Recommended repair method of gelcoat nicks and gouges?

[Neutron68]

How much clothing protection does everybody put on when they're spraying gelcoat? Menards has 3M bodysuits you can buy.

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[Neutron68]

Can you wet sand at all the grit stages (100, 220, 800, etc) of sanding to keep the dust down?

[Hyperacme]

Yes

[Neutron68]

Yes

Since I only read people talking about wetsanding with the finer grits, I wonder if there any downside to the surface results with doing wetsanding at every grit stage?
If not, wetsanding will keep the the garage (and me) a lot less dusty!   

[Hyperacme]

When wet sanding, your taking off the top faded/chalky/dull layer of gel , water is washing it away.
Keep a squirt bottle handy and use generously.   

[Neutron68]

When wet sanding, your taking off the top faded/chalky/dull layer of gel , water is washing it away.
Keep a squirt bottle handy and use generously.

Yessir.  I was prepared from seeing Andy Miller's video on wet sanding.
And, I wet sanded most of the afternoon.  I got the areas pretty smooth, but there are still some low spots from the brushed on gelcoat applications.  I'd like to fill those in.  I plan to try the air compressor powered sprayer, this time.

Mark at Express Composites told me that sprayer overspray won't cure hard because it's too thin.  I found that to be the case.  The overspray from last week's disposable sprayer wiped off with an acetone soaked paper towel.

I also found that most of the gelcoat that I rolled on the keel wasn't thick enough to cure either, and a lot of it wiped off with an acetone soaked paper towel, too!  (Recall that the mini roller soaked up much of the gelcoat and didn't leave me much to roll on.)  So, the keel has to be redone (with the sprayer). 

In his pep talk to use the sprayer, Mark said if I use the sprayer, this should be the last time I have to apply gelcoat for this project.  I hope it works out that way.  This learning process has taken WAAAY too many weekends!

Eric

[Neutron68]

I finally did it.
I spent Sunday afternoon masking everything with plastic and Sunday evening spraying gelcoat.  I ran 4 4 oz. batches of gelcoat through the sprayer (cleaning the sprayer with acetone between batches).  I guess each batch took about 30 mintues (mix gelcoat, spray gelcoat, clean gun). 
Maybe I should have mixed 8 oz batches?  I was afraid of having it cure in the sprayer before I was done spraying.

Andy Miller of Boatworks Today said "bugs love this stuff".  I found the same to be true.  I kept the garage closed up as much as I could, but some bugs got in anyway.   I picked 2 bugs from the wet gelcoat and then patched the spots with a blob of gelcoat on a Popsicle stick.  After I sprayed on PVA the bug danger was over.

Every cup was a winner!!

[Neutron68]

I'm wet sanding and trying to decide how much of the orange peel texture I can get rid of.

I have mostly good results, but the edges of those chines were tough to get the gelcoat to fill in properly, and be without voids or low spots.
I got some thick spray buildup areas on the keel which look like a brain.  When I sanded them down, the pattern was still visible.  I guess I'll leave it.  I'd like to put the boat in the water sometime in July...preferably in the next couple of days.

With buffing, can the pads be washed and reused?

Is there a downside to not waxing?  Will nonwaxed orange peel surfaces accumulate dirt in the pockets and make me sorry?

Eric

[Hyperacme]

" With buffing, can the pads be washed and reused? "

Pads I use for waxing ... I rinse in hot water after use.
 

[Neutron68]

Uh oh.  I'm getting an impatient spouse.

Last night, I told my wife that I thought I was finally done sanding.  She said GOOD!

This morning, I told her the next step is buffing and the next step is waxing.

She said, $#$%#^%&*!

[Neutron68]

Is there a way to keep buffing compound from slinging all over the place?
What do you guys do?

[Plugcheck]

Dress appropriately!  Most folks spray the compound all over, then jump in with the buffer.  I use a clean cloth
 diaper to spread the compound into a thin film of consistent thickness, then work the buffer into it.  Keeps the wheel from slinging product all over.

[Neutron68]

Thanks for the tip Plugcheck.

It's 10:45pm on July 3 and the boat is still in the garage... 

I got 2 buffing compounds from Express Composites:  one is called cutting compound and the other is called polishing compound.

Thus far, I have wet sanded with 120 and 220 sandpaper - nothing finer, due to pressure from my wife to GET DONE.

I just ran the cutting compound over both the chine areas using an air powered buffing tool
https://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/grinders/air-angle-die-grinder-32046.html
and a 3 inch buffing arbor I got at Express Composites. 
I squirted the buffing compound at the center of the 3 inch buffing pad (rather than along the edges) and that seemed to help with the slinging.  I also held up my left hand as a shield next to the rotating pad to minimize slinging.  It helped.
The air buffer didn't have much torque, even with 90 lbs of pressure.  I had to reduce the tool's pressure on the boat before it would turn to any useful speed. 

How can you tell when a particular buffing stage is done?
I ask because, after buffing with the cutting compound and wiping it off, I could still see the lines from the 120 and 220 sandpaper.  I expected more of a dull, cloudy finish.   Maybe I need to wet sand with 800 grit and then buff again with the cutting compound? 

[Plugcheck]

If you didn't get to at least 800 grit, then you will not be able to remove the sanding blemishes left by the 220 grit paper.  If the surface is smooth, and the gouges/defects/injuries are repaired, then get that boat to water.  Fish don't care if the hull is shiny.  You can always come back, reshoot, sand, buff, whatever to make it perfect.  You have learned some valuable skills, and in time they too will improve, but honestly, perfection takes time, and summer is short. 

[Neutron68]

Apart from the imperfections I took photos of, the gelcoat is sealed, pretty smooth, even with 120 and 220 sandpaper scratches in it.

Is there any harm in waxing it as-is with 120 and 220 grit scratches on it? 

I'd hate to wax it in this unpolished state and later find out that I did a horrible thing, and I now have to redo all these hours of work.

Eric

[Plugcheck]

Not sure with gelcoat, but regular auto finishes can be reworked after waxing by using a good wax and grease remover.  Try to stay away from any products with silicone in them, it's the primary cause of fisheyes. 

[Neutron68]

Ok, good to know!  I bought a tin of Nu Finish (silicone based) but have not used it yet.

Standard Turtle Wax?

[Plugcheck]

IMHO, Nu finish is marginally ok for only old cars.  Besides the silicone, it is a petroleum based solvent which softens finishes so they "flow out".   If you plan to rework in the future, I wouldn't use any wax now, but if you do a good paste wax would be my recommendation.

[Neutron68]

Happy Independence Day!

NO boat work got done today.
The 4th of July is my annual pork rib smoking day.  I tended the smoker from noon until about 5pm.
After the sauce simmering phase, they were very tender and very smokey!  MMMmmmmmmm.
The photos are from last year, but the ribs and setup looked the same this year.

Since I've missed the 4th of July as a deadline, the pressure to take shortcuts is off.

What is the best thing to do for the future of the boat?   (the right answer may not be in this list)
1.  Sand with 800 grit and then buff 2 times for shine
2.  wax as-is to protect from dirt buildup and use it in this somewhat rough state
3.  don't wax, use the boat for the 2017 summer season and revisit repairs after summer

Eric

[thedeuceman]

I would say use it as it is, and resume the work next off-season, but that's just me, we've been using the 1900 for a year and a half with torn up upholstery though we did finally get some of it done


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