Hi all, i’m facing the process of repainting my old gelcoated kevlar infused boat deck. I was wondering about the general attentions i should have and also the most exact procedure i should follow. In my mind i was figuring these basic steps: remove a large amount of the gelcoat, little bit of a resin patches where kevlar has exposed, fairing low spots and finally painting, polishing...

Are you suggesting any other kind of process i should follow to get the best result? Consider that the objective is to keep everything as light as possible. I also thought it would be possible to get out of the way basically the whole gelcoat and after fairing low spots use a clear coat before the paint but i’m not sure about the big amount of fairing i should make to obtain a very smooth surface. What kind of powder i should use to thick the resin for fairing? Have you got any high gloss boat paint to suggest me? 

Thank you very much!

I wouldnt use resin for your fairing, it is hard and difficult to sand meaning you will probably struggle to get it flat. If you do use resin, use microballoons or glass bubbles to reduce its density and make it easier to sand - still not my first choice though.

You shouldn't actually need to do much fairing. I've done a similar job on a Stemme S10 motorglider (horrific work, can I talk you out of it?). In the end I found the best method was a 40 grit flap disc on an angle grinder to remove the gelcoat, being especially careful to keep things as flat as possible and not hitting the reinforcement. Once the bulk of it is off, you can switch to a 60 or 80 grit disc on an orbital sander to remove the last of the gelcoat. This should actually get it pretty flat, unless you dug big low spots with the angle grinder. 

I found I didn't need to use any heavy fillers, I got it flat with just two applications of high build primer blocked back after each application. Then top coat with any marine 2k paint system.

+x

 

Hanaldo - 5/4/2020 1:33:06 AM

I wouldnt use resin for your fairing, it is hard and difficult to sand meaning you will probably struggle to get it flat. If you do use resin, use microballoons or glass bubbles to reduce its density and make it easier to sand - still not my first choice though.

You shouldn't actually need to do much fairing. I've done a similar job on a Stemme S10 motorglider (horrific work, can I talk you out of it?). In the end I found the best method was a 40 grit flap disc on an angle grinder to remove the gelcoat, being especially careful to keep things as flat as possible and not hitting the reinforcement. Once the bulk of it is off, you can switch to a 60 or 80 grit disc on an orbital sander to remove the last of the gelcoat. This should actually get it pretty flat, unless you dug big low spots with the angle grinder. 

I found I didn't need to use any heavy fillers, I got it flat with just two applications of high build primer blocked back after each application. Then top coat with any marine 2k paint system.

Thank you very much, this has been very usefull, feel free to leave any other details or photos if you want! Thanks!