Cracking Gelcoat?

[night moves]

My boat is 20 years old and the dark blue Gelcoat stripe faded so had it painted dark blue again with Imron. The part of the stripe that curses up directly into the sun light, has started to crack in several places, but not peel. The boat shop claims it's not the paint, the baked hard gelcoat under the new paint is cracking from age and the heat and is not the paint prep. They claim the only way to solve the problem is to completely sand the paint, primer and old gelcoat off and start over(?)

As long as the paint doesn't peel there's nothing wrong with the paint job. Has anyone seen this problem?

 

[Shadowcruzr]

Is the gelcoat anywhere else cracking? Unfortunately the only way to prove him wrong is to remove his paint and see what lies underneath.

 

[night moves]

No, it's not cracking any where else on the boat. Just on top in front of the bridge. One thought I had was the paint is dark blue, so could the heat shrink the paint and crack(?) But like he stated, the paint would need to be sanded in order to tell how deep the crack was. Wouldn't really look good, so I'll live with the cracks until(?)

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Shadowcruzr]

It is possible that the heat transfer thru the dark blue paint caused the Gelcoat to crack I reckon. I've never seen that happen. I've seen more paint crack due to poor prep and incompatability (lack of good primer) than from heat.

How long has the new paint been on the boat?

 

[vic33004]

is the gelcoat cracked outside of the stripe?

try contacting the distributor for Imron in your area for some help on possible causes.

 

[night moves]

The paint is only 2 years old. What makes this spot crack?

1. There is no cracking any where else, I have about 10' of cracking out of about 120' of paint stripe.

2. Was a faded dark blue gelcoat stripe to start with.

3. Don't remember seeing crackiing before this.

4. In direct sunlight.

5. 20 year old boat.

6. Not peeling, just cracking, about 50 cracks per square foot.

I may need to call the paint rep. - seems odd?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Shadowcruzr]

Sounds like s missed prep spot.