Another Clear Coat Question.

[otis44]

Okay, i've got an older Ranger 340v, that someone (i'll refrain from what I want to call he/she) has sprayed automotive clear, or minwax polyurethane, i'm not sure, all over the boat from the rubrail up, and inside. I've scraped and i've used aqua strip, which works pretty good by the way, and i've got a ton of the stuff off. My concern is I don't have enough of it off to sand and respray w/clear gelcoat.

Most places the clear peeled off really well, but there are some places on the boat that actually look good, where basically nothing came off. Would one be safe to assume this is the original clear gel. (Some of it looks like the clear does, underneath the hardware i've removed). I feel like i've got about all of it off I can, without digging into the gelcoat on the boat. I can't feel the flake anywhere, and I don't want to respray with anything but gelcoat. Would I be safe to sand and spray w/gelcoat at this juncture. I'll have to do something with it, but I don't want to foul up and have the gelcoat come off in a few years where it wouldn't bond to whatever is on the boat if there is any left.

Sorry to be so long, just trying to explain what i'm up against. Any advice or tips would be appreciated. Thanks

[onemorecast56]

hi ya Otis,,,I`m doing a make over on a Ranger 275V look into this product I`m trying out. It` ALWGRIP CLEAR TOPCOAT It`s a marine clearcoat for boats. I`m trying it out to see how it does since nobody like auto clear coats,,,I`ve done a lot of boat in clearcoat and haven`t had the first proplem. It`s all in the prep!,,,Yagot to prep it right or it will come off. So I`ll let ya know what happens,,,shot the first 2 coats tonight

[Rollo331]

maybe some of these new ones are better but gelcoat will actully burn in and adhere to the other gel if prepped correct i think that is the problem with automotive clears it does not get the chemical burn in real gelcoat does. although it looks good for a period of time...

[A Fn Noob]

Duratec Clear.

[Ranger185A]

Onemorecast56 hit it on the nail, Prep is the key. Lots of elbow grease. I know you don’t want to wet sand but I don’t think you will get the results your looking for any other way. IMHO. Good luck with your project.

Mike.

[otis44]

Thanks for the replies. Let me pose the question this way. How concerned should I be not knowing what was applied to the boat, when putting a new product on. I'm not opposed to doing a good prep job, my fear is whatever I put on may not adhere to some of the old junk left on and not removed. If I wetsand say with 400-600 real good and spray should I be okay?

[Ranger185A]

I understand your concern about wet sanding. I was a bit apprehensive myself when I did my boat. Mine was badly sun damaged. Once I was done sanding I hoped my decision was the right one. I had mine sprayed with Imron clear. For the most part it is used on big trucks. I bought it at an auto paint supply house, 1 gal of clear and I believe a pint of thinner. I got a gal of final prep I believe it is called to wipe down the entire surface to be sprayed. My brother sprayed it with 2 coats.

Once it dried it still looked wet. I love it. What you spray it with is a personal choice. I have a post in this section listed as: Ranger 185A, you can see how mine turned out. Take your time and do some research on this site.

As with anything, cost has to come into the equation at some point. But some times cheaper is not better. Things to consider are what are your long range plans for this boat? In my case, I will own this one till it sinks. So I spared no expense, I want it to last.

The only way to give whatever you choose to spray on a chance is to wet sand every inch you will be spraying. Will it hold? If your prep was done right then there is no reason why it should not. Watch the temp when you spray, being to cold is not good. Not sure what your set-up is. Most products will give you the temp range for best results.

Like I said do a search in this section and see what your options are. Good luck, I hope it turns out great.


Mike.