You can then sand the fill primer after its cured and once the imperfections are smooth and filled you can spurt the urethane topcoat. It is painted onto mouldsplugs and remains tacky after it cures.
Unwaxed gelcoat is sold by hundreds of retailers.
Difference between paint and gelcoat. When it comes to choosing gelcoat vs. Paint for your vessel you are likely to ask which boat hull paint lasts longer. The longevity of gelcoat paint is one of its biggest advantages.
Gel coat paint for boats can last up to two decades before needing major repair work while marine paint will typically need one or more major repairs within ten years. For large areas like what youre talking about I almost always suggest using a paint that can be rolled and tipped. Spraying either gelcoat or paint requires tools that most people do not have access to.
And gelcoat over large areas is a TON of sanding Not fun. If you havent seen this video series yet it might be helpful. Although gel will perforform better regarding durability I sell paint paint is more price effective.
You also have a larger pallet of colors with paint. Paint is thinner and typically much easier to apply. Unlike paint gelcoat will not adhere to existing paint wood metal or concrete.
Gelcoat also has a limited shelf life of around 3-4 months at around 70 degrees whereas paints that are solvent-based can last up to 15 years while latex and water-based ones may last for up to 10 years. You do not put gel over paint. The gel coat is the paint.
It is resin that has the color mixed in with it and is the very first thing sprayed in to the mold and the glass is laid on top of it and it is all bonded as one piece. Looking at the photos and based on the fact that the spray rails are also green she was painted. You cannot gelcote over paint but you can paint over gelcote.
I would not gelcote the hull. It is just too much work. Paint is the only way to go at this boats stage in life.
All Grip Imron or any quality paint can be used. Depends on the application the process used etc. Gelcoats are generally sprayed or brushed on and largely perform the same function as paint.
Generally you would apply a gelcoat to the surface of a mould or in the case of tooling gelcoat to the surface of a plug. Gelcoat is basically a paint used on the surface of a laminated to cosmetic finish and to protect the laminate from UV damage. Unwaxed gelcoat is sold by hundreds of retailers.
I googled it and got thousands of hits. The gelcoat can be applied with very little to no thinning Simple design which allows quick break down for cleaning Its able to dump a lot of material quickly and efficiently. In my opinion the most attractive benefit of this is that the gelcoat does not require thinning.
I think gelcoat is much thinner than is commonly supposed. Im taking mine off at present and its generally less than 05mm thick - nearer 03mm in most places although thats obviously still much thicker than paint. Also I cant understand why you couldnt replace with black-pigmented gelcoat if you wanted.
Paint offers more texture options than those found in gel coats. Additionally when paint is used on RTM-molded parts the top coat can be matched to the paint on other partslike metalused on the end product. Color-fade over time would be uniform if all parts on the end product are painted rather than mixing painted and gel-coated parts.
But its quite simple to add such a protectant into the paint yourself before applying it. This prevents the surface from UV damage such as hazing and paint discoloration. Gel coat is a resin that you can usually find on new boats.
It is generally less expensive material-wise compared to marine paint and is formulated to be UV protective. What is difference between gel coat and paint. Gelcoat is usually much thicker than paint and is engineered to protect the underlying fiberglass as well as provide a smooth shiny appearance.
However the nice thing about the gelcoat repair kits is that they come with tints so that you can try to match your existing gelcoat color. Two-part paints are more durable keep their color and gloss longer and are more abrasion resistant than one-part paints but they are more temperature and humidity sensitive as well as more expensive than one-part paints. Whilst this is setting ie past the gel state you can apply the gelcoat.
That way there should be no incompatible mode. As far as I am aware the problems with polyester gelcoat and epoxy stem from fast commercial moulding of parts where the gelcoat is put in mould followed by the epoxyfabriccore etc layup. For this reason products like Tycoat exist.
When using car paint you can paint over with urethane topcoat in cases of a smooth gel coat. For a rough gel coat you should spurt three coats of urethane filler over the damp epoxy primer. You can then sand the fill primer after its cured and once the imperfections are smooth and filled you can spurt the urethane topcoat.
Gelcoat is not a finishing coat. It is painted onto mouldsplugs and remains tacky after it cures. Resin and Glass are generally applied on top of the Gelcoat.
It forms the hard smooth shiny surface of the finished article and is usually pigmented. It paints on easily but does not drain from vertical surfaces. There is no comparison between a great paint job and a great gel-coat job.
What gel-coat does offer is the ability to postpone a 3 to 5 thousand dollar paint job until funds become available if that is a consideration. Theres a whole bunch of stuff to consider here first off gelcoat wasis meant to go in a mould to achieve the glass like finish spraying it is a lot of work and requires considerable skill gallons of Acetone to clean the gear when finished and heaven forbid you let it go off in the spray gun once its sprayed it takes a lot of extra. Here we explain the differences between finishing painted surfaces and gelcoat surfaces.
Aside from the knock down gorgeous look of FBP the paint overcomes a lot of woes with RVs such as gelcoat fading graphic checking or peeling and even the vinyl fixtures yellowing or fading fridge vents range vent etc. With the paint there are no graphics exposed gelcoat or vinyl.