Re-gelcoating

Paint it !!!

 

JT, heres a before and after shots of my Hobie 16

Before


After, not bad for almost 40 years old


1.4mm gun tip is probably a bit small, I use 3.5mm

DAVE

 

NICE JOB DAVE!!!! Wish I could find an old toy box like you have on your trailer. That thing looks like it's on a hull sittin still.

 

That looks easy to build.

 

Thanks for the compliment, the sail box is pretty common here in Australia, made of light fibreglass, maybe a layer of 225 CSM and probly 2 layers of 450 CSM, very light and floppy but it does the job

You could probly knock one up in 4 or 6mm ply with a bit of timber here and there easy enough, Where do you put your Main and Boom now?

DAVE

 

Dave,
Have not even got her in the water yet so for now my Main and Boom are in the garage.

 

OK fellow boat builders here's how it went down. What a mess. Harbor Freight paint gun was crap but we got her done. Lots of orange peel and a few drops but she is brite white......overall very happy. Good hard coating. Lots of sanding to do.

 

Looks nice, have fun sanding

 

you made the mess !! the gun was only doing what you made it do !!

What a mess!! [ . Why was it a mess ?? blame the gun ?? or the person holding the gun ??
Harbor Freight paint gun was crap What was wrong with the gun ?? or is it just the operator ?? 99% of times ,yes its the operator

Lots of orange peel and a few drops orange peel !!drops !! what are the causes ?? is the gun at fault ? no !!
Is the operater at fault ? yes !! what didnt he do that could have cut out orange peel ?? And drips ! what about wraping the gun with a piece of cloth
after the first drop ??

Over the years i have seen and worked with many many spray painters that simply do not understand how a spray gun actually works . Oh yes they twiddle and play with all the knobs and eventually get what they are looking for but its guess work !!. They cant look at what its doing wong and dont know why its doing what its doing !!
only a very small percentage of operators can go straight to the cause and fix it by turning a knob in or out .
Personally i prefer to use a pressure pot !! dosent mater what size .
I have made a dual system that simply unplugs from 1 LITRE pot and clips onto a 5 liter pot .
Dosent mater if its paint or gel coat !,what ever it will spray vertually anything.
Has 2 pressure regulators at the pot and all the ususal knobs on the actuall gun . The gun was resirected out of a box of old bits and pieces oout of our store and has a part of the casting broken and missing where it got thrown at a concrete wall when the operater lost his temper !!
The full time painters we have at work now can not understand how the system works and why it works the way it does , i have been through and shown these 2 people many times but even after one year they still can grasp its workings and just use the same old gravity feed guns they had when Noah left to go sailing !!:idea:

 

Go easy on him, tunnels. It was probably his first time and a good learning experience. I applaud his effort and willingness to try. The next one (if there is a next one) will no doubt be an improvement. He can enjoy his week-end sanding and end up with a beautiful result.

He is industrious.

 

Some of the HF guns are crap and don't work, right of the box parts can be missing and regulators may not work. But orange peel is normal and while you can reduce it some by adjusting the gun, it will still be there. 99.9% of all gel coat made is used as an in-mold coating, because of this not much time is spent trying to make it level and flow better. It just happens to sort of work in a paint type application.

 

Sorry !!

 

Tunnels, You are 100% correct....99% of the time it is the operator......not this time. I have a little experience painting. Was a certified NAVY aircraft painter some 15 years ago and have painted with suction feed and HVLP guns in the past......I know how a gun works..... painted P-3 patrol aircraft......four turbo prop engines.....116' long.....99' wingspan......Epoxy Polymide....Polyurethane......think I'm qualified when I tell you that gun was crap. Tried everything in my bag of tricks....thinning rates.....gun adjustments. May spray other media just fine but it sucks for gelcoat. Thanx for your comment.....would love to come and inpsect your work sometime.

 

Wow IMPRESSIVE record of painting . I have a elder son in the nz airforce and does the same kind of thing you do . hes sprayed everything imagineable as well and his Forte is airbrushing fancy helmets for the fly guys ! but spraying Gel coat is a art form thats even beyond him as well . Only thinners i ever use is acetone thats all . you can play with % and thin to your hearts content but temprature has a lot to do with gelcoating . Gel coat is not paint and paint is not gel coat!! they do not behave the same try as you may .