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Fiberglass And Painting Repair


Garfield28

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G'day all,

Just wondering if anyone can give any advice on applying flowcoat please. 

I hit the trailer when retrieving the boat just before Christmas and gave a real deep scratch to the gelcoat and also dug out a little fiberglass I believe, so over the last week and a bit I've scrapped out the scratch to fill it, and have also laid a little bit of new fiberglass where I gouged some out. 

Anyway I sanded the area back laid up the glass and when I was ready to do the gelcaot I went to get it at Whitworths, and the guy serving me there tells me I shouldn't use gelcoat for the job, he recommended I use flowcoat. He explained that gelcoat dries tacky and it is more used for making molds, and that flowcoat is for a finish over fiberglass. 

So I take his advice and buy the flowcoat, now I have taped up the area with double thickness masking tape (put 2 strips for every side of the outside area that I didn't want to get the new flowcoat over) and applied a thick-ish layer of flowcoat with a paint brush.... All good the flowcoat has gone off and I have left it 24 hours before sanding it, but the problem I am getting is I do the first bit of sanding with a higher grit snadpaper say a 240 or 120 grit and lightly knock of the rough brush strokes from the brush, I then come down to a 400 grit wet and dry, down to a 600 grit wet and dry, and lastly a 1200 grit wet and dry, and the main problem is before I've even hit it with the 1200 grit I can see the outside area of the repair has the fiberglass showing through, and the area I am working on is basically showing through also, its like not sanding too heavy handed, and using a low grit sandpaper, but I'm wearing away the gelcoat of the outside area and then also the repair area. 

I've watched a heap of videos on repairs to fiberglass damage, minor and major, and one thing I have noticed with most (american) is they use gelcoat, not flowcoat and their work doesn't seem to have the repair work show through, or they rub too much gelcoat off from the outside area of the repair. 

Am I possibly not putting enough flowcoat on? from what I have watched I believe I am applying the same amount as the guys in the videos, or should I overlap the repair area heaps more and try and blend it in? Or should I spray it on instead of painting it on, or should I use gelcoat?

Really stuck on this one and so wanna get my boat out on the water again, any advice very much appreciated. 

Thanks 
Geoff  

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Ahh, the joys of glass boats. 

Firstly Whitworth's are correct.

Flow coat is what you need to use for patch repairs. It has a wax in it that will seal it from the outside air and allow it to dry hard.

Gelcoat will not set if exposed to air hence it is the first layer used in a mould, and my bet is that in the vids using gelcoat they would use some kind of wrap to seal it such as glad wrap or similar over the top of their gelcoat repairs to protect it from the outside air. 

 

As for the repair post up some pics. 

Sounds like your repaired section is low. This is why your sanding the outside edges away before your repaired section. 

Spraying flowcoat obviously gives a much better finish. Even a sponge will give a better finish than a brush. 

Sanding is a tedious task. Have a look at what Luvit has gone through to remove old antifoul in his boat repair thread. Sanding takes time. If you rush it you will end up with a mess. Take your time. Otherwise just apply the flowcoat and go fishing. Then come home and sand it. If you need another coat of flowcoat be sure to sand the original coat so as to remove the wax otherwise the new coat will not bond. 

 

Get some pics up so we can see what's going on. 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 29/01/2019 at 8:33 PM, Garfield28 said:

G'day all,

Just wondering if anyone can give any advice on applying flowcoat please. 

I hit the trailer when retrieving the boat just before Christmas and gave a real deep scratch to the gelcoat and also dug out a little fiberglass I believe, so over the last week and a bit I've scrapped out the scratch to fill it, and have also laid a little bit of new fiberglass where I gouged some out. 

Anyway I sanded the area back laid up the glass and when I was ready to do the gelcaot I went to get it at Whitworths, and the guy serving me there tells me I shouldn't use gelcoat for the job, he recommended I use flowcoat. He explained that gelcoat dries tacky and it is more used for making molds, and that flowcoat is for a finish over fiberglass. 

So I take his advice and buy the flowcoat, now I have taped up the area with double thickness masking tape (put 2 strips for every side of the outside area that I didn't want to get the new flowcoat over) and applied a thick-ish layer of flowcoat with a paint brush.... All good the flowcoat has gone off and I have left it 24 hours before sanding it, but the problem I am getting is I do the first bit of sanding with a higher grit snadpaper say a 240 or 120 grit and lightly knock of the rough brush strokes from the brush, I then come down to a 400 grit wet and dry, down to a 600 grit wet and dry, and lastly a 1200 grit wet and dry, and the main problem is before I've even hit it with the 1200 grit I can see the outside area of the repair has the fiberglass showing through, and the area I am working on is basically showing through also, its like not sanding too heavy handed, and using a low grit sandpaper, but I'm wearing away the gelcoat of the outside area and then also the repair area. 

I've watched a heap of videos on repairs to fiberglass damage, minor and major, and one thing I have noticed with most (american) is they use gelcoat, not flowcoat and their work doesn't seem to have the repair work show through, or they rub too much gelcoat off from the outside area of the repair. 

Am I possibly not putting enough flowcoat on? from what I have watched I believe I am applying the same amount as the guys in the videos, or should I overlap the repair area heaps more and try and blend it in? Or should I spray it on instead of painting it on, or should I use gelcoat?

Really stuck on this one and so wanna get my boat out on the water again, any advice very much appreciated. 

Thanks 
Geoff  

Yep what Junky said. Photos please. 

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