a little help spraying gel coat

I have been building boats for Sunsation now going on three years. I haven't built any cats since I was at Ocean Express prior to that.

 

hobie the ideal of the wax is to seal out the air so the gel will cure hard and tack free, lots of people spray with the wax in all the gel some just the last pass both work just that the wax can cause pin hole when u start to sand down the repair, if your going to do a large area go with duratec high gloss addative mix 50 50 with the gel no need for wax add ur hardner and thin down a little with acetone when u spray let the acetone flash off will take a minute or two and u should get a nice finsh like enamel with little sanding
if u want give me a call toronto 416 5001250

 

Gelcoat pin holes

Thanks for that Fiberglass Jack. Your identification of the pin holes in gelcoat answers my mystery question on two boats in my prep area that have pin holes. yes, someone had sprayed them at one time. These pin holes get foriegn material in them (or stain) and it is impossible to remove the material. The cosmetic appearance is speckles and can only be resolved with a hard/deep sanding.
I would not want the same result from waxed gelcoat and therefore will incorporate the Duratec High Gloss.

 

Building Cats

Adamfocht, I am not building boats but rebuilding racing cats to an advanced level. Many people are looking for performance rigged/tuned cats to compete. As the ranking #1 skipper in the north west, I know what to do to a hull and topside to create that winning boat.

 

SAy Hi to Joe and Dave from Ray and Kim in Pompano,

 

that should be 1 900 gel jack

 

thats my old number

 

Hobieguy - those would be offshore powerboat catamarans i.e. skaters, MTIs, etc not sail catamarans

buck - i will be sure to send your regards on to them.

 

I have gelcoat questions, as so far, my gelcoat repairs have been limited to non-spraying applications. I've been using finish gelcoat (with surface wax) and have to remove the wax prior to sanding. This is a messy time consuming job with rags and acetone. I've been reading the previous posts, and seem to understand that I could use laminating gelcoat (non-waxed) with Duratec high gloss additive and the gelcoat will dry rock hard without the use of surface wax of PVA, am I correct? I also want to start spraying, does anyone have a recommendation on a good, reasonably priced gun. I've researched guns and it seems any HVLP with a 2.0 or above needle should be adequate, correct? It seems the biggest pitfall with normal sprayguns versus the actual gelcoat gun that uses the disposable cups is the amount of time spent in cleaning after spraying. The compressor I own is a 4HP rated at 5.1 SCFM @ 90 PSI, so I would need a gun that will work within the air limitations of the compressor. Any advice you guys can give me will be appreciated. I am trying to repair gelcoat on my power cat, that looks like the previous owner was kin to a mud wasp, not good work. I am setting up the cat for charters and would like for it to be professional looking.
Thanks, Owen

 

Following this thread with interest! On the mold side as opposed doing touch ups.
Why not use a pressure pot? If my memory serves me correctly (28yrs ago) this was
what we used when we sprayed. Around 55psi to the pot. Saves thinning with styrene. Also I rememember we used to tip the hulls on their sides to cure,
to prevent the styrene blow off attacking the curing gelcoat. ( Let it kick first)
I am about to coat a deck mold but was considering using brushing gel coat as I don't have access to a pot.

 

Roly,
If you are useing differtent colour gel-coats its always a good thing to just lightly score the mold with a knife blade so that you can follow any lines later