help w/ my colored gelcoat

[ARRIVI]

I repainted my boat with yellow tinted gelcoat.( I tinted white gelcoat gallons) I thinnered it with 20% styrene, and spray gunned 4 shoots before sanding and finishing( yes I used wax ). For some reason the color faded away 2 weeks later. could anyone give me a hand on this?

THANKS

P.D. I already posted this on desing section

[the1much]

try in a small spot,,and add WAY more tint. when you tint that much gel at a time,, the color looks deeper and richer then it looks when its in a thin layer
( compared to it in a gallon jug). sometimes its easier to tell if you drip a couple drops on your boat ( before adding kicker heh ) and look at the droplet,, then wipe with your finger and look at the "thin" parts and thats what it should look like when sprayed.
or,,,,,,,,i could be totally wrong

[ARRIVI]

Well , I will try this anyway. Actually the color faded unevenly ; it has white spots and stripes (just like a tiger !!) When I painted it the first time it did has solid yellow color, but like I said it started to fade and now it looks desastrous. Someone suggested that I shuldnt use Styrene as thinner because it burns color when gelcoat cures. I dont know what`s the answer..

thanks for your time.!

[ondarvr]

What type of tint (pigment) did you use? Pigments for paints and gel coat can be different and yellows can be tricky.

20% styrene is very high and for the most part styrene is not recommended to be used to thin gel coat, although in small amounts it won't do much harm. Styrene does not weather well, is less water resistant, will turn yellow or dark, lose it's gloss, wear away sooner and be less crack resistant, so adding it to gel coat is not a good idea. Gel coat is formulated with styrene and can be from 30 to almost 50 percent styrene, but that doesn't mean adding more is good.

Did you add wax to each coat you applied? If you did that may be the problem. The wax comes to the surface of the gel coat after you spray it and if you allow it to cure before applying the next coat, then after sanding you will see the lines between each layer as a white or lighter streak. Also if you added more styrene to one batch than you did another, they can be different colors.

Porosity can also lead to color change.

Not sanding and buffing the surface correctly can lead to quick color changes also. The oils and water in some buffing compounds tend to hide many of the sanding scratches and other surface imperfections, as the oils or water evaporate, the surface will become less glossy and the color will look different and become blotchy.

[ARRIVI]

well, the pigment I used was formulated for the gelcoat I sprayed (FERRUM gelcoat and FERRUM tint) , but I did use wax on each coat ???. I hope that this could have caused the fault. On the other hand , what else could I use to thin gelcoat ?. I will definetly have to thin gelcoat to spray it.

thanks for your time.

[tinhorn]

My old gelcoat setup was kind of primitive. I used a standard paint pressure pot, and a spray gun for PRIMER, not for paint. Primer guns have a larger orifice, and no thinning was needed.

[the1much]

you change your nozzle orifice,you can use the same gun,just get a smaller nozzle for paint