Bad gelcoat

[Tomas M]

Ten years ago I bought a Glastron Carlson CVX 16 ss. Unfortunately, the boat did not work in rough seas, so I sold it a year later. Now I have bought it back and have plans to renovate it. The gelcoat on the top (gold flake) is incredibly matte and probably needs to be sanded and polished. Has anyone done that and can give some tips? How thick is the gelcoat, do you dare to sand?

I also need to change the decal on the foredeck, and assume that it is something that you have to make a new one. The striping also needs to be replaced.

/Tomas

[Hyperacme]

Welcome to the forum Tomas !
I removed the bow light, to use original un faded color under light as a gauge.
I used medium compound / 3M Finesse it 2 then wax and didn't get good results .. You should try that first though.
Had to go to wet sanding / compound / 3M Finesse it 2 / wax, came very close to original under bow light.
Others have wet sanded there boats with great results, just be careful around edges so you don't sand thru clear gel and down to the flake.  Been a while .. but think I started with 800 wet sand, then 1000 / 1200 / 2000 / 3000 / compound / 3M FI2 / wax.
3000 wet sand is like compound .. but didn't know that when I did mine .. found out later ..

No one that I know of reproduces the CVX deck decal. But you could ask Aaron ("Carlson_from_Germany" on forum) if he could ..

Very nice CVX !   What year is it ?   Color looks like MF Champagne ..

[Tomas M]

Thanks!

:-)

When I bought the boat ten years ago, it had a layer of clear coat, which had started to drop/loosen in places.

When I now bought it back, almost all the clear coat is gone.

The surface that is now feels almost like coarse sandpaper when you feel it. Starting with wax or something similar will not work, but I assume I have to wet sand it like you did.

In the worst case, I have to repaint it, but of course I want to avoid that, because it is better with gelcoat than paint.

I'll hear if he might have any tips on where to get the deck decal. otherwise I may try to make one in some way.

I think it's from 1978 or 79.

Champange sounds like a good description of the color! 

In the picture you can see (at the top) when there is clear paint left and at the bottom as it looks otherwise.

Greetings

Tomas

[Plugcheck]

Just guessing here, but if the clear is coming off, then likely it was an automotive clear shot onto the original gel/flake.  You could sand the gel, but it's not terribly thick before you start getting into the flake layers.  When wet sanding, the flake will turn silver if you went to deep.  Maybe consider sanding off the remaining clear, then shoot a copy layers of new gel, follow up sanding smooth and buffing?

[Tomas M]

Yes, at the moment it feels almost like you feel the flakes, and that there is no surface on top of them.

It could very well be that they have applied a clear paint for cars.

What is the difference between a clear paint for cars compared to one that one that should have been used?

/Tomas

[Plugcheck]

Pardon the simplification, but gel coat is like fiberglas resin, and auto clear is more like a varnish.   Either would be an options with various pros and cons to either choice.  The gel coat vrs automotive paint can be a real can of worms.  Do a little research, plenty of folks have been in your same shoes.

[Tomas M]

A transparent gelcoat should be a good solution. That is probably what has been on from the beginning, but then with flake flakes.

/Tomas

[nes-cv23]

If your flake is still nice but just no clear left...  when I did my 16 the clear was gone, I sanded it nice and smooth then sprayed automotive clear on it with a couple drops of red candy tint and it turned out great and has been 4 years now and still looks great..

[Tomas M]

Looks very good!

You did not consider spraying on transparent gelcoat?

/ Tomas

[Hyperacme]

I'm not a expert on subject .. but gel will need wet sanding and compounding to smooth out.
Paint would not need as much wet sanding after applying.

First two pictures are Jeff gel before sanding & after sanding / compounding / 3M FI2 / wax.
Next three pictures are Bryan's CV16 last year. Still shine's like original flake.

[Tomas M]

Is it transparent gelcoat in the first two pictures?

How did you apply it?

/ Tomas

[Hyperacme]

 "Is it transparent gelcoat in the first two pictures ?   How did you apply it ?"

Jeff's Timmi restore thread ..
http://forum.cgoamn.com/index.php?topic=8136.0

[Tomas M]

What an incredible project and fantastic result!

At first I did not see that there were several pages.

 

[demian5]

When I got ours it had auto clear that I was able to blast off majority with a pressure washer, then use a razor blade to remove the rest. We re shot with a urethane euro automotive clear, so far it is holding up well.

I also added a picture of it when we picked it up.