice shine, use 3M Imperial Hand Glaze for the final finish. That sucker will be so shiney, you'll need sunglasses just to look at it. You can do this even if it has metal flake and clear coat, provided the clear has not worn away and down to the metal flake. If you sand metal flake, it turns silver, it's nothing but a colored foil, and you have all these little silver specs showing. Sand it too much and you have a silver boat. If there is still a good coat of clear even it there are some thin spots, just be careful in those areas, it will buff out and polish up to look like new moneyl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted August 1, 2005 Author Share Posted August 1, 2005 does it do any good just to put some marine wax on it? besides protecting whats already on it, will that make it shine up any? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 Most waxes are short term. They will usually make it shine but in a few weeks, it's back to looking like it did when you started. There are some polymers that will last longer but nothing I know of that's going to last all summer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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