Hydrostream Gel coat orange peel

[inspectorlance]

I have been working on wet sanding my 1994 Hydrostream X-stream voyager. The orange peel is so bad I have had to use 400 grit Twice to get through it. Is it possible that they never wet sanded my boat with 320 at the factory after it came out of the mold ?? I talked to John Spaith last week and he looked up my seriel number. He said that he did not build my boat , and that it had to be one of the last ones that CE built. Can orange peel come back over time ? Shrinkage ??

Lance

[WILDMAN]

The boat comes out of a mold. If the mold was taken off a orange peeled plug, then every boat from that mold would be the same orange peeled texture. Your boat has had to have been regelcoated. There's NO other way it can have orange peel.

[inspectorlance]

Where did Hydrostream CE/ X-stream get the molds ?? originaly they were not supost to build any tunnel hulls in Canada, only the V hulls.

I have to sand like a mad man just to get the gel smooth.

[Techno]

Are you using a guide coat and the hard rubber block?

[inspectorlance]

I am using a soft rubber pad, so that it will conform to the shape of the boat. Whats a guide coat ?

[WILDMAN]

Spray a light coat of a contrasting color, like black over white. Sand till the black is gone. That will tell you that the surface is flat.

[Techno]

Your soft rubber pad is sanding the valleys and hills identically. I did the same thing. It don't work. Primer on- primer off. Just like Karate kid.
You need the standard hard rubber block for car type autobody work or a block of wood.
Curves are done by technique not the block. You angle diagonaly and such. Rocking the block as you go. Hard to describe but picked up intuatively.
As mentioned the guide coat stays in the valleys of the orange peel or item being sanded like a scratch, while its sanded off the peaks.
A visual indicator of your progress and how its getting flat.
A light misting. Lacquer is best and enamal worst since it plugs the paper easily. A rattle can is all you need. Laquer also dries very fast so you can start right away.
Don't cheat and try to sand the guide coat out or off, it comes off with the process. Don't get carried away by it either, its a guide.
If you have an inside radius it can be done but a length of tube cardboard, PVC whatever will work easier. Sharp change from bow deck towards cockpit thing.The block bears only on the edges but the tubing can be rotated and it don't have edges. Use it if needed.

The idea of the block is to bridge the low areas and bear only on the high areas, these sand down to the low areas. A soft block rides down into the low areas though and sands them along with the high areas.

[AlaskaStreamin]

No-one mentioned with that much sanding, there's a good chance you might sand through. Unless you have a chip or pull a guage out of the dash, you don't know for sure how thick the gel is. Hydrostreams have notoriously thin gelcoat. Might be better to clearcoat than to chance a "burn thru" and repair.

If you use automotive clear, you'll never have to touch it again.
Good luck. Keep us posted.

[inspectorlance]

Thanks for all the info. I just dont see how I can use the hard rubber block. Very few areas are flat or an outside corner I think if I was to use the hard rubber I would easily sand through in many areas. Over half of the boat would be considered a inside corner, or slightly concave. This is getting frustrating AAAAAAHHHHHH. Any more tips that could help me ??

[Techno]

The panels your doing are pretty much flat compared to the tiny block your using. Your not straitening a running surface. If you used the block for that it would still be wavy.
Put down a light misted guide coat and start with the larger gradual areas. Leave anything difficult for later, when you have your technique down. Leave all edges till last. This is where you can easily sand through.
You do this in an X pattern holding the block straight but moving it diagonal Xish like. The block is rotated to follow the curve and your hand/arm is also rotated to follow the surface. Your not shoving it in a linear flat plane but following the curved suface. If you were sanding a ball you would follow the curve not shove straight from pole to pole.


Don't worry about the guide coat it can be cleaned off with laquer thinner if needed.