Fiberglass canoe paint or gel-coat on budget

[JTF]

You will need to use 2% wax in styrene of your gel coat weight. As a rule every kg of gel coat ad 20 ml wax in styrene. If you need to thin the gel coat use up to 4% styrene.

[joescarab]

Hey ive been reading some of the stuff people have been telling you to do alot of it sounds crazy. I have been rebuilding a 30ft scarab a complete rebuild. I have been getting alot of help from Danny at fiberglass supply depot he really knows what hes doing. Also they have really good prices on materials. Gelcoat will run you around 50 bucks a gallon and they carry cook gelcoat so its really nice thick gelcoat not the cheap stuff. It covers 1 coat around 100 sqft. I would sand everything down fill everything then gelcoat it. If you have axcess to a cheap spray gun they have a product there called duratec its a high gloss additive and you mix it 50/50 with your gelcoat to shoot it and it comes out really shiny and nice. Do not thin your gelcoat with styrene or any other product it is the old school way of doing things and you will ruin the integritiy of the gelcoat and later on your gelcoat will become chaulky and will have no shine. Give Danny a call at the store hes always willing to help people with there projects there # to the store is 772-464-0808 and i believe they have a website also you can order materials fiberglasssupplydepot.com. Let me know if you have any ?s about my project or anything ide be glad to share what danny has taught me. I will be posting my rebuild soon.

[ondarvr]

Originally Posted by joescarab

Hey ive been reading some of the stuff people have been telling you to do alot of it sounds crazy. I have been rebuilding a 30ft scarab a complete rebuild. I have been getting alot of help from Danny at fiberglass supply depot he really knows what hes doing. Also they have really good prices on materials. Gelcoat will run you around 50 bucks a gallon and they carry cook gelcoat so its really nice thick gelcoat not the cheap stuff. It covers 1 coat around 100 sqft. I would sand everything down fill everything then gelcoat it. If you have axcess to a cheap spray gun they have a product there called duratec its a high gloss additive and you mix it 50/50 with your gelcoat to shoot it and it comes out really shiny and nice. Do not thin your gelcoat with styrene or any other product it is the old school way of doing things and you will ruin the integritiy of the gelcoat and later on your gelcoat will become chaulky and will have no shine. Give Danny a call at the store hes always willing to help people with there projects there # to the store is 772-464-0808 and i believe they have a website also you can order materials fiberglasssupplydepot.com. Let me know if you have any ?s about my project or anything ide be glad to share what danny has taught me. I will be posting my rebuild soon.

Duratec has some of the same negative effects as the other thinners, especially when mixed at 50:50. Gel coat covers 80 sqft per gallon at 20 mils, you will need more than 20 mils to sand out the orange peel. Factor in the cost of sand paper and the time to do it and paint becomes very attractive, even more so on something like an old canoe.

[JTF]

Originally Posted by joescarab

Hey ive been reading some of the stuff people have been telling you to do alot of it sounds crazy. I have been rebuilding a 30ft scarab a complete rebuild. I have been getting alot of help from Danny at fiberglass supply depot he really knows what hes doing. Also they have really good prices on materials. Gelcoat will run you around 50 bucks a gallon and they carry cook gelcoat so its really nice thick gelcoat not the cheap stuff. It covers 1 coat around 100 sqft. I would sand everything down fill everything then gelcoat it. If you have axcess to a cheap spray gun they have a product there called duratec its a high gloss additive and you mix it 50/50 with your gelcoat to shoot it and it comes out really shiny and nice. Do not thin your gelcoat with styrene or any other product it is the old school way of doing things and you will ruin the integritiy of the gelcoat and later on your gelcoat will become chaulky and will have no shine. Give Danny a call at the store hes always willing to help people with there projects there # to the store is 772-464-0808 and i believe they have a website also you can order materials fiberglasssupplydepot.com. Let me know if you have any ?s about my project or anything ide be glad to share what danny has taught me. I will be posting my rebuild soon.

I think it's funny how you have been reading the other post on this topic and you say some of the things sound crazy. Rebuilding a boat does not give you the experience of others. If the way people do things work for them it's the right way for them. I use styrene to thin gel coat and have done for many years. It works just fine with an excellent result. Boats I have re gel coated 10 years ago are still looking great. There is nothing old school about something that works. There will always be new products on the market to assist in making the job easier and better but why re invent the wheel.

[FiberglassHI]

Hi Cestevespr,

I work at Fiberglass Hawaii. If you have some pics you can send me I can give you some guidance. All of our gel coats are for sale online and we offer technical support specific to each situation. Here's the link to the Gel Coat page;
http://shop.fiberglasshawaii.com/res...lspar_gel_coat
Good luck,
FGH Crew