Problem spraying gelcoat?

[BassinPaPaw]

So I tried to did some minor gelcoat repairs today. I’ve watched a thousand videos on these repairs with guys using those little Preval sprayers. Well had everything set up today, mixed everything up correctly, and damn it. I could not get the gel coat to come out of the sprayer. I had two of them and it wouldn’t come out of either.

I added Styrene to thin and had my measurements perfect. I even added a little extra thinner once I started having issues.

Any ideas? Could the gelcoat just been too cold?? It was thick, but I have no idea what gelcoat normally looks like. Frustrated to say the least.

[APS]

gelcoat is a thick product. The only way a preval will spray it is to thin the hell out of it. You're not supposed to thin gel more than 10% with styrene in the first place. 99% of those guys on YT are hacks. Gel needs to be done above 60 degrees and needs to stay at or above that temp for 48 hours to cure right.

[Steve O.]

Did you take the strainer off of the bottom of the pick up tube?

[BassinPaPaw]

Did you take the strainer off of the bottom of the pick up tube?

I did not. I should have.

[Steve O.]

Yeah, take the little strainer on the end of the tube off and do a trial run on a piece of cardboard. Do the thinning like you did before. I have used it to fix a lot of small nicks in my gel. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more help.

[Scott S.]

Straight gel requires a Bink 2001 or a 2100 with a 68bp tip. If you want to spray gel like paint get some Dura Tech Additive.You can look it up on youtube, it sprays like paint. Styrene is a bit nasty, that's the shit that kills ya.