gelcoating the whole boat down to the waterline

Just a little closer.
Kind of like life just one color at a time.
Sanding a little on the off days / cool and rain.
One white left to do clear, then metal flake and a sand coat of clear.

Then it’s sand, sand, sand, and final clear coat of gel coat.
Then buff, buff, buff.
Have encountered all the dreaded obstacles, from tape left a little to long,
Adding not enough MAKP , and to much for the temperature conditions and having it set up in my gun.
Fortunately I was able to clean it out.
Acetone is spray guns best friend and don’t forget tooth picks and brush kits made for the equipment.

 

Shot of boat out soaking up some rays.
Picture doesn’t catch the sparkle like your eyes do.

 

Well I may have shot myself in the foot, by sanding my metal flake smooth.
I cut thru in mot of the clear and cut the metal flake.
The whole surface looks cloudy and dull so my question is will clear coat bring it back to a shine.

If I shoot over this with a little abalone in my clear will it help hide my cut metal flake in my red?
Or do I need to shoot my red clear coat with metal flake again ?

 

Sanding into the flake can change the look. Try putting water on it, if it looks good you may be ok. You can also spray some rattle can clear on it, this will also show you what it will look like with clear gel coat on it. The clear can be washed off with an acetone rag.

 

I haven’t done a thing to the white yet, it will get a white and abalone pearl clear gel coat then follow up with a clear gel coat over the whole boat.
This will be a one day shoot . And possibly shoot it 2 coats of clear.
Like wise on the trailer.

 

I’m going to do that In a small area.

 

Try to not build up too much clear over the white, you’ll notice it will darken the white. You don’t notice this as much over darker colors.

 

Late afternoon I sprayed a clear coat over my trailer. It look great but this morning it was still tacky to the point that I left finger prints and it looks foggy.
The temp dropped to 40 Deg over night.
The high today is expected to only get to 58 today, then 45 over night and Sunday only 55 deg.
Monday it will get warm again 66 then 76 Tuesday.
Question is will it clear?
Will it set?
And can I treat it like a fresh spray if it’s still tacky Monday
and place another clear coat over it?

 

This is right after the lay down of both metal flake and clear over.

 

If it’s still tacky, plus cloudy, the dew from the overnight temperature drop can trigger this issue. Sometimes, and I repeat, sometimes, leaving it in the sun will help reverse the clouding and let it cure.

 

Exactly what it did. Cleared up like glass.
I will tell you one thing. When your at the hands of Mother Nature you can only work on it in short stretches of time and achieve every portion in small tidbits of progress.
Today is my 36 day on this boat and waiting for two quarts of gel coat to arrive.
So today will be small color touch up spots, snnd and mask up for my final shoots of white and blue metal flake and then clear coat over the entire boat
Right now I’m having a cup of coffee and planing my attack for today.
Sanding is behind me for now I’ll post some more pictures this afternoon.

 

How wet does the gel coat have to be to spray on second coat?
I sprayed it last night and it is still a little tacky to the touch but not so that product sticks to anything.
Do I have to let it dry completely out or can I gel coat it now ( third coat) ?

 

As long as the surface is slightly soft it’s OK to apply another coat.

 

Ok it took 54 days of work on this boat, today was its first trip back out to the water.
Let me tell she floats and runs like a dream.