duratec and gel coat question

[mrcrsr]

was thinking of shooting my allison in gel,but didn't want to deal w/ wet sanding the whole boat when it's done, what about the duratec additive, what are the downsides of it? how is the finish(out of the gun w/ no wet sanding) compared to, let's say awlgrip? i am shooting the boat in white(currently red)

[Jo Boone]

i would llike to know this as well... im thinking of spraying my boat but do not wish to spen all day wet sandin

[Scott in MN]

Sprayed an allison side a couple of months ago with gel/duratec......still had to wetsand/buff although it layed out smoother and I was able to use my Sata RP..
The mix calls for 50/50 gel/duratec and that thins out your hiding power so if you have a poor hiding color you are going to have to make sure you put enough coats on so the wetsand/buffing doesn't remove enough to show color thru.....
If you are brave you can lay out a couple of coats of gel without duratec to get the color to build and then switch to 50/50 while the first layers are wet.....don't wait too long or you could get an interesting reaction.
Been awhile since I've sprayed Awl-Grip but I would say the Awl-Grip lays out smoother.....

[Steve 1]

Here is the problem Gel coat is up too 38% Magic ingredient’s, Pigment ,Thix Agents and Dirt like Talc among the list of crap we pay extra for. Straight gel coat takes 12 mills minimum for coverage and the grinding process to make this crap is nowhere near paint adding Dura Tec creates converge issue and the solvent flashing off leads to the nice orange peel look same as the Patch Aids do and Dura Tec is somewhat softer Under the Barcol meter you are not going to avoid the sanding and buffing, Paint like Awl grip a different story 2 mills = covered however on a bottom that is on and off a trailer a couple times a week there is a wear issue, that said 2 mills VS 18 mills Gel coat. Now for Shine, Weathering Paint wins hands down. Personally on my stuff gel coat was never on the list the weight issue alone plus it does NOT flex.

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Here is the problem Gel coat is up too 38% Magic ingredient’s, Pigment ,Thix Agents and Dirt like Talc among the list of crap we pay extra for. Straight gel coat takes 12 mills minimum for coverage and the grinding process to make this crap is nowhere near paint adding Dura Tec creates converge issue and the solvent flashing off leads to the nice orange peel look same as the Patch Aids do and Dura Tec is somewhat softer Under the Barcol meter you are not going to avoid the sanding and buffing, Paint like Awl grip a different story 2 mills = covered however on a bottom that is on and off a trailer a couple times a week there is a wear issue, that said 2 mills VS 18 mills Gel coat. Now for Shine, Weathering Paint wins hands down. Personally on my stuff gel coat was never on the list the weight issue alone plus it does NOT flex.

I agree and anyone who thinks they can spray jell and have it turn out like paint and just wet sand and buff is crazy . I might be old school but jell coat is a lot more work then painting and like Steve said you can put some serious mill's on but use it to your advantage to cover in areas that might need some body work like low spots because when ever i have bluprinted a bottom and the coustomer wants it back in jell i spray the hell out of it because everything has to be blocked out ( sanded ) and dialed in and buffed out and that is a job .

[XstreamVking]

Dura-Tec additive=dissapointed painter. I used this stuff several times and could not get any where near the finish of regular gell thinned with styrene. I will avoid using it in the future. Like steve 1 said the hardness isn't the same. Use awlgrip or reg. high quality gell. This stuff is only suitable for crab boats...imo...Waste of money.......

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Dura-Tec additive=dissapointed painter. I used this stuff several times and could not get any where near the finish of regular gell thinned with styrene. I will avoid using it in the future. Like steve 1 said the hardness isn't the same. Use awlgrip or reg. high quality gell. This stuff is only suitable for crab boats...imo...Waste of money.......

I guess here it is again ( old school ) why not thin it with acetone and use wax addtive so you can sand after everything is cured or spray gell thinning it with actone and spray P.V.A on top of the gell after the gell has been sprayed same thought different process and very old school .I really have to say that patch booster and all that other $hit is junk .I remember when we used jell at Skater & wax addtive was alway's used for every repair even if we were spraying the whole side of a 40 footer but over the year's that has changed very light jell in the mold to the point where you can see plow thru and all repairs are done in imron or awlgrip and after that who cares because most boats end up in the paint booth with custom graphics . WOW sorry i strayed away a bit .

[RobF]

ginger- them skaters were always a bit thin on the gel, makes repairing them in gel almost impossible- when you sand and polish your repair your bound to break through AROUND the repair, unless you can spray to hardlines somewhere.

I have also found a compatibility issue with duratec high gloss and some gelcoats, you will find it does not agree with some brands of gel, so if you are planning a large project buy and try a test batch first otherwise you could end up with a couple gallons of crapola. I also question the UV resistance of the high gloss additive.

You can get pretty much the same results spraying gel a little thinned out with acetone and spraying PVA over it, the PVA allows the gel to cure shiny and hard. Wax additive will make it cure semi or flat and I dont like sanding gel with TFA and I dont like the way the repair ages with TFA either.

Regardless you really do not want to thin your gel too much, the only time we MAY use the high gloss additive is on newer warranty or retail repairs on colored hull boats where we are trying to keep the costs down for the customer and use off the shelf gelcoat versus custom matching thier color.

As a rule I really try not to thin gelcoat with any additive more then 20-30%

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

ROB F - thin to win ha ha ha & like steve said in an early post and the same thought at Skater save weight which means SPEED !!! Its a Skater nation !!!!!!!! and i better not forget Cheetah cats , this ones for you Steve .

[RobF]

I read somewhere that Peter sprays all the gelcoat in the molds

[mrcrsr]

so back to the original question(everything is very informative though!), do i spray the boat in gel, awlgrip, or imron ? weight is a concern, but what about prep required beforehand? i know gel hides alot, whereas paint doesn't(as far as sanding scratches, etc). also i would have to use primer before shooting paint on the boat, gel you don't. trying to figure out what to do, thanks guys!!!! what is the easiest way to go that won't wear off, is cost effective, that isn't going to cause my arms to fall off from sanding!!!

[jphii]

Imron.

[XstreamVking]

The best all round fix is to have gell on the bottom of the hull. And use a imron or awlgrip on the hull sides and top deck.. I just used the new awlcraft 2000, and had really good results. This is on a boat that needs a complete re-do. Paint on the bottom just never seems to hold up like gell. If re doing a colored boat, red,blue etc use paint. Colored gell will fade quickly...Re- finished my V-King and used gell on the hull, imron on the topsides...Best way, not the quickest...

[RobF]

I find that gel sprayed outside of a mold does not hold up as well on the bottom. It tends to yellow a little easier and be blotchy when it does yellow.

Darker colors I guess you dont have that problem.

Plenty of 100+mph boats with painted bottoms hold up great, if you want to beach the boat alot then you may want gel for a little more durability, but I still would rather be repairing paint on a bottom then gel for future repairs.

[mrcrsr]

we do beach our boats, that was one of my concerns. what are the advantages of imron over awlgrip?