How to clear coat

[Fibertron]

Im looking at a boat which obviously needs to be clear coated(I only want he motor but he wont seperate). The hull is blue/silver metal flake. How do I prepare the hull and apply the clear coat. I can spray it but it would be much eassier to brush it(is this possible). What should I expect to pay to complete a clear coat, and what brand would you all recomend. Im on a bit of a budget but still want it to look decent enough to sell the boat for a reasonable price. I have never done this before, so the more info the better. Thanks!

[Techno]

I wouldn't CC it. The person who buys it may not want it cleared and then they have to take it off.

Clear coat is just paint with no pigments or dyes in it. So all the things you would do for painting you would do for the CC.

Consider if this engine deal is worth buying the boat, prepping and then selling it. There may be an engine out there that is chepa.

[Fibertron]

Thanks for responding! What should you do to prep the boat for paint, and how do you apply it. Its been really hard finding a motor that I want, a mid 90s 90 merc at a reasonable price.
Why wouldnt someone want the boat clear coated. It will look way better. Thanks again

[Techno]

IT needs to be cleaned with soap and water.
Degreased with wax and degreaser stuff that says it right on the can.
Sanded with around 220 grit to supply tooth for the new paint.
Not touched by your hands after and while the degreasing. Your skin has oils on it. Wear rubber gloves or dont' touch.
After the sanding wash off with water and degrease again.
You degrease before sanding to keep from pushing contaminants further into the surface with the sanding.
Also the boat itself needs the items taken off it, gauges and stuff.

Make sure you can sand this before you do. You don't want to break through the surface to metal flake and sand the flake.
You can also put on an "adhesion promoter" which does what it's name implies. I'm using this for polished aluminum which is supposed to work. Obviously if I scratch up the aluminum for tooth it won't be polished anymore.

Spay the clear coat on, the maker should have thier own directions for this but is probably a light tack coat followed with a heavier wet coat. You want enough on for sanding and buffing depending on just how smooth/orange peel free you want it.
Best is to sand before cure but after it hardens, there is a short window here. It can be sanded after cure but is much harder so is harder to sand.

Not CCing is just an opinion. If they don't like the colors or wanted to change it they have to take it off to start over. It's a 6/12s or 1/2 thing.

For brand my understanding is PPG seems to be a professionals choice followed or equal to dupont.
I'm using HOK because I'm using thier Kandy and wanted to stay with same product. Cost is going to be about 1/2 gallon of clear and the catylist, reducer. Plus the gun wash stuff which is cheap.
Not sure of cost about a $100? just a wild guess though.

After all that you might not need to CC. Others have sanded, compounded and buffed to restore the finish. I suggest using Zaino from zaino bros.com to do the same thing. It's a wax system and did bring back my gelcoat and didn't fade. The 3 products will cost you about $55 though. But it's easier than CC or sanding, buffing... The sanding route is probably the cheapest but is a lot of sweat and work. The zaino is like waxing 3 times. And of course the painting is work plus cost.

[Fibertron]

I havent decided what ill do yet. Buffing might be an option, exept for the fact i dont have a buffer. Any reconmendations for a resonably priced buffer. Thanks for all the clear coat information.

[B.Mac]

what a good wet sanding, buffing and waxing will do for old gelcoat. I'd avoid CC like the plague. Alot of prep, alot of sanding, alot of headache just to make it shine for resale. Find another motor. Post some pics of the finish.
B.MAC:D

[Techno]

I think there was a cheap buffer in harbour frieght. Way less than a hunnert.

[Boz]

My boat is somewhat hazy and milky. It's black, mainly. I did a 3M series last year with the rubbing compund, polish, wax. It turned out good but i'm back to where I started last year. Was your clear really milky? What did you sand with and what were your procedures?

Boz:confused:

[Techno]

Thats the reason I push the Zaino stuff.

[B.Mac]

had a terrible milky / pasty white haze. I wetsanded the entire hull w/ 800 then 1200 then 1500. (some places 600). Be careful not to go all the way through the gel on sharp corners.
Then I buffed it with heavy duty compound then light duty compound with a high speed wheel. Then plain old caruba paste wax rubbed to a mirror shine. It took me two days with a helper.

You would not believe how black gel comes back to life as long as ya got enough to sand w/o going through......
B.MAC:D

[B.Mac]

No clearcoat here:D

[Fibertron]

Thanks for all the responses! The boat I have is metalflake. Does this make a difference? I'm thinking In will just sand and buff now. Im not looking for a mirror finish just a decent shine. Its really hazy in some spots, and the colours are blue and silver metalflake. When water is poured over it it comes right up through all the haze. Thanks again

[B.Mac]

My 'Mate is black with silver metalflake trim.......I sanded/ buffed everything the same. You must however be careful .......particularly over the flake not to sand too deep and expose the flake particals. Most layups should have enough gelcoat and clear gelcoat over the flake for at least one major sanding/ buffing job without going through.
I went through on one small spot 'cause I was getting greedy and wanted perfection out of a 13 year old hull. Just get yourself a helper and get at it w/ 800/1200/1500 then buff & wax.
Good Luck
B.MAC:D

[Fibertron]

I tried a small section today. I wet sanded with 800, 1000 and finished with 1500. It still looked really bad after sanded, but it was way smoother. Finally I applied 3m rubbing compound with a cloth and it really brought the shine out. I think i can do the whole boat myself over a few days, its only 15 feet and I only need to sand the top. After sanding and buffing the boat will it be possible to applie clearcoat later on, or will the gel coat not be able to take another sanding. I still think im going to sell the boat though. I dont think anyone would buy it how it is now. My last question(for now) is can I apply the compound witha rag or something, or would it be best to buy or rent a buffer. I dont really have that much to do and I am on kind of a budget with this one. Thanks

[Techno]

You really need a buffer. You can get them fairly cheap though. Doing it by hand isn't quite the same and will kill you.

I think this is a perfect example of when to use the Zaino. Spend $50 wax the thing 3 times and it's done, shiny and won't fade. Your not really waxing 3 times it's 3 parts of a wax system.
I've tried this on mine and it lasted months and through heavy detergents.
I know waxing doesn't sound like it will do anything but think of it as manual buffing instead. It's more like that.
You can finish it way less than a day and use the rest of the stuff on your other boat and cars. Your just getting it ready for resale so try this route instead and save a lot of work.

[Fibertron]

Thanks. You really push that Zanio stuff. I'll defenetilly look into it. But ive already started wet sanding. I think im going to just rent a buffer for a day or whatever, since there isnt much to do. Today i will finish wetsanding and tommarow i will buff it. Can that Zanio wax be applied after buffing or is there no point. I think that in my case wetsanding was the only option. The boat was badly faded and milky, very rough and parts had heavy ozidization. I took some pics but still need to get them developed. Will try to post pics of the whole process start to finish by the weekend. Thanks again for all the help!

[sho305]

I just painted a truck and it costs about $215 for the gallon of dupont clear and quart of activator. It was $460 total with 2 qts color, basemaker, and a $20 respirator, with no sand paper or primer included. I have a little left, but that is best way to buy when you need that much. Remember that next time you complain about how much it costs to paint a car:)

I would buff it, and whatever it came out as that is what I would be selling. No sense in messing with clear if you are not keeping it. Don't know how much duro clear is.

[Techno]

The stuff is unbelievable. I push it so much because I see everyone doing this sweat out route when this stuff is just a simple and easy way.
The show car dudes use it to make thier mirror finished paint jobs more glossy. Others have used it on daily cars so they have nice finishes with a 6 month waxing.
This Zaino stuff is a topic on paint sites it's not my attempt to be a salesman.

Some one else here used it on thier boat, the big improvement was the vinyl. They used the vinyl stuff and the picture of the boat looked awesome. They said the liked it. I think they had already sanded the boat though so can't say about the paint job. Either that or it wasn't in bad condition.

[beko21]

I used Zainos on a new vette that I bought in 99, I mean this car was only 4 days old and a friend of mine talked me into buying some, I thought the car looked great the way it was but after I clayed the car and put the Zainos on the car looked wet, the clay took off diesel fallout that you couldn't see but it was there, and the Zainos made all the difference, I bought the leather in a bottle also and this stuff made the seats look great and smell like new leather until I sold the car, I forgot I had some of this left until I saw this thread, I wonder how well it will hold up being in water all the time, I soon find out, Kevin

[Hydropimp911]

I have a hydrostream which had metal flake. It takes the matal flake off but it looks a lot smoother and cleaner looking. Take a very high grade of wet sand paper and just sand it until the metal flake comes off and then put as many clkear coats as you want on. normally about 4 or 5

[Fibertron]

Thanks everyone who posted suggestions. As you my know I decided to wetsand and buff the boat. I sanded with 800, 1000 and 1500 and then buffed the boat with 3m compound, and finished by waxing the boat. It turned out really good, and the colours and flake look like new. Ill try to post some before and after pics as soon as the film is developed. Thanks again to everyone who helped out.

[Hydropimp911]

If you save a little more money and put a couple coats of clear on it itll look gorgeous. :D

[PhastBoat]

pimp u fight me PAB

[Hydropimp911]

Aright lets go bring it. lol

[thovind1]

techno or B.Mac...I was referred over here by the guys over at BassBoatCentral. I'm trying to restore a 1977 Sportcraft 170 Eliminator. I've got a lot of questions for everyone here, particularly regarding fiberglass work, as I'm brand new to all of this marine stuff...let alone restoring a boat, let alone working with fiberglass. I'll start with this though, since it goes with the thread.

This boat is old as dirt...the glass is WAY faded on it, and it's got little black spots all over the top from being in the sun. Before this thread, I had no idea what to do...I was planning on having to redo the entire gelcoat. But would it be possible for me to just wetsand, buff and wax, even with a boat this old? You mentioned that you can't sand too far down...that you have to leave some gelcoat. On a boat this old, is the gelcoat already gone? How can you tell? And when you go to wetsand with the different grades, how do you know how far to go down?

As of right now, there are a number of hairline cracks and gouges on the bottom of the boat, and a lot of nicks on the top where you can see the fibers in the glass. Is there a filler I can use to fill these in first? Then I presume I can start the wetsanding?

This is the first of many issues I've got with this boat...I look forward to getting a lot of help from everyone here. Thanks in advance.

[thovind1]

Here's a picture of the boat right now. I need to do a closeup of the gelcoat, but right now this is what I have.

[sho305]

That pic looks like there are reflections on the hull deck? If the black spots are mold, use a mold shower/bathroom cleaner like Tilex. Basicaly, you have to try the sanding/buffing thing first to see how much it will bring back. I try the worst spot first to see.

[thovind1]

Yep...the hull deck is still glossy, but I plan on carpeting that. Man, those are ugly colors, huh? I just am on a tight budget right now, what with the economy the way it is...I can't spend all that money on automobile paint.

I'm not sure if it's mold or not. I wanna try to sand it, but I'm concerned that the gelcoat has worn down too much and there isn't enough of a coat to sand. Is there a way to tell" Or am I just being concerned over nothing?

[sho305]

Well, get yourself some acid/tilex mold stuff and try a spot to see. Clean it good first, the whole boat. Take it to the car wash and blast it if it needs it. I don't know what they thought back then with the colors, my Checkmate is turd brown flake. I know it is trashed because the flake is sticking out of the finish:eek: Solid colors are usually applied with a clear over them. So, when it (gel) breaks down the clear goes first and gets cloudy/milky. You can sand/rub it off to the color if you are careful. I like to sand some, then use HD compound and/or softscrub with a wool #1 pad to hammer it off. Gel is very hard unlike car paint. If not enough, I sand more till I know what it needs. Sometimes they put color on, then mixed color and clear....sometimes color then pure clear on the outside. They may have done some only color but most I have rubbed have clear or 1/2 clear on the outside coat of gel. When you rub it you can see it. Car paint is a different game, and usually does not need any sanding, you can buff it up if possible(enough paint is left on it).

Clean it well first, and I am guessing it would look a hair better if there were some matching orange in the seats...

If the deck still shines it should not be that bad. Is there another area you are talking about? Sometimes you can get it wet, and if it looks good then it should be able to rub/sand out. You only want to sand/rub just enough, and polish a lot. Everything you take off is less life left. If you don't have cash now, then just buff it up to make it look better, and do more intense repair later.