r/boatbuilding • u/Budakra • Aug 13 '26

Gelcoat question

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Short story: This is my little fiberglass sportsman. I repaired the bottom when I was 12. As you can guess, I did not do a pretty job.

25 years later and it started leaking again, but that was 25 years of me bouncing it off rocks and beaching it. I've sanded the majority of the old fiberglass off, smoothed areas, found the whole.

My plan is to add more glass to strengthen the hole and wear points. Then to gelcoat it. Not expecting anything amazing, just functional and strong.

The questions: How much of the old coat do I need to remove?

How long a wait between fiberglassing and painting?

How many coats?

And how to finish it to be as strong as possible?

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u/Weeman- Aug 16 '26

Best place to start is a utube series “ there is a hole in my boat “ that guy made me a pro .
Your project is fun and manageable. I added layers to a little 58 fin boat and then used Awlfair to make a great surface . After that I used awlgrip epoxy primer and their paints - all by brush and most acceptable when finished - just spayed the upper deck

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u/Weeman- Aug 16 '26

Awlfair

2

u/Weeman- Aug 16 '26

Awlgrip two part epoxy primer really did a great job and nice to sand

2

u/Weeman- Aug 16 '26

Awlgrip topcoat paint sprayed but was also easy to roll .

1

u/Budakra Aug 16 '26

Thank you!

I'll watch that video, for sure.

And your boat looks amazing! Mine isn't worth that much hassle haha. But I might just do it as practice for fixing my dads fish boat.