Gel-coat quality

Theraven

Theraven

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Here's my list of the worst gel's I've run into, Carver's, Californian', Lurhs, Ocean Yachts,Bertram,silverton/meridian, egg harbor,Catalina's, bayliners, searays can range from terrible to amazing. Chances are that's I've run into some bunk gel coats, overall from my experience this is what I've noticed.
 
I've never done Hats, but just threw it out there. The one question that's hard to find is , how to tell if a boat is paint or gel-coat. Sometimes it's obvious ,at times it's hard to tell.
 
Most custom sport fish will be painted, as well as all the bigger yachts (100+ ft.) The more you do the easier it will be for you to tell the difference.
 
aplusmarine said:
Most custom sport fish will be painted, as well as all the bigger yachts (100+ ft.) The more you do the easier it will be for you to tell the difference.
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aplusmarine how do you tell the difference between paint or gel coat before you start buffing?
 
Last post is not totally accurate

If a boat is gel coat, it will not have a clear coat

My Baja had white, blue, yellow and red gel coat. When wet sanded the color comes off white, blue, yellow and red.

Many newer boats, particularly ski/wakeboard boats are white gel coat with stickers for the graphics.

 
Mastercraft241 said:
Do a test spot you can tell pretty easily. If there's no color transfer, its clear coat... if the color runs its gel.
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Thanks Mastercraft - that is how I do it currently - just wondering if there was some other process.
 
allenk4 said:
Last post is not totally accurate

If a boat is gel coat, it will not have a clear coat

My Baja had white, blue, yellow and red gel coat. When wet sanded the color comes off white, blue, yellow and red.

Many newer boats, particularly ski/wakeboard boats are white gel coat with stickers for the graphics.

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Excuse me, but it is your post that is not accurate. Certain manufacters do put clear coat over gel coat in order to delay the fading effect of gelcoat. This is typically done on higher end boats such as Outerlimits, Nortech, MTI, Skaters, etc.. For lower end boats such as checkmate, baja, sea ray, Monterey, and such are normally gel. Again, this if from my experience. Thanks.
 
working on a 2007 24 ft pathfinder red and white and its clear coated.pain in the but you can sand it but its thin as is the paint. ps hard real hard paint.
 
Looked it up...Mastercraft is right; some do have a clearcoat over the gelcoat.

From what I could gather it is a $5,000-$10,000 option.

My boat was only $48k, so needless to say it didn't have clear over gelcoat
 
Washed a Searay sundancer today. Has a black hull. When I was drying the hull I noticed a bunch dirt/dust nibs
 
Whoops darn iphone!! Washed a Searay sundancer today with a black hull. When I was drying the hull I noticed a bunch of dirt/dust nibs and very tiny white specs in places, also what looks like dieback in in areas. Over all the hull looks awesome and has not discolored for the 2 years I've seen the boat there, unlike some black hulls I've seen. The boats about 5years old. I've never buffed it out so I wouldn't know about color transfer or ect..Does this sound like paint or GC. Another observation on a 5-7yo Tiara was, where the non-skid met with the smooth, right at the line it's imperfect and very slightly over laps on the nonskid. The smooth and non skid where slightly diff shades of white, unlike most boats I've where the transition is flawless and maintains the same color. It also polished out extremely easy, seemed like paint to me but sure exactly. Any tips or info would be great
 
Theraven said:
Whoops darn iphone!! Washed a Searay sundancer today with a black hull. When I was drying the hull I noticed a bunch of dirt/dust nibs and very tiny white specs in places, also what looks like dieback in in areas. Over all the hull looks awesome and has not discolored for the 2 years I've seen the boat there, unlike some black hulls I've seen. The boats about 5years old. I've never buffed it out so I wouldn't know about color transfer or ect..Does this sound like paint or GC. Another observation on a 5-7yo Tiara was, where the non-skid met with the smooth, right at the line it's imperfect and very slightly over laps on the nonskid. The smooth and non skid where slightly diff shades of white, unlike most boats I've where the transition is flawless and maintains the same color. It also polished out extremely easy, seemed like paint to me but sure exactly. Any tips or info would be great
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I know some of the newer searays have dark colored hulls so it's quite possible that it is gc. If it was an older searay i would say that it had been painted. The white specs are dried up salt, if the salt is not rinsed off properly (after the boat is used) the sun will actually cause that spotting.

The tiara definitely sounds like it was painted, what you are describing sounds like a tape line.
 
master detailer said:
working on a 2007 24 ft pathfinder red and white and its clear coated.pain in the but you can sand it but its thin as is the paint. ps hard real hard paint.
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Hi Master Detailer - just wondering what technique you used on the pathfinder project? What pads and product did you use?

Thanks.
 
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