Gelcoat v. Awlgrip v. Interlux

OK, here's the deal. My never-ending quest to render Houdini the flagship of all surviving Ariels continues apace...and now, what with chromed winches, new standing rigging, new running, awlgripped hull, new canvas, pending minor recore job foreward, etc, etc...I am now contemplating the issure of cabin top and main deck. My initial impulse is to have these surfaces re-gelcoated. I have been disabused of the vision by certain fellow devotees, however, and am now asking what, in your collected wisdom, constitutes the single best solution in refurbishing these surfaces, given the following goals: 1) good durability of the surface in question; 2) excellent "braggin' rights" finish qualityl; 3) work doable by a fastidious amateur. Now, ye luminaries of the brotherhood, hold forth and enlighten this ambitious captain of the noblest of vessels ever to darken the brow of a napping Neptune.

Ooof. Ixnay on the elcoat jay.

I follow your latinate and porcine reservations, sir--but why no gelcoat?

Well, it would be all right for the topsides up to the rail, I suppose. Gelcoat does have quite a bit to recommend it, especially in the reparability department. If you want this done, it is an easy do-it-yourself job, too...it goes on with a roller just like paint, then "color-sand" the orange peel off and buff her out. The gelcoat is also fairly thick, so you have a self-levelling effect if you wish to longboard it out after the first coat.
In that respect, It's probably great stuff.

I have reservations about a secondary bond using a polyester product (gelcoat) over an old and aged polyester product (old gelcoat) which has likely lost a great deal of its' styrene content.

I also have reservations about ANY secondary bond which is considered to be important going down over gelcoat. Wax, after all, is not only part of the molding process back in the old days (as a release agent) but is contained in the gelcoat material itself. I suppose it is indeed true that many people have done it and had no troubles with reasonably careful prep...I have too, but I had one notably horrible experience where despite all prep work and an 80-grit surface to tooth to, my epoxy-polycarb granule nonskid job came away in funny patches as I peeled the fineline tape. BIG funny patches. The backside of said funny patches was very smooth, shiny, and...waxy. It's really hard to piece that stuff in and have it look right...it was a real ordeal. Best anyone could figure was that there was a bit more wax entrapped in areas than the rest, and that the heat of the epoxy curing somehow drew it up towards the surface. I do not know if that was actually the situation, but I know how aggrevating it was trying to fix it nicely. I did manage to get adhesion, but I had to go to some pretty extraordinary lengths.


Another consideration, for those so minded, is weight. Pick up a gallon of gelcoat sometime and heft it! Weighs more than the primer and paint that go on the boat. I realize that this is picky, but some nameless person amongst us spent many an hour removing all of the old gelcoat (which is quite thick in most places) from his boat in preparation for fairing and paint.

I suppose that my biggest concern here is for the deck section. To mask off all the nonskid areas in order to spray gelcoat on the smooth areas only would be a real headache, the areas look to be a wee bit narrow in many places to roll, and the gelcoat doesn't lay down super-duper pretty with a brush...at least not in the stuff I've seen done. Doesn't mean no one can. The nonskid surfaces will need some sort of new treatment as well, and this presents its' own new wrinkles.


By contrast, even AwlGrip can yield an incredibly good brush finish if care is taken (take a look at Tim Lackey's boat--- www.triton381.com ). If you use a one-part poly for the deck and nonskid, it is almost impossible to not get a wonderfully good finish with a brush, and that brush requires a whole lot less masking than it would to be spraying gelcoat!
The topsides can be rolled and tipped quite beautifully and buffed to high gloss if desired using LPU, single or two part. A friend of mine recently painted an entire Ingrid hull's topsides with 2-part Interlux poly and a roller...and had no colorsanding to do after! Buff-n-go. I guess the surface prep really is more onerous and critical with paint, though. Just depends what a guy wants to do...but people I have seen paint usually smile, and people who paint on new gelcoat...are often scowling at several points in the job.

Last thought...should you decide to change the color again later...it is a lot easier to knock off that last paintjob than to denude it of that new gelcoat.

My 2 cents explained...I hate to see your little yellow guy frown!
Dave

I would go with the 2 part paint instead of 1 part. The prep work for this job is a pain, so you want the finish to last as long as possible. The 2 part paint is much harder and keeps the color and gloss alot longer.

The deck gets alot of abuse from flying winch handles and the like. It picks up dirt, grime, scuff marks, bird poop and mystery stains of undetermined origin. There are times you need to scrub the deck real hard with a stiff brush and stronger cleaners. The 2 part will stand up to that better.

The nonskid is molded gelcoat. I believe Pearson then applied a color over the nonskid, usually a cream color. Maybe that's colored gelcoat, maybe paint. You might be able to see see faint brush marks where the nonskid is worn.

Good luck. Boat looks great.

Aside from the prep work, the only real problem with this job is keeping a wet edge in the areas where the deck branches off in several directions at once.

I used Interthane Plus two part and it works well. The stuff is tough and keeps its gloss. On the good side, if it wears off (which can happen, such as where a line rubs against it, the Interlux Brightside one part can be used to touch up - easily and cheaply.

On the negative, I had a terrible time rolling it on. Sometimes it would be a matte and sometimes glossy finish. If you do it right the first time, though, it should work the first time. The finish is quite thin, but it does hold up. I would think your decision would be between the Awlgrip and Interthane Plus.

A couple precautions. The two part is cynaide based, and you must wear a good breathing mask if you value your health. Secondly, watch the temperature. You don't want the stuff to cure too fast with hight heat. Cold is better. Lastly, the Interthane Plus does not take well to constant emersion in /moisturewater (Awlgrip may be the same). I have had the experience when the side of the boat was lying on the ground (I was fixing the bottom of the keel) where small bubbles appeared in the paint where the side contacted the ground. It is OK on the deck, and above the boot top (including the toe rail), but make sure that the surface gets to dry out occasionally.

Good luck.