blue gel coat news

Kent on the Off Topic Forum Pictures 4 - Hull 376 - has posted a picture of Charisma with a blue gelcoat hull!!! Never expected that. But I've been filling dents, repatching patches and thruholes and grinding and such and been noticing in some places blue UNDER the white gellcoat when I have sanded thru it on 338.

Been scared to ask Bill II or Mike how bottom paint could migrate under the gell coat. Because there was "original" blue copper bottom against the gellcoat when it was stripped.

So it looks like the new guy at Pearson started to spray in blue gc on top of the white gc befor they stopped him. If the subject ever comes up I might tell you folks what else he did when 338 was being born.:>

#45 has a blue layer also below the waterline .Saw it last summer when we stripped the bottom . I'll go look for a shot of it .
Maybe they got a good deal on blue gelcoat .
Gelcoat can be funny stuff . It can be beautiful or it can be dull chalky and porous as hell . I think it has to do with the day of the week the hull was layed up .
Good gelcoat should look like glossy paint , water beads on it and doesn't make a 'wet spot' .
I once had an association with a C&C Landfall 38 that was less than 10 years old and the gelcoat was not worth salvage , too much labor involved . We tried several 'remedies' all were less than perfect . Ended up sanding and Awlgrip coating and it still looked new 10 years later .
If you have good gelcoat , keep it waxed , that is the simple secret for long life of the finish . Gelcoat loses its "oil" content over time and becomes chalky, dry & porous . Waxing keeps it sealed and healthy .
People who think fiberglass boats are "no maintenance" , don't have a clue , same people think teak is supposed to be gray .

Mike G. is right . The only reason I suspect that #376 still has any life at all in the gel coat is because my dad waxed the hell out of it. Three times or more a year (and on the Great lakes, season was only 7 months). I helped, and it was always hard work. I'm basically lazier now, so don't know how much longer it will last. It still shines after cleaning. Color is dark blue in subdued light, but it comes to life in the sun.

Here is a shot of #45 from last summer . The light blue gelcoat is visable in several places .
Near the bow on left , at waterline . Several places where I sanded through the dark blue paint .
Notice also on the bottom where PeelAway has removed the bottom paint just aft the yard stand .
#45 had one of the worse accumulations of bottom paint I ever saw , very thick and rock hard .It had sat in the water , un-hauled for over 10 years and quite a growth of flowing tendriles over a yard long , sponges and barnacles the size of limes .