Peeling Gelcoat

D

dbhender

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2006
RO Number
23588
Messages
3
I recently came into ownership of a 74 Glastron CV16ss.It has severe oxidization on the bow. The bow is blue metalflake with a white boarder. Close to the tip of the bow along the white border the gelcoat has peeled away. Were talking over 1 foot long by 3-4 inches wide where the gelcoat is peeled off and gone.Whats the best option here. Can the section be repaired? Or is it better to just bite the bullet and sand down to the glass and repaint?
 
Are you sure that's the Gel-coat?
I doubt it. If it is, the whole F/Glass boat is de-laminating.

It sounds like paint over the Glass to me.
Gel-coat is part of the F/glass process. Like Glue on Glue. It does not peel.
After the Gel coat there's a coat(s) of clear.

Later on in it's life, the boat may have been painted.
Of course you have to figure out why the paint is coming off. Fix that, and re-paint.
 
Thanks guys. What ever it is its a clear plastic type coating. Its only on the white area. I was told by the previous owner it was the gel coat. But after reading here I was questioning this. So is this possibly a clear coat of some sort? Its definately a transparent coating of some sort. I will try and get a pic and post it. Thanks again. Love this forum.
 
I have one more guess. If it was a PolyEster Clear coat, or an automotive Laquer clear coat that was suppose to keep the White form Oxidizing, you'll have to strip it off with a Chemical. Sanding wont do the job.
 
Could be something like Poli-glow or Vertglass that's wearing away?
 
Greg,

Best sounding answer, so far. Hard to imagina a Glastron having a clear coat.
 
yup, this stuff looks pretty good when you put it on, but when it starts to peel off, you won't be happy!
 
he did say boat was 74' and also that its metalflake. i wouldn't be surprised if it is clear coat peeling off as this was standard practice for painting custom finishes on cars and fiberglass dune buggies back in the day. maybe thats how they finished them go fast fishing boats back then.
 
This isnt really a fishing boat. More of a Ski boat than anything. Its got the original metalflake paintjob that Glastron put on it. I have never seen a clearcoat come off like this. This is similar to a protective plastic film you get over top of electronic devices that you peel off after buying....except it dosnt peel off antwhere as easy. In fact it dosnt want to peel off by hand at all whithout tearing. Heres a pic of my boat, except mines blue...... http://www.classicglastron.com/74gl-carl-cv16ss.html
 
Sounds like clear coat to me too. The year, the metalflake, the brittleness all sound
like clear coat over the metalflake.

Pete
 
I still say clear coat. I did alot of custom painting . applied in this order, base material cleaned and prepped. primed,skuff sanded.light or dark color basecoat applied depending on final color wanted(white or light silver or dark silver). then the actual metalflakes are suspended in clear carrier to make sprayable. then about twenty coats of clear lacquer or enamel to fill and level the surface over the metal flake. then hand wet sanded buffed and polished.it is quite common for clear coat when applied at that thickness to eventually peel off in sheets away from substrate.
 
you can try a repair if the flake is still on and only the clear peeled., clean surface thoro.strong cleaner soft brush rinse well. DO NOT SAND METALFLAKE to prep. this will cut the flake and cause a totally different color when in sun. lightly sand area around peeling where clear is still good and you can over lap the clear.tape and mask off other areas and apply many coats of clear lacquer with plenty of flash time in between coats.apply till you can't feel the flafe anymore and only have orange peel texture. dry. wet sand out peel, apply couple more coats wet sand and buff and polish. wont be perfect but could save a paintjob
 
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