Clearcoating metal flake boat

[Mach2]

My '85 Concord has a 4-color metal flake gel-coat color scheme I like. The problem is the boat has a lot of sun damage on the top desk and on the sides at the waterline. The damage is in the form of little white lines (the primary color is dark brown with red metal flakes) all over the top side of the boat. I tried wet sanding and buffing but the lines are too deep. This summer while repainting a car I sprayed half the bow with two coats of the high performance clear I used on the car. The clearcoat stuck well to the gel coat and the white lines disappeared, BUT now I have several small line indentations where the white lines used to be.

Here were my thoughts for restoring the finish: clear the entire deck with 2 coats of clear. Wetsand the clear to smooth/remove any indentations, then clear the boat again with 2 more coats of clear.

Any comments from the experts? Anyone ever have a similiar problem they fixed another way? Thoughts on types/brands of clear to use?

Here is a good pic of the damage at the water line.

[Mach2]

Here is a sample of the damage to the top side.:(

[Mach2]

Finally, a picture of the whole boat in the water.:cool:

[half fast]

I've done em ,It sucks and a hell of alota work.Take all off that will come off,I wet sanded with 600 grit,used PPG clear.The jobs have been georgous .I went ahead and bought a fish eye eliminator product just in case but never have needed it.

[Barefoot Bob]

Why dont you just sand off what you put on and clear gel the boat.Thats what I had done to mine and it looks great. I also have 4 shades of flake. Mine would get cloudy 2 days after I polished it. The clear was just shot and had to be redone.

[sho305]

You have to sand the lines out of the clear until smooth. Then make sure you have enough clear, or put more on.

The deal is the gelcoat is hard and more durable. The car paint is way easier, but will chip like a car. No shoes for example. The gel is harder to sand and apply. Both work well otherwise from what I see here. If you can get away with the paint, it will be easier to do. Depends on how you use the boat I guess, and how much work you want to do.

I have painted a lot, but that gel looks like a big pain.

I might add to that, if you use some urethane clear, like dupont CC; to be safe you should do 2 heavy to 3 medium coats and let it dry good before you put on more. You can wet sand it some right away to get it to dry faster(maybe next day), but too much to fast can crack. I would do it once a week if I had the time and try to remove the imperfections inbetween.

[dan]

Trans Star Euro with over 50% solids is a easy to use product. The two part mix kit for two gallons of clear with a gallon of reducer just cost me $170. Our shop produces a better product then when we used PPG and we save over $10k a year. we have our own mixing wall for PPG basecoat, but this clear is better and cheaper. Our PPG rep can't compete.

Dan