refinishing webb look gelcoat

I am refinishing the deck that has a webb look gelcoat finish. The deck is all that needs to be done. The deck looks to be rolled on making it a non-skid deck.
How much base gelcoat will I need? How much gelcoat for the webbing. How much webbing solution if any will I need. What is the best procces to apply the webb coat look? The boat is 17 feet by 7 foot.
Thanks for any infomation.

 

The webcoat is done by adding webcoat additive to the gelcoat and spraying it with a regular spray gun. Use a large orifice.

 

i169.photobucket.com/albums/u214/mad3654/gelcoat/275980d1350835265-epic-17-rolled-edge-build-epic-avocet-17-182.jpg.cf_zpsdsg37ima.jpg
Pic is what I am among for.

I calculate that I will need about 3 gallons of base gelcoat for a rolled on non-skid effect for 17 foot by 8 foot area. Is there a special process to get a good non-skid effect when rolling it?
About 1 gallon of gelcoat for webbing effect. Is this to much? I'm not sure how much gelcoat I will need for the webbing effect. Can you help me on the quantity for the webbing gelcoat? Is it better to spray the webbing or do it by hand?

 

I think your estimate is high at 3 gallons
should be quite a bit less

You can buy a quart of webbing solution, the smallest quantity I believe they sell, buy a quart of neutral gel coat and a jar of pigment (dont add the whole jar just enough to get strong color) or buy a quart of your contrasting color gel for the webbing. Read the can its been a while but I think its 30 or 40 percent web solution to gelcoat.

If you mix total volume 1/3 quart you will have plenty to web the inside of the hull, just catalyze at 2 percent like your gelcoat and spray on in a random pattern not like when you spray paint and you are doing even overlapping sweeps of your arm. And do it while your rolled on gelcoat is still green (before it has completely cured)

Don't forget to put about 5% surfacing agent( surface seal wax )in your base gel and your webbing solution

 

Generally the gelcoat pigment should be between 2 and 5% of the gelcoat. Just depends a bit how clear the original gelcoat is and the saturation of the pigment. If you make a custom mix colour, remember ie write down the tints used and proportions, for repairing it later!.

 

One gallon of gel coat will cover about 80 square feet at 20 mils. 20 mils is the recommended thickness and each rolled coat will be about 10 mils. This does not take into consideration the amount of waste, rollers suck up a good deal of gel coat.

Only put wax in the second coat.

Make sure you use enough catalyst, 2% is a good amount, but some gel coats can have a very fast gel time, especially when it's warm out. If you can't use all the gel coat before it starts to get hard try mixing less at one time rather than reducing the amount of catalyst.

I normally pour the gel coat onto the surface and roll quickly, you can cover a large area quickly this way.

Webbing solution is very easy to use, and the amount added will change the look and size of the webs. The more you add the less splatter you get and the more long strings come out.

Practice a little first and see what look you like.

It's easier to just buy a small amount of whatever contrasting color you want for the webbing, but you can mix it yourself if you want a custom color. I will sometimes use two colors of webbing, the contrasting color, and then a blend of the contrasting color and the base color.

You don't need much gel coat for the webbing application.

 

Ondarvr, thanks for the good advice. I will be attempting this job in a few weeks.
Thanks again, I'll post pics.

 

Re-gelcoat with webbing

Thanks for the help and info. My deck re-gelcoat with webbing project came out great.
I rolled 1 gallon of white non-wax gelcoat, 3/4 gallon of white wax gelcoat, 1/2 pint of light blue gelcoat for webbing with 2 to 1 ratio of webbing solution. The spray gun was set to about 30psi with a narrow paint pattern. I stood about 8 to 10 away from deck while spraying webbing. The decking came out wonderful.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39601209@N05/14989247186/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39601209@N05/14825624978/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39601209@N05/15012241745/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39601209@N05/14825624858/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39601209@N05/14825624868/in/photostream/

 

Looks great.

 

gelcoat hatch

I'm getting ready to re-gelcoat the console which has an access hatch that is not fiberglass. Can I gelcoat the hatch to match the console? Will the gelcoat adhere to it?
Thanks for the help.

 

Gel coat doesn't typically bond well to plastic.

 

regelcoat console now

Can I use gelcoat with wax for multiple layers? How much psi to use with spray gun?
How much thinning do I have to do to spray and can I use acetone as a thinner?

 

You can use it for multiple layers, but it needs to be applied while the prior layer is still tacky, otherwise the surface needs to be sanded before the next coat.


Thinning isn't good, but 2 or three percent acetone won't really hurt much. Adding too much of any solvent will reduce the water, crack and weather resistance of the gel coat.

Pressure is determined at the time of spraying, many variables come into play when doing the adjusting.

 

I hate to resurrect such an old thread and my apologies. I do have a question about the roller used for this job. Can anyone give me information on what roller to use to achieve the non skid texture with the white gel coat? Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum. It may be best to just start another thread, though the process is well documented online and in previous threads on this site. You might wan to use "textured gel coat", "textured decks", as possible search parameters.

It's not so much what type of roller, but more about timing on when to use the roller. The idea is to employ the roller when the applied material has been down long enough it's about to gel, but hasn't yet done so. As the roller runs through the still wet goo, it creates the texture, but because the goo is about to "kickoff" it doesn't have time to lay down and level out, so it remains in the finish. It's a technique, not a tool thing and some practice is helpful to get consistent results.

This is a classic example, though not with gel coat, just neat epoxy, it's the same method. The textured areas are taped off, the roller applied at the appropriate time and then the tape removed for continued surface prep. This deck was painted, but could have just as well been gel coated.