SoCal Jet Boats
Tech Talk => Gelcoat / Paint / Fireberglass Repair => Topic started by: tobyduke on July 17, 2008, 04:33:27 PM
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hi.im a newbee to jet boats and have some paint questions.why do guys say no to base coat clearcoat below water line.what do you use .planning on painting mine soon.and only want to do it once.any help would be nice.
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Welcome to the site ;D
I don't have a good answer for your question but I'm sure someone will chime in soon.
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No clearcoat below the waterline because the smallest little defect/scratch will cause the water to literally peel the clearcoat right off, the clearcoat does not have the "bite" that the basecoat has to the sealer/primer, I have just put the clear into the paint, not as shiney but pretty tuff, you can't do that with all paint though.
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so basicaly a single stage paint on the water line is that what you are sugesting.is it true you need a special licence to get gel coat materials.is there someone out there that does gelcoat at a resonable price.
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so basicaly a single stage paint on the water line is that what you are sugesting.is it true you need a special licence to get gel coat materials.is there someone out there that does gelcoat at a resonable price.
To be honest, I have never heard of a gel coat "license", as long as your not doing it commercially on a large scale, don't see any problem (could be a county thing though) there are a few exellent posts on here in regards to gel though, have you checked out Duratek? I will be doing mine next month (White Trash II) with it.
You can pigment epoxy resins too BTW, much easier and less smelly than polyester resin IMHO.
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Duratek is great stuff! You can spray it through a preassure pot or just use a tight foam roller. Sands like chalk and doesn't pack up sandpaper like normal polyester/microsphere fillers do. I've sprayed it up 1/16" thick (2 passes) to level out really screwed up surfaces.
Be careful using LP's paints like Imron, Awl-Grip, Sterling, etc. below the waterline if you leave your boat in the water for more than the day. Run it to the boot stripe and stop there. The paint will develop very small (<.030" dia) blisters/bubbles that don't fully go away with time.
Cheers, Mark