Another boat question

S

seneca2e

If you sand oxidized gel coat(red) to restore it's color then clear over it will it stay looking good or will it just fade and turn whitish red even under the clear coat over a relatively short time? Some on a couple of the boat forums say so and that has me a little worried.

The other alternative would be to use single stage red Imron or equivalent. If I go that way can I get by with a scuff and shoot or would I need a layer of adhesion promoter or epoxy to ensure it has decent adhesion to the old gelcoat?
 
I cleared a sanded gelcoat boat for a guy a long time ago. It was brown, though. It had the typical problem of fading rapidly after buffing and waxing. He wanted it done and knew it wouldn't be perfect. For what it was, it worked well. The clear arrested the oxidation of the gelcoat pretty well, the main concern will be the fact that the clear won't want to bridge hairline cracks, and there will probably be areas of contamination in the gelcoat that cause some fisheyes. If your expectations aren't too high, it is worth a try.
 
I cleared a sanded gelcoat boat for a guy a long time ago. It was brown, though. It had the typical problem of fading rapidly after buffing and waxing. He wanted it done and knew it wouldn't be perfect. For what it was, it worked well. The clear arrested the oxidation of the gelcoat pretty well, the main concern will be the fact that the clear won't want to bridge hairline cracks, and there will probably be areas of contamination in the gelcoat that cause some fisheyes. If your expectations aren't too high, it is worth a try.
 
There is no right answer:

Once the gel coat oxidizes, the odds are when you clear it it will start oxidizing again, could be a year, 3-5, you just cannot say as every case and color is different.

HOWEVER, I have had many people over the years say it did work and some have said years later still looked great.
 
Okay thanks for the taking the time to put your 2 cents in on the subject. Leaning towards single stage paint but sure was wanting to just do a clear coat on it lol.
 
It is not out of the question to sand and clear, been done 1000's of times.
My job is to give you the worst case scenario that COULD happen or as one guy said on the phone one time, you just like to ruin peoples days.

If my personal boat, I would sand and clear but I would not need to worry about a customer coming back all pissed off, if it failed.
 
I bet if you can sand the deteriorated surface off of the gelcoat that clearcoating would renew and prolong the life for a very long time-assuming this is the top surface of the boat. Singlestage has less UV resistance than Clearcoat especially after it ages. Any and all waxes would need to come off so if there's any microcracking going on this can be a challenge.
 
Might just go back to the original plan and sand and clear it then. The gelcoat looks good except for the faded red oxidation. I'm pretty sure a thorough cleaning and sanding with 320 or 400 would get it looking good in preparation for the clear coat. Unless someone talks me out of it I think I'll go with SPI Production 2.1(over SPI Universal) for a little more scratch resistance if I go this route.
 
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